Chapter 1   Introduction

1 what is linguistics?

Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. Linguistics studies not any particular language, but languages in general. Linguistic study is scientific because it is based on the systematic investigation of authentic language data. No serious linguistic conclusion is reached until after the linguist has done the following three things: observing the way language is actually used, formulating some hypotheses, and testing these hypotheses against linguistic facts to prove their validity.

2 The scope of linguistics.

1 The study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics.

2 The study of sounds used in linguistic communication led to the establishment of a branch of linguistics called phonetics.

3 As linguists became interested in how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning in communication, they developed another branch of study related to sounds called phonology.

4 While sounds are primary in linguistic communication, they are represented by certain symbols, words and even smaller components called morphemes. The study of the way in which these symbols are arranged to form words has constituted the branch of study called morphology.

5 The combination of words to form permissible sentences in language is governed by rules. The study of these rules constitutes a major branch of linguistic studies---- Syntax.

6 The ultimate objective of language is not just to create grammatically well-formed sentences, but to convey meaning, so the study of meaning was gradually developed and became known as semantics.

When the study of meaning is conducted not in isolation, but in the context of use, it becomes another branch of linguistic study called pragmatics.

7 Language and society are closely connected. The language a person use often reveals his social background, and there exist social norms that determine the type of language to be used on a certain occasion: and language changes are often caused by social changes. The study of all these social aspects of language and its relation with society form the core of the branch called sociolinguistics.

8 Psycholinguistics relates the study of language to psychology. It aims to answer such questions as how the human mind works when we use language, how we as infants acquire our mother tongue, how we memorize, and how we process the information we receive in the course of communication.

9 Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the solution of such practical problems as the recovery of speech ability. The study of such applications is generally known as applied linguistics. But in narrow sense applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistics theories and principles to language teaching, especially the teaching of foreign and second language.

3 what makes modern linguistics different from traditional grammar?

Early grammars were based on “high” (religious, literary) language. They set models for language users to follow. And today, the grammar taught to learner of a language is still basically prescriptive. On the other hand, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive. Linguistic study is supposed to describe the language people actually use, be it “correct” or not. Linguists believe that whatever occurs in the language people use should be described and analyzed in their investigation.

4 Is modern linguistics mainly synchronic or diachronic?

The description of a language at some point in time is a synchronic study; the description of a language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. For example, a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare`s time would be a synchronic study, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, Synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various states of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development .synchronic description are often thought of as being description of a language as it exists at the present day and most linguistic studies are of this type.

5 which enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or writing? Why?

Speech enjoys priority over writing in modern linguistic study for the following reasons: 1 speech precedes writing in terms of evolution. 2 a larger amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing, 3 speech is the form in which infants acquire their native language.

6 How is Saussure`s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky`s distinction between competence and performance?

Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. their purpose is to single out the language system for serious study.

Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. Langue is the set of conventions and rules which language users all have to abide by, and parole is the concrete use of the conventions and the application of the rules. Langue is relatively stable, it does not change frequently; while parole varies from person to person, and from situation to situation. In Saussure`s opinion, parole is simply a mass of linguistic facts, too varied and confusing for systematic investigation, and what linguists should do is to abstract langue from parole, to discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.

Chomsky defines competence as the ideal user`s knowledge of the rules of his language , and performance the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. Similar to Saussure, Chomsky thinks what linguists should study is the ideal speaker`s competence, not his performance. Although a speaker possesses an internalized set of rules and applies them in actual use, he can not tell exactly what these rules are. So the task of the linguists is to discover and specify these rules.

7 Saussure took a sociological view of language and his notion of langue is a matter of social conventions, and Chomsky looks at language from a psychological point of view and to him competence is a property of the mind of each individual.

8 what characteristics of language do you think should be included in a good, comprehensive definition of language?

 Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. First of all, language is a system, i.e., elements of language are combined according to rules. Second, language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection between the word “pen” and the thing we use to write with. Third, language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages, no matter how well developed their writing systems are.

9 what features of human language have been specified by C.Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system?

Arbitrariness: this means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. A good example is the fact that different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different language.

Productivity: Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals of its users.

Duality: language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures, or two levels. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system.

Displacement: Language can be use to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past ,present or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker.