LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. By scientific it is meant that there is investigation by means of
controlled and empirically verifiable observations, with a reference to some general theory of language. (John
Lyons). Moreover, as a science, it has its own jargon; e.g. phoneme, morpheme, preposition, syntax … etc.

Although many different civilizations had carried out different types of language studies, Linguistics came into
being as a science at the end of the nineteenth century – beginning of the twentieth century. The Swiss scholar
Ferdinand de Saussure is known as the father of Modern Linguistics. But he himself did not publish his studies
and research. His theory of language was compiled by his disciples after his death, and published in 1916.

De Saussure stated that language can be studied from two perspectives: diachronically (a historical study) o
synchronically (a descriptive study).
A diachronic study of language deals with the study of a discrete unit (a phoneme/ a morpheme/ the meaning
of a word) throughout time.
A synchronic study of language deals with the description of a particular state of language at some point in
time (not necessarily modern). It includes the study of all levels of language (Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax
and Semantics), and the social and local characteristics of a language and its users.

Traditionally, Linguistics included the study of three main branches: General Linguistics, Psycholinguistics
and Sociolinguistics.

General Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics,

Theoretical Linguistics, Language and the individual, Language as a social phenomenon
Formal Linguistics, Language and the mind
The linguistic study of language
It deals with the philosophical It studies language as the product of
It studies how we use language to
study of language, the nature of the mind, and how the mind reacts communicate with others, the
language. It attempts to describe to language and through language. norms and conventions that
what a language is. It studies language a particular sort
regulate the use of language in a
It implies the study of language for of behaviour. One way we have to certain community.
its own sake. react to stimuli from the outside It studies how the members of a
It aims to describe the structure of world is through language (that’s speech community relate to each
language. In its description, it why it is considered a sort of other, interact and co-operate.
analyses the different levels of behaviour). It studies how language changes
language: Phonology, Morphology, It also studies how the mind according to the social situation and
Syntax and acquires the mother tongue and the participants (their beliefs,
Semantics. learns a foreign language.
attitudes, background knowledge,
rank, social status, occupation or
profession).
Implications fo r language teaching (Applied Linguistics / Pedagogy):
Language teachers need to know By knowing how the brain acquires Our understanding of the roles the
the system of the language they language, we, as language teachers, learners will have to fulfil in
teach. can improve our teaching different communicative situations
This area of study is related to strategies. will allow us to teach them which
ACCURACY; i.e. the use of the For example, according to the linguistic exponents, lexis, and
correct grammar rules. theory of multiple intelligences we structures best suit in certain
can design activities that fit the contexts.
This area of study is related to
different types of learners and their
register and APPROPRIACY i.e.
learning styles.
the use of the best linguistic
exponents for each particular

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 communicative situation.
Thanks to the developments in
Sociolinguistics, language teaching
has adopted a more social
approach. Lessons are focused on
specific communicative functions
that the students have to fulfil; e.g.
making a request, giving advice …
etc.
This social approach to language
teaching has given rise to certain
features such as:
- language is presented in
situations, in dialogues instead of in
isolated sentences;
- the introduction of audio-
visual material;
- a more ‘natural’ use of
- grammar rules were taught to language through role playing
activities; - grammar is a means to
build up correct sentences in effective communication; i.e.
isolation. instead of drilling the language to
fix a grammar rule, the grammatical
structure is ‘used’ for a
communicative purpose (e.g. ‘Do
you … ?’ is used to ask about
habits and routine)
It provides us with the content to be It tells us HOW TO TEACH. It helps students to learn WHEN
taught; i.e. WHAT TO TEACH AND WHERE TO USE
CERATAIN LANGUAGE
EXPONENTS.

What Linguistics is Not (David Crystal)

is not only Philology (or History of a language). The development of words or one aspect of
language is just one aspect of Linguistics.
is not Polyglotism (the learning of many languages)..
is not literary criticism in terms of aesthetic, moral or critical standards.
LINGUISTICS
is not the traditional study of Grammar (as it was carried out since the Greeks up to the
nineteenth century)
not elocution lessons. (Elocution is the act of good clear speaking in public. It focuses on the
correct selection of lexis, and rules of pronunciation and intonation)

Characteristics of Modern Linguistics

- No language is primitive. Each language fulfils the needs of its users. It has enough sounds and enough
words for the members of the speech community that use it.
- No language is more beautiful or better than another one. Yet, policy makers may decide to teach a
certain foreign language instead of another for reasons such as economic, cultural or administrative. For

