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Post Graduate Diploma in Translation Studies

421.1.10: SUMMARY In this unit, we began with a discussion on the concept of language universals and universal grammar (UG), mainly with the help of examples from syntax. We then briefly touched upon phonological, morphological and semantic universals. After that, two different approaches to the study of Language Universals, namely, typological approach and generative approach were discussed. There was a detailed discussion on substantive and formal Universals as well as on language variation. Finally, the discussion centered around the relationship between studies on language universals & Translation studies, with special reference to vocabulary and formal equivalence. By reading this unit, you have got a fair idea of the main concerns of linguists and the concept of inter-translatability. REVIEW QUESTIONS A. Answer the following long questions: Differentiate between formal and substantive universals? What are the major differences between Chomskyan and Greenbergian approaches to the study of language universals? What are the language universals other than in the area of syntax? What is meant by our competence being rule-governed? B. Answer the following short questions: Do you agree that while languages differ from each other in certain details they also share a number of characteristics in common? Why have the studies on word order typology or language typology gone hand in hand with studies on language universals? Do languages have certain universal processes in the way meanings develop in them? Give an example. Why are language universals important when languages are viewed from a historical or diachronic perspective? C. Elaborate the following statements: "It is believed that identification of the deep rooted regulation among human languages will … improve our understanding of how languages are structured". "Languages could differ from each other in an unlimited and unpredictable way." Weinreich (1963:143) states that "despite the basically arbitrary quality of semantic "mapping" displayed by languages, there are nevertheless remarkable parallelisms between both related and unrelated languages". D. Write short notes on: General grammar Port-Royal Grammarians American Structural Linguistics Four parameters of Greenberg's universals Linguistic universals and language acquisition E. Exemplify the following: Similarities between Hindi and Telugu sentence structures SOV languages and their basic characteristics Implicational Universals. 421.1.11: REFERENCES Chomsky, Noam. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambidge, Mass: MIT Press. ---------. (1966). Cartesian Linguistics A Chapter in the history or Rationalist Thought. New York and London: Harper and Row. ---------. (1975). The logical structure of linguistic theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Comrie, Bernard. (1981).'Linguistic Typology'. In Fredrick J. Newmeyer ed. Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey. Vol.1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 447: 461. -------. (1983). Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Ferguson, Charles A. (1978). 'Historical background of universals Research'. In Joseph H. Greenberg (ed) Universals of Human Language. Vol.1. California: Standford University Press. 6 -31. Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman. (1993). An introduction to Language. (5th edition). New York, London: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Greenberg, Joseph H. (1963). 'Some universals of grammar with Particular reference to the order of meaningful elements (second edition 1966). In Joseph H. Greenberg (ed) Universals of Language. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. 73-113. ------, Charles E. Osgood and James J. Jenkins. (1963). 'Memorandum concerning language universals'. In Joseph H. Greenberg bridge, Mass: The MIT Press . xv-xxvii. Gross, Alex. (1992). 'Limitations of computer as translation tools'. In Joseph Newton (ed). Computers in translation a practical appraisal. London, New York: Routledge. 96-130. Hockett, Charles F. (1955). A Mannual of Phonology. Indian University publications in Anthropology and Linguistics. Memoir 11. Bloomington: Indiana University (Reprinted 1974, University of Chicago Press). Hutchins, W.J. (1986). Machine translation: Past, present, future. New York: John Wiley and sons. Jakobson, Roman. (1968). Child language aphasia and phonological universals. English translation by A.R. Keiler of Kindersprache. The Hague: Mouton. Nida, Eugene A. and Charles R. Taber. (1974). The theory and Practice of translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Ullmann Stephen. (1963). 'Semantic Universals'. In Joseph Greenberg ed. Universals of Language. (second edition 1966). 217-262. Weinreich Uriel. (1963). 'The semantic structure of language'. In Joseph Greenberg (ed). Universals of Language. (second edition 1966) . 142-216. 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