What is linguistics? Linguistics is the PowerPoint Presentation, PPT - DocSlides

What is linguistics?

Linguistics is the

scientific study

of language.

The

word ‘language’ here

means language

in general, not a particular language.

According to Robins (1985), linguistics

is concerned with human language as a universal and recognizable

part of

the human

behaviour

and of the human faculties perhaps one of

the most

essential to human life as we know it, and one of the most

farreaching

of

human capabilities in relation to the whole span

of mankind’s

achievements.

Why scientific?

Because

Linguists study language systematically.

They apply

the scientific method

by:

making

observations,

testing

hypotheses, and

developing

theories.

Linguistics involves

an

analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in

context.

The science of language encompasses more than sounds, grammar, and meaning.

When

you study linguistics, you are at the crossroads of every discipline

.

Linguistics as a science

Scientific approaches in the study of linguistics

1. Objectivity:

Objectivity means judgment based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.

Objective study of language is hindered by various cultural, social and historical misconceptions about certain languages.

2. Consistency:

allows no contradictory remarks or statements, requires that all parts of analysis be consistent with the whole

A linguist tries to answer:

How did languages begin and what were the very earliest languages like?

How have languages changed over time? What makes languages change

?

How is it that we learn our own language as children without anybody teaching us

?

How do we speak, and how do we understand what people mean?

How are languages organized and what is the best way to describe their organization?

Scope of linguistics

What does linguistics study?

The scope of Linguistics is

huge

.

It covers

a wide range of fields and topics

.

Phonetics

Phonetics

studies the production, transmission and reception of speech sounds;

Phonology

with

the way sounds are used in individual

languages.

Morphology: the study of the formation of words

Morphology is the study of the structure of words.

Morphologists study minimal units of meaning,

called morphemes

, and investigate the possible combinations of

these units

in a language to form words.

For example, the

word "imperfections

" is composed of four morphemes:

The

root,

perfect, is transformed from an adjective

into a

noun by the addition of

-

ion

, made negative with

im

,

and pluralized

by

s

.

im

perfect

ion

s

Syntax: the study

sentences formation

Syntax is the level at which we study how words combine to form

phrases, phrases

combine to form clauses, and clauses join to make sentences.

Syntax studies the rules for placing the elements

in the sentence such as the nouns/noun

phrases

,

verbs/verb phrases

, and adverbial phrases.

Syntax also attempts to describe how

these elements

function in the sentence, i.e. what is their role in the sentence.

The word

‘boy’ is a noun. However, in each of the

following sentences

, it functions in different roles:

(a) The

boy

likes cricket.

(b) The old man loved the

boy

.

In sentence (a), it functions as the subject of the sentence.

In sentence (b), it functions as the object.

A sentence should be both grammatical and meaningful.

‘

Colourless

green ideas sleep furiously’ is grammatically

correct but

it is not meaningful.

Semantics

Semantics is a sub-discipline of Linguistics which focuses on the study of meaning.

Semantics

deals with the level of meaning in language. It attempts to

analyse

the

structure of meaning in a language, e.g. how words similar or different

are related;

tries

to give an account of both word and

sentence meaning

,

It may be easy to define the meanings of words such as ‘tree’ but

not so

easy to define the meanings of words such as ‘love’ or similar

abstract things

.

Pragmatics

is

simply defined as the branch of linguistics dealing with

language in use

and the contexts in which it is

used.

David Crystal

"Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our

choice of

language in social interaction and the effects of

our choice

on others."

Semantics vs. Pragmatics

Language Internal

Language external (society)

Linguistic Meaning

Communication

What expressions mean

What speakers mean

What is said

What is implied

Language itself

The use of language

Branches of linguistics

Linguistics

Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics

Theoretical Linguistics

Socio-linguistics

Anthropological Linguistics

Computational Linguistics

Psycholinguistics

Neurolinguistics

Historical linguistics

Applied Linguistics

End of Section