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 example, due to the large amount of bibliography in English available in the field of Science and
Technology, the main foreign language taught at universities is English.
- Similarly, no accent is superior to another. However, the teaching of a certain accent may favour
certain job opportunities.
- No language decays. Languages change. A linguist will not make aesthetic judgements or value the
quality of a language spoken at a certain time in history. A linguist may analyse the number of words
and variety of lexis used by a group of speakers and find out that at present younger people use a more
restricted range of vocabulary, but he will not conclude that that language has decayed.
- There is a focus on the study of speech. For centuries only the written language was studied. This mode
was considered to be the purest and best manifestation of language. Writers follow the rules of
grammar. Therefore, this mode of language did not have mistakes. On the other hand, speech was
considered as imperfect. When we speak, we hesitate, we repeat ideas, we leave sentences unfinished
… etc. Therefore, speech was considered to be inferior to writing. However, modern linguistics
prioritises the study of speech for a number of reasons:
 Most of our verbal communication is through speech instead of writing,
 Speech comes first in the history of each individual (some people never
learn to read and write but they use oral language),
 Speech comes first in the history of civilization (even at present some
ethnic groups do not have a system of writing [but they have an oral
language]; moreover, other civilizations disappeared leaving no trace of
written language [but they had their system of oral language])  We do not
need any elements to speak.
 We can speak in the dark.
- Every language should be described in its own terms, and not from the point of view of another
language (i.e. by comparing and contrasting two languages).
- Linguistics analyses language in use. Linguistics is DESCRIPTIVE; i.e. a linguist describes HOW
LANGUAGE IS USED. On the other hand, Grammar is prescriptive; i.e. a grammarian prescribes rules
of usage; in other words, he tells us HOW LANGUAGE SHOULD BE USED.
- Modern Linguistics analyses what is said and how something is said. A linguist just describes speech.
He does not say it is wrong, right or nice.

What Linguistics is

AS AN END IN ITSELF. It attempts to provide a complete description of the structure of a

Linguistics language and how it is used.
studies language AS A MEANS TO A FURTHER END. For example, to use the information about the
structure of a language and how it is used in order to teach a language.

Why is language studied?

Because language does not evolve by itself. It does not come out naturally. It must be acquired and/or taught.
We are born with the capacity to acquire our mother tongue, but we need to interact with other members of the
speech community in order to develop our mental grammar.

The SIDES of language (David Crystal)

▪ The FUNCTIONAL side: It is related to the jobs that language does in human society. The main function of
language is human communication; i.e. the transmission of information (a message) either vocally or
graphically from a source to a receiver.

There are other forms of communication used by human beings. Human beings can communicate by
any of their senses
- by SIGHT (e.g. gestures, hand signs, winks, raised eyebrows, clothes and colours)
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 - by HEARING (a melody)
- by SCENT or SMELL (a perfume)
- by TOUCH (a caress, holding someone’s hand)
- by taste (offering a sweet)

All these examples are instances of different types of communication. They can accompany the use of
language, but they are not part of language.

LANGUAGE IS RESTRICTED TO THE VOCAL SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION (This involves

the sense of hearing). The sense of sight is involved when language is used in the written mode.

LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM OF ORAL SYMBOLS USED FOR COMMUNICATION BY HUMAN

BEINGS.
(ORAL --- 1st comes oral language in the history of the individual, and in the history of civilization)
(SYMBOLS --- meaning is arbitrary, a matter of convention)
(COMMUNICATION --- we interact and cooperate with others through language)

LANGUAGE IS ESSENTIALLY A CONTROLLED BEHAVIOUR, SHARED IN VAROIUS

DEGREES BY ALL THE PEOPLE IN A GIVEN SPEECH COMMUNITY. Therefore, there cannot
be much place for originality or idiosyncrasy (the way of behaving of a particular person). Otherwise, if
every person had their own system, no one would understand anybody else.

LANGUAGE IS THE HUMAN VOCAL NOISE (or the GRAPHIC representation of this noise, in
WRITING) used systematically and conventionally by a community for purposes of communication.

