LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

1.1 Language

Language is a system that associates sounds (or gestures) with meanings in a way that uses
words and sentences. Let us look at some of its definitions.
“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and
desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.” (Sapir, 1921)
Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by
means of habitually used oral auditory arbitrary symbols.” (Hall, 1968)
“I will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements.” (Chomsky, 1957)

1.1.1 Features of a Language

Following features are common to all human languages

a) Openness

Human language is creative. Speakers can freely create new messages never before uttered, and
can be understood by other speakers of the same language.

b) Productivity

We are able to come up with unlimited new phrases or sentences by combining the limited
number of symbols/words in our vocabulary in new ways or in new orders.

We can use language to say things no one has ever said before, or state previous ideas in a new
form.The fact that we can generate novel thoughts and ideas shows the great utility of language.
Language evolves to fit the needs of the culture within a specific era (milieu, zeitgeist). New
messages on any topic can be produced at any time. The potential number of utterances in any
human language is infinite.

c) Displacement

Humans can talk about absent or nonexistent objects, and about past or future events, as easily as
we can discuss our current situation. In other words, language allows us to live with a past,
present, and future. We can discuss things that took place days, weeks, years, eons ago and can
also discuss the future. Nonhuman primates, using closed call systems, cannot do this. Their calls
concern only the here and now.
 d) Arbitrariness

There is no necessary link between a particular sound in a language and a particular meaning.
This means that any particular link between a particular sound and a particular meaning in a
particular language is arbitrary. Because language is arbitrary, learning the connections between
the symbols we use to convey meaning is essential for language comprehension and
production.One small class of words which seems to somewhat transgress this idea of
arbitrariness is words which sound like their meaning, i.e. onomatopoeia : hum, buzz, zoom.
However, the written symbols which represent these words are still arbitrary.

e) Duality of patterning/multilevel patterning

Human symbolic language is patterned at more than one level whereas; animal communication
system is patterned at only one level. The thousands of words that humans use are formed by
recombining a limited number of basic speech sounds or phonemes (e.g., eat versus tea).

Duality of patterning is a linguistic principle used as a primary criterion for determining if a

system is a language. It notes that the smallest meaning carrying units are made up of
meaningless smaller units. Linguistic expressions are analysable on two levels: a meaningless
level, in which mere arbitrary sounds (phones) are arranged into abstract units made up of
bundles of distinctive features (phonemes); and a level in which phonemes are arranged into
larger,meaningful units (morphemes).

f) Semanticity

Linguistic signals are associated with aspects of the physical, cultural, and social world of
speakers. Linguistic utterences, whether simple phrases or complete sentences, convey meaning,
convey meaning by means of the symbols we use to form the utterances. All languages convey
some meaning.There are also nonspeech sounds, called paralinguistics, which can also convey
meaning : Coughing, for example.

1.2 Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It tries to observe languages and to
describe them accurately, find generalizations within what has been described and draw
conclusions about the general nature of human language. Longman Dictionary of Language
Teaching & Applied Linguistics defines linguistics as the study of language as a system of human
communication. Some other definitions of linguistics can be:

• Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. (Dai & He, p. 1)
 • Linguistics, as the name suggests, is the science of language and thus is usually defined
as the systematic study of language or, a discipline that describes all aspects of language
and formulate theories as to how language works. (Yang, 2005, p. 27)

Linguistics concerns itself with the fundamental questions of what language is and how it is
related to the other human faculties. In answering these questions, linguists consider language as
a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon and seek to determine what is unique in
languages, what is universal, how language is acquired, and how it changes. Linguistics is,
therefore, one of the cognitive sciences; it provides a link between the humanities and the social
sciences, as well as education and hearing and speech sciences.

1.2.1 Branches of linguistics

Linguistics overlaps and (ideally) cooperates with: psychology, sociology, anthropology,

philosophy, logic, mathematics, computer science, speech pathology, acoustics, music,
cryptanalysis, etc.

