- Phonetics – the study and classification of speech sound
- Phonology – deals with systems of sounds
- Morphology – the study of the forms of things, in particular
o Linguistics the study of the forms of words.
- Syntax – the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language
- Semantics – the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning.
What is Linguistics?
- the scientific study of language
- how it works, how it is used, how it changes
- what does it mean to “know” a language?
- make and interpret the meaningful sounds of the language
- break down words and put them together
- vocabulary and meanings of words
- produce a correct sentence
- and use appropriate sentences
- how to use it appropriately
What is Language?
- language makes us human
- innate ability to learn language
- all humans learn a language
- language plays an important role in
- communication
- conveying thoughts, emotions
- differentiating groups: social, national, cultural
- language is a system regulated by rules – a grammar
- language is a creative system
- language is not writing
- don’t need writing to have language
- not all languages have writing systems
- there can be more than one writing system per language
- writing = physical representation of speech
- writing is secondary to language – doesn’t need writing
Linguistic Knowledge
- linguistic competence = what you know
- ability to produce and understand an unlimited number of utterances
- ability to recognize what does not belong in a language or is not acceptable
- linguistic performance = how you use it
- what we say and understand on a given occasion
- may contain errors
- incomplete representation of competence
- linguistic knowledge is mostly unconscious knowledge
What linguists do…
- analysis of rule system (grammar)
- components of grammar (phonetics, phonology, syntax…. )
- meaning, form and structure
- describe grammar as it is used
- track grammatical changes – languages are always changing and will continue to change
- describe grammar
- all languages have a grammar
- all grammars are equal to linguists
- all grammars are “good enough: for human expression
- all languages are grammars change over tie
- all grammars are alike in basic ways
What linguists don’t do
- “a linguist speaks many languages”
- linguistics is not the study of language in general, not the knowledge of specific languages
- language is an abstract system regulated by rules; linguists are interested in the system
- “a linguist knows how to speak properly”
- “a proposition is not a good word to end a sentence with”
- “it is a good idea to no split infinitives”
- “I didn’t do nothing”
