Linguistics: An Overview of Language Study
By
M.R.Vijaya Bhaarathy,
Assistant Professor of English Department
Swami vivekanandha arts and science college
,vallam. thanjavur
LINGUIST
One who studies language is a linguist. The
linguist has to investigate how people speak and use
language in a given speech community at a given time. He
is concerned with identifying and describing the units and
patterns of the sound system, the words and morphemes
and the phrases and sentences.
LINGUISTICS
The word
linguistics
has been derived from the two Latin
words
lingua
which means
tongue & istics
which means
knowledge
. Linguistics is the systematic study of
language. It is the study not of one particular language but
of human language in general.
Linguistics is defined as a scientific study of the systems /
principles underlying human languages. It traditionally
encompasses semantics, syntax & phonology.
Greek philosophers in the 5
th
century BC who debated the
origins of human language were the first in the west to be
concerned with linguistic theory
In the 1950’s Noam Chomsky challenged the structuralise
program, arguing that linguistics should study native
speakers unconscious knowledge of their language, not the
language they actually produce .It involves an analysis of
language form, language meaning & also language
context.
This is a huge topic, though & different parts of it can be
studied in different way for different reasons. David
crystal in his encyclopaedia defines linguistics as
science
of language
IMPORTANCE OF LINGUISTICS
In language teaching, linguistic knowledge can be transferred into
class room teaching.
Linguistics is concerned with discovery more and more about the
way language functions. Language teachers teach students how to
use a language.
A teacher who is exposed to linguistics can face the problem of
language teaching with greater confidence and efficiency than one
who is not exposed to linguistics
Most of the teachers are worried about the errors that their students
make. The error –analysts are concerned with the kinds of error and
the ways of their remedy. A background in linguistics would be
helpful to one who wants to do error analysis
SCOPE OF LINGUISTICS
Phonetics
Syntax
Semantics
Phonology
Pragmatics
Morphology
Phonetics:
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics & it is
the branch dealing with the medium of speech .It deals
with the production, transmission & reception of the
sounds of human speech.1
st
phoneticians were Indian
scholars who tried to preserve the pronunciation of
Sanskrit holy texts Modern phonetics began with
‘’Alexander Melvile Bell’’
Three types of phonetics are
Articulatory:
study of how to speech sound made,
Acoustic :
study of the physical properties of a
speech as
sound wave
Auditory:
study of the perception of speech sounds
Phonology
The word phonology derived from ancient greek .
Study of sound pattern within language. It is one of the
fundamental systems which a language is considered to
comprise, like its syntax & its vocabulary. Commonly
phonology belongs to theoretical linguistics. The history of
phonology may be traced back to the Sanskrit in 4
th
century.
Phonology is the study of the way sound function in language,
including phonemes, syllable, structure, stress, accent, intonation
& which sounds are distinctive units within a language.
Commonly its derived into two types
↠
Diachronic phonology (Same sound, different spelling)
↠
Synchronic phonology (end with
‘’nt”
and
‘’dm’’
)
Morphology
The study of words is called
morphology
or
morphemics
. It was originally used in biology and only in
the 19
th
century it came to linguistics. It now means the
study of morphemes which are the smallest grammatical
units in the language. Especially in the consistent patterns
of inflection, combination, derivation and change that may
be observed and classified
MORPHEMES:
It is the smallest meaningful unit of a language
(example) the word dehumanization consists of four parts
or units as de+human+iz+ation. Such units are called
morphemes..Types of morpheme :1)Free morpheme,
2)bound morpheme
Free morphemes:
Free morphemes are elements which can
stand by themselves as single words. They cannot be
broken down into grammatical parts. They have only base
form which is called a ``root’’ or ``strem’’
Free
morphemes fall into two categories .They are
lexical and
grammatical / functional morphemes
Lexical morphemes:
The set ordinary nouns, adjectives, verbs and
adverbs which carry the content of messages we convey
are lexical morphemes. (E.g) girl , man, house, lion,
happy, short , white , etc....we can easily add new lexical
morphemes to the language easily. So they are treated as
open-class of words
Grammatical (or) functional morphemes
GM or FM are functional / grammatical words
in a language such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles,
pronouns,& qualifiers.(e.g) and, but, when, because, or,
near, above, in, the.that.if etc..we cannot add new
functional morphemes to a language. So they are
described as “closed –class of words’’
Bound morphemes:
It is one which cannot stand in its own. it always
needs the support of a free morpheme. The morpheme –`
ing’ in the word `eating’ is a bound morpheme .We cannot
say I- ing . ` ing’ cannot occur on its own as a free form
for which the sentences is meaningless
TYPES OF LINGUISTICS
Sociolinguistics
Psycho linguistics
Anthropological linguistics ( ethnological linguistics)
Neurolinguistics
Computational linguistics
Applied linguistics
Historical linguistics
Dialectology
Psycho linguistics:
Psycholinguistics (or) psychology of language is the study
of the relationships between linguistic behaviour and psychological
processes, including the process of language acquisition.
