LENSE IV III:

Summary

What is
It is the study of complex systems of knowledge and
Linguistics? abilities constituting language that enable speakers to
communicate, in all their aspects.

Linguistics is concerned with aspects of the Nature of

language:
 Universal properties of language
 Systematic differences between languages (patterns in
the differences)
 Language Acquisition in Children
 Degree and limits for the changes of language over
time.
 Nature of cognitive processes to understand and
produce language.
Linguistics concerned with Structure of language is divided
into subfields:
 Phonetics (the study of speech sounds in their physical
aspects = production, audition and perception)
 Phonology (speech sounds in cognitive aspects = the
way in which they function within a given language)
 Morphology (formation of words)
 Syntax (formation of sentences)
 Semantics (meaning)
 Pragmatics (language use)
 Language in interdisciplinary branches:
 Historical linguistics
 Sociolinguistics
 Psycholinguistics
 Ethnolinguistic (Anthropological Linguistics)
 Dialectology
 Computational Linguistics
 Neurolinguistics

Language, as a central human feature, Philosophy, Literature, Language Pedagogy,

has intellectual connections and Psychology, Sociology, Physics (acoustics), Biology
overlaps with other disciplines (social (anatomy, neuroscience), Computer Science,
science, natural and humanities) Computer Engineering, Health Sciences.

Despite the study of linguistics in an academic

environment being mainly the advancement of
knowledge, it has many practical consequences
and uses that linguists apply in other diverse
areas.

Modern
Historical Linguistics: Called Diachronic linguistics (studies language
Linguistics over time)

 Describes and account observable changes in LG

 Reconstructs pre-history of language and determines
relationships. (comparative linguistics)
 Develops general theories regarding how and why LG changes.
 Describes history of speech communities
 Studies history of words (etymology)

Linguistics as a science has a historical character. Internal and external

forces shaped (and will shape) language through the years.

Structural Linguistics: Synchronic linguistics (studies language as a static

system of interconnected units) and the overall approach of
Structuralism.

 Introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure, the father of modern

linguistics, which shifted the study of language from diachronic
to synchronic.
 Also introduced Paradigmatic & Syntagmatic analysis
(associations)
 Functionalism: Approach to language study concerned with the
functions performed by it, mainly cognition, expression and conation.

 Focuses on how elements of different languages, grammatical

and phonological, accomplish these functions.
 Functionalism made clear the instrumental use of language.
 Thus why, functional linguistics and sociolinguistics are closely
connected.

Generative Linguistics School of thought based on the concept of

Generative Grammar.

 Generative grammar is a set of explicit rules (based on a

subconscious set of procedures) which are applied to generate
sentences that are grammatical in a given language.

Applied linguistics: Area of work that deals with language use in

professional settings, speech pathology, literacy and language
education.

 This is an interdisciplinary (across several disciplines) and

semiautonomous (not completely dependent of them) branch
of linguistics, and it is not merely the application of linguistic
knowledge to other areas.

KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE: ITS NATURE, ORIGIN AND USE.

(by el Chomsky)
Knowledge of Language as Focus of Inquiry

Generative (or explicit) Grammar is a theory concerned with the form and meaning of
expressions of this language. Its standpoint is that of individual psychology. It is
concerned with aspects of form and meaning determined by the “language faculty”
(Language Acquisition Device) which is a particular component of the human mind.
 The nature of this faculty (the LAD) is the subject of the Universal Grammar theory,
this theory of linguistic structure aims to discover the framework of principles and
elements common to attainable human languages. UG is the characterization of the
genetically determined language faculty (L.A.D)

The L.A.D is an innate component of the human mind that has a particular language
through interaction with presented experience. It converts experience into a system
of knowledge attained. Knowledge of one or another language.

The study of generative grammar shifted the focus in the approach to problems of
language from behaviour or the product of behaviour (behaviourism) to states of
mind/brain (cognitivism) that enter into behaviour, which concerns knowledge of
language regarding its nature, origins and use. (What constitutes knowledge of
language (1), how is it acquired (2) and how is it put in use (3).)

1) The constitution of knowledge of the language is explained by the particular

generative grammar concerned with the state of the mind of the person who
knows a particular language.
2) Universal Grammar, which is the initial state of the language faculty prior to any
experience, along with how its principles interact with experience to produce a
particular language.
3) “A theory of how the knowledge of language attained enters into the expression
of thought and the understanding of presented specimens of language and,
thus, into communication and other special uses of language” Dell Hymes
Communicative Competence?

Communicative Competence
By Dell Hymes

 S: Setting, including time and place, physical aspects of the situation (when where) as well as psychological
 P: Participant identity, including personal characteristics (age, sex, social status) and relationship with others
 E: Ends, including the purpose of the event itself and the individual goals of the participants. (personal goal)
 A: Act, sequence or how speech acts are organized. Speech event’s topics, form, content. (Q&A, applauding)
 K: Key, or tone and manner in which something is said or written (humorous, serious)
 I: Instrumentalities, the linguistic code (language, dialect, variety and channel) face to face, informal-formal.
 N: Norm, the standard socio-cultural rules of interaction and interpretation.
 G: Genre or type of event such as lecture, poem or letter.

These components of speech acts are meant to explore and explain human, social purposes in language. It is a
means to understanding of human purposes and needs, and their satisfaction, as well as a way of understanding
how language works. The ethnography of communication is not just a method but a coherent theoretical approach
to language.