Linguistics - Introduction

Refactored from Linguistics Notes Meta

• Linguists simply focus on studying how languages are being used
• Or, if you like, the science of language
• When encountering a new language, we make language hypotheses and refine the pattern that we identify in a language over time just like what scientists do with the Scientific Methods and Practices
• We need to be aware of how languages work to do linguistics
  • meta-linguistic awareness = the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language
  • We need to be objective
  • Be rigorous
• Sub areas of study
  • Phonetics is the study of sounds or signs that build up a language
  • Phonology studies the pattern of how sounds or signs are combined
  • Morphology deals with the structure of words
  • Syntax studies how words are grouped together to form sentences
  • Semantics deals with what words and sentences mean
  • Pragmatics deals with the meaning of words and sentences in a social context
  • Sociolinguistics does what it says
  • Historical linguistics does what it says
  • Psycholinguistics does what it says
• Some conventions
  • Cite sequences of words in italics
  • Write translation with ' ' around
  • Write * in front of a sentence to indicate that it’s ungrammatical
  • Example: J’ai vu les oiseaux ‘I saw the birds’

References