Definition and Scope of Linguistics
Linguistics refers to the scientific study of language. The word ‘linguistics’ is
derived from the Latin words ‘lingua’ meaning ‘tongue’ and ‘istics’ meaning
‘knowledge’. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, linguistics refers to
‘the scientific study of the structure and development of language in general or
of particular languages’. The study of linguistics comes from the natural
curiosity of man about the particulars of the language he speaks, evaluated
through different perspectives. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, one of
the most famous linguists, “A linguistic system is a series of differences of
sound combined with a series of differences of ideas.”
The Scope of Linguistics
Linguistics involves a vast, complex and systematic study, with different core
areas such as phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax and semantics. It is
also intertwined with various other disciplines and contains fields like
sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics etc. Linguistics, unlike past ages, is being
recognized as an independent discipline of study, thus paving the way to a lot
of developments and research. Linguistics is a descriptive study and not a
prescriptive one and describes language in all aspects. It is a subject that
keeps changing, as languages change.
Levels of linguistic analysis
Language has a hierarchical structure. In order to study the science of language
systematically, we sub-divide the area of study in an analytical and easier way. Each
level of the system that constitutes the study of linguistics is independent on its own.
These levels can be represented in the following manner:
Branches of Linguistics
Phonetics: Phonetics refers to the study of the sounds of speech. It deals with the
way sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived.
The three main branches of phonetics are
1.Articulatory phonetics: studies the articulation of speech sounds
2. Acoustic phonetics: studies the physical properties of speech sounds as
transmitted between mouth and ear
3.Auditory phonetics: studies the perpetual response to speech sounds as
mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain.
Phonology: a study of how sounds/sound patterns/signs are arranged in each
language, as organized units of speech. It also looks into the specifications in the
distribution of sounds in each language.
Morphology: studies the forms of words in different uses and constructions. It is
concerned with the evolution of small words from meaningful units called
‘morphemes’. It is studied under two fields, namely, inflectional morphology and
derivational morphology.
Syntax: studies the construction of phrases, clauses and sentences in a
language. It analyses the basic word order followed in languages.
Semantics: it is a study of meaning. It focuses on studying the structure of
meaning in a language and in giving an account of word and sentence meaning.
Pragmatics: it is an extension of semantic and deals with the study on how
meaning changes with different contexts.
The hierarchy of language can be represented as:
Phonemes
Syllables
Morphemes
Words
Phrases
Clauses
Sentences/Utterances
Texts/discourses
Types of Linguistics
Theoretical linguistics: studies the nature of language as it is and analyses the
properties it possesses. It is aimed at learning behaviour and features of
language.
Descriptive linguistics: a study of particular languages and language families,
from both historical and synchronic points of view.
Historical Linguistics: a study of the pattern of change of languages over time.
Sociolinguistics: the branch of linguistics that studies the relation between
society and language.
Dialectology: study of the division of one language into many.
Applied linguistics: a study of practical applications of language studies, such as
translation and speech therapy.
Fields of linguistics
Computational Linguistics: studies natural language from a computational
aspect
Neurolinguistics: studies the biological basis of language and its development.
Mathematical linguistics: studies the mathematical aspects of language
Psycholinguistics: a study of biological and psychological factors that enable
humans to acquire, use and understand language.
Ontogeny linguistics: studies child language acquisition
Why Study Linguistics?
The study of linguistics is aimed at achieving two major objectives.
To study the nature of language and establish a theory of language
To describe a language and all languages by applying the theory established.
A formal study in linguistics helps us evaluate and analyze human language
through various angles. A major in the discipline helps us in understanding the
different methodologies that are devised in the study of language, understand
the world better, realize the scope and applications of language and so- on.
Career in Linguistics
Those studying the field of linguistics are called as ‘Linguists’. They study
and bring into application the concepts, branches and fields of linguistics.
There is a wide range of career option available and Some of them are:
Teacher in the field of linguistics
Foreign/English language teacher
Lexicographer
Speech Pathologist
Psycholinguists/Sociolinguists/Historical linguists
Diplomats
Translator
Text-to-speech developers
Machine translator
Artificial intelligence developer
Language documenter
Interpreter
Journalist/Writer
Language consultant
Famous Universities:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
The University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom()
Harvard University (United States)
University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
Stanford University (United Kingdom)
University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (India)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (India)
Famous Linguists and their contributions
Ferdinand de Saussure – a Swiss linguist who worked on structural principles of
language. His ideas revolutionized the discipline of linguistics and paved the way
to many significant developments in the field.
Edward Sapir – an anthropologist-linguist who worked on the genetic relationship
of Native American languages and brought advancements to modern theoretical
linguistics.
Roman Jakobson – Russian-American linguist who contributed to the
establishment of the Prague school of linguistics.
Noam Chomsky – American linguist referred to as the ‘Father of modern
linguistics’. He contributed extensively to the discipline. Chomsky brought forward
the theory of generative grammar, which is based on the biological use of human
language.
Leonard Bloomfield – American linguist who led the developments in structural
linguistics.
Popular Books
Through the language glass: Why the world looks different in other languages –
Guy Deutscher
The Language Instinct: How the mind creates language – Steven Pinker
Women, Fire and Dangerous things – George Lakoff
The Symbolic Species – Terry Deacon
What Language Is – John McWhorter
On Language: Language and Responsibility and Reflections on Language –
Noam Chomsky
The Linguistic Wars – Randy Allen Harris
