Page 28 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes general study of signs and symbols both within language and without. Literary theorists
study the use of language in literature. Linguistics additionally draws on and informs work
from such diverse fields as acoustics, anthropology, biology, computer science, human
anatomy, informatics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and speech-language
patholog
• Historical linguists study the history of specific languages as well as general characteristics
of language change. One aim of historical linguistics is to classify languages in language
families descending from a common ancestor, an enterprise that relies primarily on the
comparative method.
• Semiotics is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication,
signs, and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems, including the study of
how meaning is constructed and understood.
• Since the inception of the discipline of linguistics, linguists have been concerned with
describing and analysing previously undocumented languages. Starting with Franz Boas in
the early 1900s, this became the main focus of American linguistics until the rise of formal
structural linguistics in the mid-20th century. This focus on language documentation was
partly motivated by a concern to document the rapidly disappearing languages of indigenous
peoples.
• Linguists are largely concerned with finding and describing the generalities and varieties
both within particular languages and among all languages. Applied linguistics takes the
results of those findings and “applies” them to other areas. Linguistic research is commonly
applied to areas such as language education, lexicography, and translation.
• Broadly speaking, anthropology is the study of mankind and of culture. Its main subdivisions
are physical anthropology and cultural anthropology. Linguistics is a branch of cultural
anthropology. The chief contribution of cultural anthropology, as a whole, to the study of
language has been the broadening of linguists’ outlooks so that their horizons include, not
only languages, but culture of many different types.
• The association between philosophy and language and linguistics and has indeed been
historically very long. In fact, it were the philosophers who first of all speculated on language.
Plato’s Dialogues have explicit reference to language, and so have the Vedas and the Upanishadas
of the ancient Indians. In the field of semantics, philosophy has provided tremendous insight
to the linguists.
• Linguistics studies human language. Whether language is behaviour or a cognitive process
or both, is still a controversial issue; yet it is well accepted that psychology is the study of
human behaviour and human mind. Hence both linguistics and psychology are closely related.
• Linguistics and geography are also inter-related disciplines. The growth of a new discipline
or branch called ‘linguistic geography’ stands as a valid evidence to prove our proposition.
Geographical conditions, trees, plants, birds, animals, planes, mountains, rivers, deserts, etc.
have a bearing on language.

2.6 Key-Words

1. Clinical Linguistics : The application of linguistic theories and methods to the
analysis of disorders of spoken, written, or signed language.
2. Computational Linguistics : The study of language using the techniques and concepts of
computer science, especially with reference to the problems
posed by the fields of machine translation, information
retrieval, and artificial intelligence.
3. Educational Linguistics : The application of linguistic theories and methods to the
study of the teaching and learning of a language (especially
a first language) in schools and other educational settings.

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