PREFACE
In some dictionaries, linguistics means ‘scientific study of language’. In The New Oxford Dictionary of English (2003), linguistics is defined:
“The scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, comparative linguistics, and structural linguistics.”
One of the central and defining features of man is language; there can be no deep understanding of man without some understanding of language. The central task of linguistics is grammar, the study of the patterning that brings together sounds or symbols with meanings. The best of the new "linguistic textbooks" can be used profitably. But ultimately it is not the textbook that counts. The students must be helped to look deeply at language, learn what to look for, and how to interpret what they find. Above all, they must look on language as patterning, interrelated, interacting, and intricate. Disciplined attention to language should begin near the start of schooling with children who are in, or have just emerged from, their greatest adventure with language--the learning of their mother tongue.
CHAPTER II
INTRODUCTION THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS, LANGUAGE TEACHING, THE RELEVANCE OF LINGUISTICS
v Language is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
v Linguistic knowledge includes:
Ø Knowledge of the sound system: knowing what sounds are in that language and what sounds are not.
Ø Knowledge of words: knowing the sound units that are related to specific meanings.
§ Arbitrary relationship between form (sounds) and meaning (concept) of a word.
§ Onomatopoeia: words whose pronunciations suggest their sounds.
Ø Knowledge of sentences: knowing how to form sentences.
1. grammatical competence;
2. communicative competence;
3. creative competence.
v Linguistic performance: mechanical / motor skills necessary for the production and reception of language.
v Prescriptive Grammar:
Prescription, on the other hand, is an attempt to promote particular linguistic usages over others. This may have the aim of establishing a linguistic standard, which can aid communication over large geographical areas. It may also, however, be an attempt by speakers of one language or dialect to exert influence over speakers of other languages or dialects. An extreme version of prescriptivism can be found among censors, who attempt to eradicate words and structures which they consider to be destructive to society.
v Descriptive Grammar:
Linguistics is descriptive; linguistics describe and explain features of language without making subjective judgments on whether a particular feature is "right" or "wrong". This is analogous to practice in other sciences: a zoologist studies the animal kingdom without making subjective judgments on whether a particular animal is better or worse than another.
There are many possible theoretical positions about the nature of language. Here are three different views which explicitly or implicitly are reflected in current approaches to language learning.
The structural view of language is that language is a system of structurally related elements for the transmission of meaning. These elements are usually described as:
v phonological units (phonemes)
v grammatical units (phrases, clauses, sentences)
v grammatical operations (adding, shifting, joining or transforming elements)
v lexical items (function words and structure words)
v linguistic analysis
v textual discourse analysis
The communicative or functional view of language is the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. The semantic and communicative dimensions of language are more emphasized than the grammatical characteristics, although these are also included.
Areas of research in this view of language:
v sociolinguistics
v pragmatics
v semantics
Areas of research in this view of language:
v interactional analysis
v conversational analysis
v ethno methodology
Language change or the evolution of language is the phenomenon where by phonetic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and other features of language vary over time. Two linguistic disciplines in particular concern themselves with studying language change: historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. Historical linguists examine how people in the past used language and seek to determine how subsequent languages derive from previous ones and relate to one another. Sociolinguists study the origins of language changes and want to explain how society and changes in society influence language.
Areas of linguistics
Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields, there are:
- Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception.
- Phonology, the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning.
- Morphology, the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified
- Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences.
- Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences.
- Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used in communicative acts, and the role played by context and non-linguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning.
Other sub-disciplines of linguistics include:
- Applied linguistics, the study of language-related issues applied in everyday life, notably language policies, planning, and education. (Constructed language fits under Applied linguistics.)
- Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals, compared to human language.
- Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology.
- Computational linguistics, the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures.
- Developmental linguistics, the study of the development of linguistic ability in individuals, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood.
- Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language by the human species.
- Historical linguistics or diachronic linguistics, the study of language change over time.
- Language geography, the study of the geographical distribution of languages and linguistic features.
- Linguistic typology, the study of the common properties of diverse unrelated languages, properties that may, given sufficient attestation, be assumed to be innate to human language capacity.
- Neurolinguistics, the study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication.
- Psycholinguistics, the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use.
- Sociolinguistics, the study of variation in language and its relationship with social factors.
- Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context.
· Language acquisition, which considers how children acquire their first language and how children and adults acquire and learn their second and subsequent languages.
We use language for an almost infinate number of purposes, from writing letters, or notes to the milkman, to gossiping with our friend, making speeches and talking to ourselves in the mirror. But if you think about it there are a number of reccuring fuctions which, despite the many differnt uses we make of language, are generally being served. Some are apparently so ordinary as almost to pass unnoticed as functions, whilst others are more lofty and almost abstract. But the important think to recognize is that, linguistcally speaking, they are all equal importance. Whatever social significance we may give to various functions, language itself does not discriminate.
a. To release nervous / physical energy ( physiological function)
This may seem a rather trivial function but in fact a good deal of language use has a physiological purpose. If you are a sports fan watching your favourite sport on television you may well feel overwhelmingurge at certain exciting moments in the match to shout instructions to the players; go on, don’t mess about, for god’s sake shout! The instructions are prefectly useless, they serve no communicative purpose, but they allow us to release pent-up energy which otherwise would be quite intolerable. A great deal of what we say when angry, in the heat of the moment, is said simply to relieve the physical and nervous energy generated by emotional distress. It’s often a mistake to take what is said in such moments literally. The distress, of course, is real enough but the language we use is really the equivalent of flailing about. Indeed, language is frequently not adequate enough to relieve our feelings fully and we may need to find other ways of finding relief-bursting into tears, for example.
b. For purposes of sociability (phatic function)
It is surprising how often we use language for no other reason than simply to signal our general disposition to be sociable. The technical term for this is phatic communion. The word ‘phatic’ comes from Greek and means ‘ utterance’; it’s the same root from which we get ‘emphatic’. So literally this is speech for its own sake.
c. To provide a record (recording function)
This is a more obviously ‘serious’ use of language than the previous two, although not necessarilly more significant even so. We are constantly using language to record things we wish to remember. It might be a short-term record, as in a shopping list or a list of things to do, or a long-term record, as in diary or history of some kind. It’s the most official use of language; bureaucracies thrive on exact records and modern commercial life would beimpossible without up-to-date and acurate files. Indeed, it’s probably the most significant function behind the development of language from being simply an oral medium to becoming a written one.
d. To identify and classify things (identifying function)
Language not only allows us to records, but also to identify, with considerable precision, an enormous array of objects and events, without which it would be very difficult to make sense of world around us. Learning the names of things allows us to refer quickly and accurately to them; it gives us power over them. Many non-literate societies believe that names are sacred; once you know the name of someone or something you can manipulate it magically by means of a spell or special ritual.
e. As an instrument of thought (reasoning function)
f. As a means of communicating ideas and feelings (communicating function)
g. To give delight
- The ideational function
- The interpersonal function
- The poetic function
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