Page 11 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 1: Introduction to Linguistics: Its Aspects

Notes
SOUNDS MEANING
LANGUAGE

MATERIAL STRUCTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL
ASPECT ASPECT ASPECT
(SUBSTANCE) (FORM) (CONTEXT)

PHONIC GRAPHIC GRAMMATICAL TEXTUAL SITUATIONAL

PHONOLOGY BRAPHOLOGY SYNTAX –MORPHOLOGY SEMANTICS

(LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS)

Figure 1.3
The study of phonetics can be divided into three main branches, Articulatory Phonetics, the
study of the movement of the speech organs in the articulation of speech, Acoustic Phonetics,
the study of the physical properties of speech sounds such as frequency and amplitude in their
transmission, and Auditory Phonetics, the study of hearing and the perception of speech sounds.
Laboratory Phonetics—experimental phonetics or instrumental phonetics are general terms
for phonetic studies which involve the use of mechanical and electronic apparatus. Several
sophisticated instruments are used in modern times for this purpose.
Phonetic Substance—Phonetic substance, as opposed to the visual or graphic material of written
language, refers to the auditory aspects or sound features of spoken language, as studied by
articulatory, acoustic and auditory phonetics.
Phonology—Phonology is the study of speech sounds of a given language and their function
within the sound system of that language. It covers both phonemics (synchronic phonology)
and diachronic phonology (sound changes in the history of a given language). So phonology
is the functional phonetics of a particular language, and is of great help in the learning of that
language.
2. Grammatical Level—Grammatical level comprises of (a) Syntax, and (b) Morphology.
1.4 Some Major Linguistic Concepts

1.4.1 Synchrony and Diachrony
Synchrony is the study of a language in a given time, diachrony through time. Synchronic or
descriptive linguistics studies a language at one period in time; it investigates the way people
speak in a given speech community at a given point in time. Diachronic or historical (or temporal)
linguistics studies the development of languages through time: for example, the way in which
French and Italian have evolved from Latin, or Hindi from Sanskrit; it also investigates language
changes. Saussure says: “synchronic linguistics will be concerned with the logical and psychological
relations that bind together co-existing terms and form a system in the collective mind of speakers.
Diachronic linguistics on the contrary, will study relations that bind together successive terms not
perceived by the collective mind but substituted for each other without forming a system.”
Synchronic linguistics deals with systems, diachronic with units. These two approches have to be
kept clearly apart and pursued separately. Saussure considered synchronic linguistics to be more
important: “the first thing that strikes us when we study the facts of language is that their succession
in time does not exist in so far as the speaker is concerned. He is confronted with a state. That is
why the linguist who wishes to understand a state, must discard all knowledge of everything that
produced it and ignore diachrony.”

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