Finegan chapter one

Finegan presents an overview of languages, their patterns, structures and their complexity. All languages are patterned and all language evolve. Language is a three sided triangle that is concerned with meaning, context and expression. Language can be seen as an umbrella that encompasses many dialects. Grammar, simply put, is how language is organized. Communication involves writing, speaking and signs. Some attempts have been made to connect the manner that chimps learns signing to how children acquire language, but there is no conclusive evidence of a connection between the species. Corpus linguistics has made it possible to examine informal speech on a large scale.

I don’t have much to add to this summary because it is fairly straightforward. Some of the points, like “is there a proper English?” worked very well with the American Tongues video. Also, the point that all utterances are grammatical (in that they are patterned, meaningful and are evolving), is interesting, but can cause a quandary for people who want to teach a language in a manner that will most benefit an individual. As American Tongues stressed, dialect, and grammar choices carry connotations. It’s just a delicate balance between recognizing how closely social identity is connected to language, and trying to create the optimal success for students.