There is an incomplete list of the branches of linguistics given below, new ones continue to arise.
a) Phonetics

The study of speech sounds; how they are produced in the vocal tract (articulatory
phonetics), how they are transmitted through the air (acoustic phonetics), and how they
are perceived by the listener (auditory phonetics).

b) Phonology

The study of the sound system of language; how the particular sounds used in each
language form an integrated system for encoding information and how such systems
differ from one language to another.

c) Morphology

The study of the way, in which words are constructed out of smaller units which have a
meaning or grammatical function, for example the word friendly is constructed from
friend and the adjective-forming –ly.

d) Lexicography

The compiling of dictionaries is called lexicography. Lexicography could be seen as a

branch of applied linguistics.
e) Syntax

The study of how words combine to form sentences and the rules which govern the
formation of sentences.

f) Semantics

The study of meaning; how words and sentences are related to the real or imaginary
objects they refer to and the situations they describe.

g) Pragmatics

The study of the use of language in communication, particularly the relationships

between sentences and the contexts and situations in which they are used such as time,
place, social relationship between speaker and hearer, and speaker’s assumptions about
the hearer’s belief.

h) Sociolinguistics

The study of language in relation to the social factors such as social class, educational
level, age, sex and ethnic origin is called sociolinguistics. Such areas as the study of
language choice in bilingual or multilingual communities, language planning or language
attitudes can also be included.

i) Discourse Analysis

The study of how sentences in spoken and written language form larger meaningful units
such as paragraphs, conversations, interviews etc.

j) Stylistics

It is the study of that variation in language which is dependent on the situation in which
the language is used and also on the effect the writer/speaker wishes to create on the
reader/hearer.

Stylistics tries to establish principles capable of explaining the particular choices made by
individuals and social groups in their use of language.

k) Literary stylistics
 It is the analysis of literary texts applying linguistic methods and theories (phonetics,
morphology, syntax, discourse analysis, pragmatics, etc.) with the aim of providing
retrievable interpretations which allow comparisons of different texts, genres (fiction,
drama and poetry) etc.

l) Psycholinguistics

The study of the mental processes underlying the planning, production, perception and
comprehension of speech, for example how memory limitations affect speech production
and comprehension. The best developed branch of psycholinguistics is the study of
language acquisition.

m) Neurolinguistics

The study of the brain and how it functions in the production, perception, and acquisition
of language as well as disorders like aphasia.

n) Historical Linguistics

It is a branch of linguistics which studies the development of language and languages

over time; also known as diachronic linguistics. Historical linguistics uses the methods of
the various branches of linguistics (including sociolinguistics, especially in considering
the reasons for language change). One thus encounters such subfields as “historical
phonology/ morphology/ syntax” etc.

o) Applied linguistics

It is the application of the methods and results of linguistics to such areas as language
teaching; national language policies; translation; language in politics, advertising,
classrooms and courts (forensic linguistics).

p) Computational linguistics

Computational linguists study natural languages, such as English and Japanese, rather
than computer languages, such as Fortran, Snobol, or Java. The field of computational
linguistics has two aims: the technological aim to enable computers to be used as aids in
analysing and processing natural language and the psychological aim to understand, by
analogy with computers, more about how people process natural languages. It also
includes research on automatic translation, electronic production of artificial speech and
the automatic recognition of human speech.
(Given definitions adapted from Richards, Jack et al. 1992. Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics,
new edition. London: Longman & Crystal, David. 1997. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, fourth edition.
Oxford: Blackwell.)

1.3 Scope of Linguistics

Scope of linguistics can be studied at two levels, i.e., micro and micro.

1. Micro linguistics 2. Macro linguistics

• Phonetics
• Phonology • Sociolinguistics
• Morphology • Psycholinguistics
• Syntax • Applied linguistics
• Semantics • Neurolinguistics
• Pragmatics

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN LINGUISTICS

2.1 Speech vs. Writing

• Speech is prior to writing

• The writing system is invented when needed
• There are many societies which only speak their language and do not write it. And no
society uses only a written language (with no spoken form).
• Speech plays a greater role than writing in daily communication
• Each human being first acquires speech and then learns writing
• Modern linguistics tends to pay more attention to authentic speech
• Writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired automatically.
• Psycholinguistic evidence suggest that the processing and production of written
language
is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain (plus certain other centers).
• Speech contains information that writing lacks – intonation, stress, voice quality . . .