Psycholinguistics studies the mental processes like processes of
thought, concept formation and their articulation in language.
Psycholinguistics also studies the influence of
psychological factors like intelligence, motivation, anxiety etc. A
kind of mental disability is the cause for children making mistakes
while reading. Psycholinguistics offers corrective measures for this
condition. It deals with the learning of language of language at
various stages and explains whether the human brain has an innate
language ability. The study of psycholinguistics is very useful in the
field of language teaching because it helps the teachers to understand
error production and the individual difference among the learners so
that they can frame a suitable syllabus for their level. So, language is
logically ordered and rational. Just as irrationality is present in
human language
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics deal with relation between
language and society. The language as the communication
tool and then the society is the communities of people.
Sociolinguistic investigation is the language study within
social context. The focus sociolinguistics is the effect of
the society on the language. It studies how language
varities differ between groups separated by certain social
variables example.(religion,, status,, gender,, level of
education,, age etc)
Anthropological linguistics
Anthropological studies explore the relation between
language and culture is invited to communicate and
express a culture.The language determines the way the
human being think and see the world. Anthropology is the
study of humans and human behaviour and societies in the
past and present. Social anthropology and cultural
anthropology study the norms and values of societies.
Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects
social life.
Neurolinguistics
Neurolinguistics is the study of
the
neural
mechanisms in the
humanbrain
that control the
comprehension, production, and acquisition of
language
.
As an interdisciplinary field, neurolinguistics draws
methods and theories from fields such
as
neuroscience
,
linguistics
,
cognitive
science
,
communication
disorders
and
neuropsychology
. Neurolinguists study
the physiological mechanisms by which the brain
processes information related to language, and evaluate
linguistic and psycholinguistic theories,
using
aphasiology
,
brain imaging
,
electrophysiology
, and
computer modelling
.
Computational linguistics
The branch of linguistics in which the techniques
of computer science are applied to the analysis and
synthesis of language and speech
Applied linguistics:
Applied linguistics
is an
interdisciplinary field of
linguistics
which identifies,
investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-
life problems. Some of the academic fields related
to
applied linguistics
are education, psychology,
communication research, anthropology, and sociology
Linguistics
.
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also called diachronic linguistics, is
the scientific study of
language change
over
time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
to describe and account for observed changes in particular
languages
to reconstruct the pre-history of languages and to
determine their relatedness, grouping them into
language
families
(
comparative linguistics
)
to develop general theories about how and why language
changes
to describe the history of
speech communities
to study the history of words, i.e.
ety
mology
Dialectology
Dialectology
(from Greek διάλεκτος, dialektos,
"talk, dialect"; and -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of
linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies
variations in language based primarily on geographic
distribution and their associated features.
Dialectology
is
the study of the way sounds, words and grammatical
forms vary within a language. The term is usually used to
describe the study both of accents (the varying sounds
used within a language) and dialects
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language systems, encompassing phonetics, syntax, semantics, phonology, pragmatics, and morphology. It explores how language functions, aids in language teaching, and facilitates error analysis. The scope of linguistics includes investigating sound systems, word structures, and sentence patterns across different speech communities.
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Presentation Transcript
By M.R.Vijaya Bhaarathy, Assistant Professor of English Department Swami vivekanandha arts and science college ,vallam. thanjavur
LINGUIST One who studies language is a linguist. The linguist has to investigate how people speak and use language in a given speech community at a given time. He is concerned with identifying and describing the units and patterns of the sound system, the words and morphemes and the phrases and sentences.
