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Linguistics: Semantics Syntax Phonology

Linguistics is the study of the nature and structure of language, encompassing semantics, syntax, and phonology. It aims to describe languages synchronically as they exist at a given time and diachronically by tracing their historical development. While Greek philosophers in the 5th century BC debated the origins of human language, linguistics emerged as a modern science in the 19th century with the rise of historical linguistics. Major theorists like Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky influenced the field, with Chomsky challenging structuralism and introducing generative grammar which stimulated related fields like psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.

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13 views1 page

Linguistics: Semantics Syntax Phonology

Linguistics is the study of the nature and structure of language, encompassing semantics, syntax, and phonology. It aims to describe languages synchronically as they exist at a given time and diachronically by tracing their historical development. While Greek philosophers in the 5th century BC debated the origins of human language, linguistics emerged as a modern science in the 19th century with the rise of historical linguistics. Major theorists like Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky influenced the field, with Chomsky challenging structuralism and introducing generative grammar which stimulated related fields like psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.

Uploaded by

Vindy Virgine Gucci
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© © All Rights Reserved
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linguistics

(Concise Encyclopedia)

Study of the nature and structure of language. It traditionally encompasses semantics, syntax, and
phonology. Synchronic linguistic studies aim to describe a language as it exists at a given time;
diachronic studies trace a language's historical development. Greek philosophers in the 5th
century BC who debated the origins of human language were the first in the West to be
concerned with linguistic theory. The first complete Greek grammar, written by Dionysus Thrax
in the 1st century BC, was a model for Roman grammarians, whose work led to the medieval and
Renaissance vernacular grammars.

With the rise of historical linguistics in the 19th century, linguistics became a science. In the late
19th and early 20th centuries Ferdinand de Saussure established the structuralist school of
linguistics (see structuralism), which analyzed actual speech to learn about the underlying
structure of language. In the 1950s Noam Chomsky challenged the structuralist program, arguing
that linguistics should study native speakers' unconscious knowledge of their language
(competence), not the language they actually produce (performance). His general approach,
known as transformational generative grammar, was extensively revised in subsequent decades
as the extended standard theory, the principles-and-parameters (government-binding) approach,
and the minimalist program. Other grammatical theories developed from the 1960s were
generalized phrase structure grammar, lexical-functional grammar, relational grammar, and
cognitive grammar. Chomsky's emphasis on linguistic competence greatly stimulated the
development of the related disciplines of psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. Other related
fields are anthropological linguistics, computational linguistics, mathematical linguistics,
sociolinguistics, and the philosophy of language.

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