2.2 Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Approach to Language

a) Descriptive Approach

Linguists attempt to describe the grammar of the language that exists in the minds of its
speakers, i.e. to create a model of speakers’ mental grammar.
The resulting descriptive grammar describes person’s basic linguistic knowledge. It explains how
it is possible to speak and understand and it summarizes what speakers know about the sounds,
words, phrases and sentences of their language.
Creating a descriptive grammar involves observing the language and trying to discover the
principles or rules that govern it.
Descriptive rules accept as given the patterns speakers actually use and try to account for them.
Descriptive rules allow for different dialects of a language and even variation within one dialect.

b) Prescriptive Approach

Prescriptivists tell you someone’s idea of what is “good” or “bad”. Prescriptive rules make a
value judgment about the correctness of certain utterances and generally try to enforce a single
standard. For example:
– Don’t split infinitives; don’t say: to easily understand
– Don’t end a sentence with a preposition; don’t say Where are you from?
– Don’t use me in a subject of a sentence; don’t say You and me went to the store.
– Don’t use ain’t; don’t say Ain’t it the truth?
The people who prescriptive grammar make up the rules of the grammar. They attempt to impose
the rules for speaking and writing on people without much regard for what the majority of
educated speakers of a language actually say and write.
So-called prescriptive grammar usually focuses only on a few issues and leaves the rest of a
language undescribed (unprescribed?). In fact, from the linguistic point of view, this is not
grammar at all.

c) Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism

In summary: Linguists describe language, they do not prescribe it.

As a science, linguistics:
• is not in the business of making value judgments about language use.
• studies how language really is used and then attempts to describe the facts, in order to analyze
and, eventually, explain them.

An Analogy:
• Physicists:
– don’t complain that objects fall to earth
– simply observe and describe the fact of falling, then try to discover the laws that are behind it.
• Linguists:
– don’t say that people shouldn’t use ain’t
– simply observe that some people in certain situations do use ain’t (without judging, although
they do note any systematic correlations of such use with particular
groups, regions, situations, styles, etc.)
2.3 Language and Parole
By defining Langue and Parole, Saussure differentiates between the language and how it is
used, and therefore enabling these two very different things to be studied as separate entities.
a) Langue
Langue is the systematic knowledge of a language possessed by a speech community.
b) Parole
Parole is the concrete use of the language, the actual utterances. It is an external manifestation
of langue. It is the usage of the system, but not the system

2.4 Competence and Performance

Competence refers to a speaker's knowledge of his language as manifest in his ability to produce
and to understand a theoretically infinite number of sentences most of which he may have never
seen or heard before.

Performance refers to the specific utterances, including grammatical mistakes and non-linguistic
features like hesitations, accompanying the use of language.

In linguistics, the distinction between a person's knowledge of language is called competence and
use of it is called performance.

2.5 Diachronic and Synchronic

a) Diachrony
Diachronic linguistics views the historical development of a language. Thus, on the
diachronic axis we can go back and forth in time, watching the language with all its
features change.

b) Synchrony
Synchronic linguistics views a particular state of a language at some given point in
time. This could mean Modern English of the present day, or the systematic analysis
of the system of Shakespeare's English. However, no comparisons are made to other
states of language or other times.
2.6 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic
These are the contrasting terms in structural linguistics. Every item of language has
a paradigmatic relationship with every other item which can be substituted for it (such
as cat with dog), and a syntagmatic relationship with items which occur within the same
construction (for example, in The cat sat on the mat, the relationship of
‘cat’ with ‘the’ and ‘sat on the mat’).

• Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of paradigms embedded in the text rather than of
the surface structure (syntax) of the text which is termed syntagmatic analysis.

• In semiotics syntagmatic analysis is analysis of syntax or surface structure (Syntagmatic

structure), rather than paradigms as in paradigmatic analysis.

• Example

Syntagm

Paradigm People Clothing to be Color

Ali’s hat is green.

My coat isn’t yellow.

Theacher’s shirt were pink.

The value of each term is determined by its place in the syntagm--by the other terms in the
sentence that precede and follow it. Also by the set of alternative terms that might replace it
(paradigm).