LINGUISTICS The word linguistics has been derived from the two Latin words lingua which means tongue & istics which means knowledge. Linguistics is the systematic study of language. It is the study not of one particular language but of human language in general. Linguistics is defined as a scientific study of the systems / principles underlying human languages. It traditionally encompasses semantics, syntax & phonology. Greek philosophers in the 5 thcentury BC who debated the origins of human language were the first in the west to be concerned with linguistic theory
In the 1950s Noam Chomsky challenged the structuralise program, arguing that linguistics should study native speakers unconscious knowledge of their language, not the language they actually produce .It involves an analysis of language form, language meaning & also language context. This is a huge topic, though & different parts of it can be studied in different way for different reasons. David crystal in his encyclopaedia defines linguistics as science of language
IMPORTANCE OF LINGUISTICS In language teaching, linguistic knowledge can be transferred into class room teaching. Linguistics is concerned with discovery more and more about the way language functions. Language teachers teach students how to use a language. A teacher who is exposed to linguistics can face the problem of language teaching with greater confidence and efficiency than one who is not exposed to linguistics Most of the teachers are worried about the errors that their students make. The error analysts are concerned with the kinds of error and the ways of their remedy. A background in linguistics would be helpful to one who wants to do error analysis
SCOPE OF LINGUISTICS Phonetics Syntax Semantics Phonology Pragmatics Morphology
Phonetics: Phonetics is a branch of linguistics & it is the branch dealing with the medium of speech .It deals with the production, transmission & reception of the sounds of human speech.1stphoneticians were Indian scholars who tried to preserve the pronunciation of Sanskrit holy texts Modern phonetics began with Alexander Melvile Bell Three types of phonetics are Articulatory: study of how to speech sound made, Acoustic : study of the physical properties of a speech as sound wave Auditory: study of the perception of speech sounds
Phonology The word phonology derived from ancient greek . Study of sound pattern within language. It is one of the fundamental systems which a language is considered to comprise, like its syntax & its vocabulary. Commonly phonology belongs to theoretical linguistics. The history of phonology may be traced back to the Sanskrit in 4thcentury. Phonology is the study of the way sound function in language, including phonemes, syllable, structure, stress, accent, intonation & which sounds are distinctive units within a language. Commonly its derived into two types Diachronic phonology (Same sound, different spelling) Synchronic phonology (end with nt and dm )
Morphology The study of words is called morphology or morphemics. It was originally used in biology and only in the 19 thcentury it came to linguistics. It now means the study of morphemes which are the smallest grammatical units in the language. Especially in the consistent patterns of inflection, combination, derivation and change that may be observed and classified
MORPHEMES: It is the smallest meaningful unit of a language (example) the word dehumanization consists of four parts or units as de+human+iz+ation. Such units are called morphemes..Types of morpheme :1)Free morpheme, 2)bound morpheme
Free morphemes: Free morphemes are elements which can stand by themselves as single words. They cannot be broken down into grammatical parts. They have only base form which is called a ``root or ``strem Free morphemes fall into two categories .They are lexical and grammatical / functional morphemes Lexical morphemes: The set ordinary nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs which carry the content of messages we convey are lexical morphemes. (E.g) girl , man, house, lion, happy, short , white , etc....we can easily add new lexical morphemes to the language easily. So they are treated as open-class of words
Grammatical (or) functional morphemes GM or FM are functional / grammatical words in a language such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles, pronouns,& qualifiers.(e.g) and, but, when, because, or, near, above, in, the.that.if etc..we cannot add new functional morphemes to a language. So they are described as closed class of words Bound morphemes: It is one which cannot stand in its own. it always needs the support of a free morpheme. The morpheme ` ing in the word `eating is a bound morpheme .We cannot say I- ing . ` ing cannot occur on its own as a free form for which the sentences is meaningless
TYPES OF LINGUISTICS Sociolinguistics Psycho linguistics Anthropological linguistics ( ethnological linguistics) Neurolinguistics Computational linguistics Applied linguistics Historical linguistics Dialectology
Psycho linguistics: Psycholinguistics (or) psychology of language is the study of the relationships between linguistic behaviour and psychological processes, including the process of language acquisition. Psycholinguistics studies the mental processes like processes of thought, concept formation and their articulation in language. Psycholinguistics also studies the influence of psychological factors like intelligence, motivation, anxiety etc. A kind of mental disability is the cause for children making mistakes while reading. Psycholinguistics offers corrective measures for this condition. It deals with the learning of language of language at various stages and explains whether the human brain has an innate language ability. The study of psycholinguistics is very useful in the field of language teaching because it helps the teachers to understand error production and the individual difference among the learners so that they can frame a suitable syllabus for their level. So, language is logically ordered and rational. Just as irrationality is present in human language
Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics deal with relation between language and society. The language as the communication tool and then the society is the communities of people. Sociolinguistic investigation is the language study within social context. The focus sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language. It studies how language varities differ between groups separated by certain social variables example.(religion,, status,, gender,, level of education,, age etc)
Anthropological linguistics Anthropological studies explore the relation between language and culture is invited to communicate and express a culture.The language determines the way the human being think and see the world. Anthropology is the study of humans and human behaviour and societies in the past and present. Social anthropology and cultural anthropology study the norms and values of societies. Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life.
Neurolinguistics Neurolinguistics is the study of the neural mechanisms in the humanbrain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. As an interdisciplinary field, neurolinguistics draws methods and theories from fields such as neuroscience, linguistics, cognitive science, communication disorders and neuropsychology. Neurolinguists study the physiological mechanisms by which the brain processes information related to language, and evaluate linguistic and psycholinguistic theories, using aphasiology, brain imaging, electrophysiology, and computer modelling.
Computational linguistics The branch of linguistics in which the techniques of computer science are applied to the analysis and synthesis of language and speech Applied linguistics: Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real- life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication research, anthropology, and sociology Linguistics.
Historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also called diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages to reconstruct the pre-history of languages and to determine their relatedness, grouping them into language families(comparative linguistics) to develop general theories about how and why language changes to describe the history of speech communities to study the history of words, i.e. etymology
Dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , dialektos, "talk, dialect"; and - , -logia) is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features. Dialectology is the study of the way sounds, words and grammatical forms vary within a language. The term is usually used to describe the study both of accents (the varying sounds used within a language) and dialects
