INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
1.Terms :
Linguistics (noun) : The scientific study of language. (an academic discipline)
Linguistic (adjective) : (1) The adjective from language, as in such phrases as ‘linguistic
(2) The adjective from linguistics, where it refers to an approach
characterized by the scientific attributes of that subject, as in
‘linguistic analysis’.
Linguist (noun) : (1) A person who studies linguistics. For this meaning, the term
Linguistician is also used.
(2) Someone who speaks a large number of languages.
A linguist in the sense of a linguistics expert need not be fluent
in languages, though he must have a wide experience of
different types of languages
2. What is Linguistics ?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It is called scientific because the empirical methods of the sciences are employed as much as possible in order to bring the precision and control of scientific investigation to the study of language. Empirical (adjective) means guided by or based on practical experience of the world we see and feel not by ideas out of books (Longman …). Empirical method requires an observer to see the conformity between objects (Dinneen). The system of working by empirical methods is called empiricism (Longman).
Because Scientific investigation employs an empirical approach. it is described as being exact and objective. An objective study is to be understood as contrasting with one that is subjective. Instead of saying that something is hot, the scientist would measure the degree of heat by means of a standard thermometer.
A non scientific approach can be called subjective because it requires two observers to take the same mental attitude toward a subject, while the objective approach of science merely requires them to see the conformity of the subject in question to some sort of standard measure. Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions What is language ? and How does language work ?
3. What is language ?
The term language refers to human beings. When this term is used to refer to other aspects the term language is always used together with another term for example, animal language, body language etc. One definition of language widely associated with linguistics states that Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. To know deeper what exactly language is; how one defines it; what its characteristic features are, one of the best ways is to compare language with animal communication, and to see where the similarities and differences lie.
3.1 Use of sound signals
The statement that language is sound may appear obvious, since most common experience all men have of language is in speaking and listening to it. Many animals also use sounds to communicate with one another. Sound signals has have several advantages. They can be used in the dark, and at some distance, they allow a wide variety of messages to be sent, and they leave the body free for other activities.
3.2 Arbitrariness
In human language, there is no link whatsoever between the signal and the message in the great majority of cases. There is no intrinsic connection between the sounds and the message (meaning) a human being wishes. The word dog for example, does not have intrinsic connection with the animal it symbolizes. Onomatopoeic words such as quack-quack and bang are exceptions but there are relatively few of these compared with the total number of words. A few words in most languages are onomatopoeic (the sounds of the words supposedly imitate the sounds of nature. Even here, the sounds differ from one language to another. English people say cockadoodledoo, Russians say kukuriku, Javanese people say kukuruyuk, and Sundanese people say kongkorongok to represent the rooster’s crow. In animal communication, the reverse is true. There is often strong link between the actual signal and the message an animal wishes to convey. An animal who wishes to warn off an opponent may stimulate an attacking attitude.
3.3. Duality
Animals that use signals have a stock of basic sounds which vary according to species. Most animals can use each basic sound only once. That is, the number of messages an animal can send is restricted to the number of basic sounds plus a few simple combinations.
Human language works rather differently. Each language has a stock of sound units or phonemes which are similar in number to the basic sounds possessed by animals; the average number is between thirty and forty. But each phoneme is normally meaningless in isolation. It becomes meaningful only when it is combined with other phonemes. That is, sounds such as f, g, d, o, mean nothing separately. They take on meaning only when they are combined together in various ways, as in fog, dog, god.
This organization of language into two layers, a layer of sounds which combine into a second layer of larger units, is known as duality or double articulation. A communication system with duality is considerable more flexible than one without it, because a far greater number of messages can be sent.
3.4. Displacement
Most animals can communicate about things in the immediate environment only. A bird utters its danger cry only when danger present. It cannot give information about a peril which is removed in time and place. This type of spontaneous utterance is nearer to human baby’s emotional cries of pain, hunger or contentment than it is fully developed language.
Human language, by contrast, can communicate about things that are absent as easily as about things that are present. This apparently rare phenomenon, is known as displacement,
3.4 Creativity (Productivity)
A human can produce a novel utterance whenever he wants to. He can utter a sentence which has never been said before, in the most unlikely circumstances, and still be understood.