▪ The STRUCTURAL or FORMAL side:

It includes the description of the levels of language:
Phonetics: the branch of Linguistics that studies human speech sounds
Phonology: the study of the sound system of A language
Morphology: the study of morphemes and the way they combine in word formation
[morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit of language]
Syntax: the study of how words combine to form sentences and the rules which govern the formation of
sentences
Semantics: the study of meaning of linguistic forms

It deals with the study of the its origin, its features, the relationships between speech and
NATURE OF LANGUAGE
The strands of Modern

writing, a historical study …

It has a DESCRIPTIVE AREA the description of the structure of A language, the comparison
between various languages …
It has a PRACTICAL AREA the techniques to study Phonetics, Phonology, Grammar …
Linguistics

It has a THEORETICAL SIDE the formulation of a theory that includes all aspects of language
(its structure, its function, its nature)
It has a APPLIED SIDE the study of language not as a means in itself, but as a means to
another end (e.g. to teach a language)

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The Nature of Language (Widdowson)

Language as cognition Language as communication

Through l anguage…
we discover our identities as individuals. we communicate, interact and socialize with other
human beings.
we recall the past, shape the present and project the
future.
Language enables us to think. Language enables us to cooperate with other
members of the community.
Language is internalized in the mind as abstract Language is acquired and experienced in the social
knowledge, it is the product of the mind. interactions with other members of the speech
community.
Metaphor (of the personal pronouns)
Language allows the first person (I / ego) to cope Language allows the first person (I / ego) to cope
with the third person (he / she / they). It allows us with the second person (you), to establish a basis
to get to know the outside world (the third person), for cooperative action and social relations.
to classify it and organize it, and to bring it under
control. It allows us to act upon the environment
and to modify it.
Language has an int ricate relation with…
the human mind. human society.

The Design of Language

The systems of communication used by other species operate in a REACTIVE way; i.e., they react to stimuli
using a fixed set of cries or vocal noises. They have a restricted repertoire of sounds which is used as a kind of
automatic response.
On the other hand, human language is mainly used in PROACTIVE way; i.e. we create our own meanings. We
do no repeat set phrases every time we use language. We combine words in different ways to express our
intentions and meanings.

The design features of language (according to Widdowson)

ARBITRARINESS: most words are symbols; i.e. there is no natural resemblance between their form (sequence
of phonemes) and the significatum. Meaning is a matter of convention. That’s why the same object is named
with a different sequence of phonemes in different languages. (e.g. perro / dog / chien [French]) DUALITY:
Within human language it is possible to distinguish two levels of structure. At one level there are the smallest
units of language (the phonemes), which are meaningless in isolation. However, when they are combined at a
higher level we form meaningful units (words). This duality provides language with an enormous productive
power.
PRODUCTIVITY: This feature (or quality of language) is the result of duality. At the lowest level of language
we only find about 40 meaningless units (on average each language has a set of forty phonemes). In spite of

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this small number of elements which are the basis of language, they can be combined in an infinite number of
ways, each time producing a new word, with a new meaning.
FLEXIBILITY: Only human language can be transmitted in two modes: speech and writing.

How do we get to master language?

In his research about how human beings acquire language, the linguist Noam Chomsky stated that we are born
genetically programmed to acquire language. Even though we are not born with the system of A language in
our mind, he claims that we are equipped with a LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD) in our brain
that allows us to acquire language, to infer rules of the language we hear, and to combine words in novel words
to express our own meanings. This can be proved when we hear children saying utterances that they have never
heard before. Moreover, it is not necessary for a child to hear all nouns in the plural in order to use the bound
inflectional morpheme for plurality.
In his theory, Chomsky states that within the LAD lie the rules of Universal Grammar (UG). He describes this
Universal Grammar as a set of general parameters which are common to all languages; for example, the
capacity we have as a species to distinguish singular from plural, or past from present. These general
parameters (which do not correspond to the rules of A particular language but are common to all languages)
allow the child to infer rules of the language he hears. For example, early in his life a child learns how to form
the plural of a noun without being formally taught that he needs to add the morpheme (s).
These rules that he infers (in a subconscious way – because he is not able to state them, but he knows how to
apply them) from the language he hears (according to Chomsky thanks to the fact that we are equipped with
these innate parameters of UG since birth) are the ones that form what Yule has called Mental Grammar. In
other words, we are born with a set of general parameters (UG) which are common to all languages. In turn,
these parameters allow us to develop our Mental Grammar of A language.

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