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Theories (Introduction)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It is characterized by being explicit, systematic, and objective. It involves describing, analyzing, and examining language through controlled observations and reference to linguistic theory, rather than teaching or learning language. Language is a systematic symbolic system used by people to relate symbols to concepts. It has an internal structure governed by rules of semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Linguistics studies this underlying rule system or grammar of language.

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17 views

Theories (Introduction)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It is characterized by being explicit, systematic, and objective. It involves describing, analyzing, and examining language through controlled observations and reference to linguistic theory, rather than teaching or learning language. Language is a systematic symbolic system used by people to relate symbols to concepts. It has an internal structure governed by rules of semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Linguistics studies this underlying rule system or grammar of language.

Uploaded by

Lin1990
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

Linguistics is
the scientific study of language.

Scientific: organized method of science/ related to facts/


investigation by means of controlled and empirically verifiable
observations and reference to some general theory of language-
structure.
In order for a discipline to be scientific it must be characterized by
three features:

Explicit:

It dictates that you should be clear about the assumptions on which a study
based also you have to make the intermediate stages of an argument clear.

Systematic:

This term entails the consistent use of terms or procedure, i.e. the study of
language using procedures as methodical and standardized as possible.

Objectivity : (is more or less synonymous with “empirical”):

There are two basic meanings of this term:

 it refers to the fact that the study must be based on physical


observations.
 Also, an empirical test is one in which the examination of phenomenon
takes place under controlled, experimental conditions.

Study: describe/analyze/examine ( nothing to do with either learning or


teaching).
Language

 You may tell: “It is a means by which we can express our thoughts,
ideas and feelings”. It is correct >>but>> it does not explain very much.
 The word LANGUAGE is normally used to describe a particular symbolic
system used by people, as in English language or in Spanish language.
It is a systematic way of relating symbols to things or concepts
symbolized, and such a system is common to all the peoples
of the world.
 It is noted that a particular language (such as English, …..) can
be described by a GRAMMAR, which is made up by a set of
rules.
 These rules make explicit every aspect of a language,
Semantics (the study of meaning) ,Syntax (the way words go
together /combined with each other to form grammatical
sentences in rule-governed way ), Morphology (the study of
words and their structure, i.e., the way words are formed).
Words are meaningful units that can be combined to form
phrases and sentences. When a speaker hears a word in his
language, he has immediate association with a particular
meaning). Phonology (the sound systems of languages).

Explanation:

 It is more practical to give statement about language that


might be a part of a definition.
 One of the most important and fundamental aspects to
consider in trying to define language is that :

An analysis of language reveals the presence of a system.


 This system influences the linguistic structure (the way we
form sentences and words from smaller meaningful units).
 Linguists call the workings of this system RULES and they
demonstrated that our knowledge of our native language is
governed by these rules, which are internal.
 These RULES are not like the rules learned in schools (e.g.
don’t say ain’t)>>> These are rules that one is usually not
conscious of; they are internal and unknown.

The SUM total of these rules is called a GRAMMAR.

Linguistics

Theoretical Applied

Def. + branches Def. + branches

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