3.5. Patterning
Many animal communication systems consist of a simple list of elements. There is no internal organization within the system. Language can be regarded as intricate network of interlinked elements in which every item is held in its place and given its identity by all the other items.
3.6 Structure Dependence
Language operations are structure dependent; they depend on an understanding of the internal structure of a sentence rather than on the number of elements involved.
3.7 The Need for Learning
Most animals automatically know how to communicate without learning. Their systems of communication are genetically inbuilt. Human language is by no means totally conditioned by the environment, and there is almost certainly some type innate predisposition towards language in a new-born child. But this latent potentiality can only be activated by long exposure to language, which requires careful step-by-step learning. To acquire human language needs the long learning process. It is culturally transmitted.
4. Functions of Language
The primary function of language is to impart factual information and to convey essential commands. Other functions are (1) to communicate feelings and emotions (crying, screaming, etc.), (2) to maintain social contact on a friendly level. It is called Phatic Communion, (3) for purely aesthetic reasons.
5. The Scope of Linguistics
Linguistics covers phonology, syntax, and semantics. They constitute the grammar of language. Phonetics is useful for a linguist. Yet it is a basic background knowledge, rather than part of linguistics itself.
6. The development of The Study of Language
6.1 Tradional Grammar
By the 1st century , BC grammarians like DIONYSIUS THRAX had worked out an elaborate system- later called traditional grammar that was by and large faithful to the structure and properties of GREEK.
In 6th century AD Aelius DONATUS and Priscian adopted the system for their own language, Latin, and it worked well because Greek and Latin are both genetically related as INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES and both are structurally quite similar.
Traditional Grammar which is based on Latin was not relevant anymore to be applied in the study of Romance Languages ( Italian, French, and Spanish) because these languages are so different from Latin. The Scholars of Romance languages urged to use the archaic language forms and patterns found in Latin which were believed to be somehow better and purer. The view of Roman language experts are: The language change is inherently pathological, and that hence people’s language should be kept immune from its normal course of development. This opinion is called Linguistic Prescriptiivism.
In the 17th century General grammar emerged. This development started in the 15th century. The development of philosophical interest in properties common to all languages, particularly with reference to canons of universal logic culminated in this century.
6.2 Historical Linguistics (19th Century)
The 19th century linguistics is well known as historical linguistics. Before the 19th century, language in the western world was of interest mainly to philosophers. The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle made major contributions to the study of language. The 19th century linguists concern with reconstructing Proto-Indo European , and making hypotheses about the way it split into the various modern languages. The linguists were encouraged by Sir William Jones from England who read a paper to the Royal Asiatic Society in Calcuta pointing out that Snkrit (the old Indian language), Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Germanic all had striking structural similarities. He concluded that these languages must spring from one common source.
6.3 Descriptive Linguistics (Early-to mid-20th century)
6.3.1 Ferdinand de Saussure
In the 20th century, the emphasis shifted from language change to language description. Linguists began to concentrate on describing single languages at one particular point in time. The Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure, the father of modern linguistics, whose students collected his lecture notes under the title Cours de Linguistique Generale (Course in General Linguistics) first suggested that language was like a game of chess, a system in which each item is defined by its relationship to all the others. His insistence that language was a carefully built structure of interwoven elements initiated the era of structural linguistics. The term structural linguistics here must not be confused with structural linguistics which is the branch of school of linguistics. ‘Structural’ here means the recognition that language is a patterned system composed of interdependent elements, rather than a collection of unconnected individual items. Based on this meaning. All linguistics since de Saussure is structural.
During his studies. Ferdinand de Saussure had become dissatisfied with the idea that the sole method of studying language scientifically is from a historical point of view. The approach of language study through history is called diachronic approach. The study of language according to F. de Saussure must use synchronic approach. The synchronic study of language is the study of language at one particular point in time. The diachronic study of language is like a trunk of tree which is cut from the bottom to the top, and the synchronic study is like a trunk of tree which is cut horizontally.
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