Seminar N1

Language and linguistics. Branches of Linguistics

Key words: analyse, interpreter, linguist, linguistiс, metalanguage, bilingual,
communication, define, transcribe, contrast, pronounce, predict, classify, stress,
multilingual.

What is a language? And what is linguistics? Firstly, what is a

language? Everybody knows that English is a language and that Spanish
andJapanese are others in this category. But we alsoknow that English is
not used in the same way in New York as it is in London. You may also
knowthat English is not used in the same way in London. We all know that
words change their meaning according to the context they are used in. This
change in meaning can sometimes be quite significant. The word pitch, for
example, can be used to refer to the field area available for playing football
or cricket. However, in phonology, it is the range of voice level available
through the vocal cords. As language users, it is important for us to understand
how words are used differently in different situations. The understanding
that language usage adapts to the context and environment leads us to the
broader definition of the word language which we linguists prefer. This
definition is not restricted to the 6,000 distinct communication systems including
key languages such as English, Chinese and French. It includes any form
of speech within these categories, including dialect. Dialect, by the way, is
the variety of a language used in a particular part of a country.
So, we have defined language, but what about linguistics? The
linguistics that you will study in this faculty is concerned with the scientific
study of language as a communicative and cognitive system. I'll let you write
that definition down ... the scientific study — of language — as a
communicative — and cognitive — system.
During your studies here you will have the opportunity to focus on a
range of different branches of linguistics. Human language is by definition
uniquely human. By choosing to study language and linguistics, you will be
exploring an area which is central or intrinsic to humanity. You probably
know that understanding the intrinsic or basic meaning of a word can help
you to learn how it is used in different contexts. In the same way, by trying to
learn more about the basic features of language, we can also learn more
about humans in general. In the 1960s, an American linguist, named Charles
Hockett, demonstrated that all human languages share a series of key design
features. The communications systems of other creatures do not display these
features. There are three key features. They are displacement, creativity and
duality. Displacement can be defined as the ability to talk about things which
are not happening right here and right now. Animals can make
communicative noises but they cannot express past or future or probability, for
example. They cannot displace from the here and now. Creativity enables us to
understand and produce new utterances easily. Chomsky has said that language
is rule-governed creativity. Creativity is fundamental to human language.
Finally, there is duality, from dual, meaning two. Duality refers to the
existence of a series ofelements which have no meaning in themselves.
No animals can communicate through a medium which includes all the
features of human language, but all humans can. Human activity is complex
and varied, and so is the study of language and linguistics.
I shall now return to the different branches of linguistics which you
will encounter in this faculty. These range from morphology and syntax to
the study of areas such as psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. These
areas may seem unfamiliar to you now, but if you use your knowledge of
affixes, and combining forms, then you can work out the meanings of
some of these branches. For example, psycholinguistics is concerned with
psychology and how language affects learning. Sociolinguistics involves
society and people's attitudes to standard and non-standard forms of
language. The —ology in morphology brings us back to the concept of
linguistics as a scientific study. In this case, morphology refers to the
study of word structure, in other words how different elements, or
morphemes, combine to form what we call words.
Oh, and the syn in syntax means together. So, syntax means the way
words are combined or arranged in sentences.
So, to sum up, what is language and what is linguistics? Language is a
unique and organic communication system. It is unique because it is only
humans who possess it. It is organic because it grows and changes all the time,
just like a plant or any organism. Language can also be defined through its
key design features. It is unique because of its close relationship with the
human mind, the brain and society. What about linguistics? The role of
linguistics is to analyse and explain language. But we can go further than
that. Linguistics is also the study of the way language is used in everyday
life, the way it is employed.
There are seven main branches: phonetics, phonology, morphology,
syntax, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics. I will focus on three of
these branches, which will be covered this term. Firstly, there is phonology,
the study of sounds in speech and how they are used. Secondly, there is
morphology, the branch which studies the structure or forms of words.
Thirdly, there is syntax, which investigates the ordering of words.
Collectively these three branches are often called micro linguistics.
Let's look first at phonology, which studies how sounds are
organized and used in language. The phoneme plays a key role here. The
word phoneme was created in 1876 by the Polish academic Jan Baudouin
de Courtenay, whose work is considered to be the foundation of what we
now know as phonology. Phonemes are meaningless sound units which
language users put together to form meanings. Listen to speakers of
different languages and you will note quite quickly that different tongues
use different ranges of sounds. The main aim of phonology is to
understand the rules of how these meaningless phonemes are combined in
order to represent meaning in a particular language. In practice, a
phonologist examines the sound patterns of a particular language by
identifying the phonetic sounds and trying to clarify the way in which
speakers interpret these sounds.
Now, let's move on to morphology. Morphology studies the structure
of words. In fact, the term was first used by the great German poet Johann
Wolfgang Goethe, to describe the study of the structure of animals and
plants. In years to come, it was used to describe the area of grammar that
investigates the structure of words. The German August Schleicher was
the first linguist to describe languages in terms from biology. In living
organisms, separate cells form tissues which form organs, which in turn
form systems. In language, phonemes combine to form meaningful
sounds; morphemes or bits of words combine to form whole meaningful
words; syntactic units like nouns and verbs and adjectives combine in rule-
governed ways to form sentences. It's easy to see why Schleicher started to
see the similarity between languages and living organisms. I've just
mentioned syntactic units.
The third branch of linguistics is syntax. This looks at the way
words come together. It focuses on how different words are ordered into
clauses, and how clauses join to make sentences. Syntax can have an
important impact on communication. For example, the position of a verb
in a sentence can mean the difference between a statement and a question.
If you get that wrong, it could cause a lot of trouble and misunderstanding
in some situations. Different languages have very different rules of syntax.
Self-control questions:
1. What is Linguistics?
2. What are the branches of Linguistics?
3. Speak about the formation and development of Linguistics.
4. What functions of language do you know?

Suggestions for further reading:

1. Ирисқулов М.Т. Тилшуносликка кириш. – Т.,2008.
2. Йўлдошев И., Муҳаммедова С., Шарипова Ў., Маджидова Р.
Тилшунослик асослари. – Т.,2007/2013.
3. Муҳаммедова С., Йўлдошев И., Маджидова Р., Шарипова Ў.,
Тўхтаматов Х. Тилшунослик асослари. – Электрон дарслик.
4. Маслов Ю.С. Введение в языкознание. – М.,2007.
5. Реформатский А. Введение в языкознание. – М.,2006.
6. William B. McGregor. Linguistics. An introduction. – New York,
Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2015. 430p.
7. Keith Allan. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics, Oxford
University Press London, 2013.