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What is linguistics?
1- Empiricism
2- Exactness
3- Objectivity
Language
a- Linguistic definitions of language
b- Additional linguistic definitions
c-Dictionary definition of language
d-Linguistic definition vs Dictionary
definition
e-Natural language vs Artificial language
f-Characteristics of natural languages
Summary
What is linguistics?
The term linguistics refers to the scientific
study of language.
That is,
it is based on the systematic investigation of
a body of data within a coherent general
theory of language structure
( i.e body of knowledge that is structured in
ways that characterise it as science rather
than everyday beliefs) .
Its task is to discover and discribe the nature
underlying the language system.
Narrowly, the adjective scientific denotes the application
of three basic criteria:
1- Empiricism
2- Exactness
3- Objectivity
1- Classical Grammar
2- Medieval Grammar
3- Pedagogical Grammar
4- Comparative Philology
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR STUDIES
1- Classical Grammar
By classical grammar we mean the investigation
to the nature of language carried out first by the
Greek grammarians in the fifth century B.C.
2- Assumption of classical
grammar
a- Language is writing
Writing is considered as the
primary medium of expression.
Speech is merely an imperfect
copy of writing. This view stems
from the prevalence of the sacred
writings in Greek and Latin.
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR STUDIES
b- Language is prescriptive
Examples
Plural forms:
+ s => books
+ es => boxes
+ ies => ladies
Child => children
Ox => oxen
d- Main contributions
Homework
3-Main contributions
Despite of the numerous
misconceptions and false
assumptions about the patterns
underlying language, and the
lack of theoretical systematic
analysis, classical grammar has
at its record a rich technical
vocabulary and sound rules
governing correct usage of
language. Here are its main
- The classification of the patterns
of inflection, and the distinction
between active and passive voice
as well as transitive and
intransitive verbs.
Language
(Faculty of speech)
Social
Individual
Product
product
The linguistic system:
a system of Individual speaking
regularities act: actual language
underlying speech behaviour
behaviour
b- Synchrony and diachrony
Synchronic study of language
denotes an investigation of the
way people speak in a given
speech community at a given
point in time. In other words, it is
the description of language
system (tat de langue) at a
specific stage of its development,
for example, the study of Modern
English and Middle English.
Diachronic study of language deals
with its historical development
through time. In other words, the
changes that language has
undergone over periods of time,
for example, the way in which
Modern English has evolved
from Middle and Old English, or
French and Italian from Latin.
Within the Saussaurian
theoretical framework,
synchronic descriptions take
priority over diachronic studies,
because they represent first the
new orientations in linguistic
research, and secondly they have
the adventage of permitting the
verifiability of data.
Types of linguistic Study
Synchronic
Diachronic
Language Historical
The study of
as it development
language as
existed at /change of
it exists at
any point in language
the present-
time, e.g. (Sound-
day
provided change,
e.g.
that there borrowing,
Contempora
is sufficient coinage)
ry English
data
c- Linguistic sign
Syntagmatic relations
Linguistic signs are said to be in
syntagmatic relationship when
they combine to form a longer
unit (syntagma). This one is
therefore composed of two or
more consecutive units arranged
in a linear sequence (horizontal)
Paradigmatic relations
Paradigmatic relations
Bloomfields Application
Methodology
Even though de Saussures theoretical
assumptions and postulated approach
stimulated new interest in descriptive
linguistics (foundation of the Prague
school of linguistics in 1926), the starting
point of linguistics as an autonomous,
empirical and scientific discipline truly
began with the publication of Leonard
Bloomfields book Language (1933). This
book was the first coherent synthesis of
both theory and application of linguistic
analysis.
Homework
S________r---------s_________ R