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INTORDUCTION TO LINGUISTICS I
LIN 101
General Introductions
1. What is Linguistics?
2. What is Language?
3. Who is a Linguist?

Linguistic as a science
4. Is Linguistic a Science?
a) Observation
b) Data collection
c) Formulation of Hypothesis
d) Analysis of Data
e) Formulation of theory
5. Principles of Modern Linguistics

Language
6. Origin of Language
7. Characteristics of Language
8. Roles of Language
9. Functions of Language
10. Language and Linguistics

Micro Level of Linguistics

11. Levels of Linguistics
Micro Level
 Phonetics
 Phonology
 Morphology
 Syntax
 Semantics

Macro Level of Linguistics

Macro Level
 Psycholinguistics
 Language teaching
 Lexicography
 Book Publishing
 Historical Linguistics
 Translation

12. Language and Culture

Recommended texts
Yusuf O. 1992. (ed) Introduction to Linguistics. Ilorin. Unilorin Press.
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LIN 101: Introduction to linguistics 1

Lecture Note
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The study of linguistics begins in the early part of human history as the study of
language for various reasons none of which was the study of language for solely
language sake. Modern scholars have suggested that it is the characteristics of
language to be susceptible to indifference from people since it is relatively easily
acquired. Early history of language study is often traced back to as early as the
Panini‟s Sanskrit Grammar in 1000 BC. Some have argued that this grammar
represent the first formal presentation of language internal structure with the aim of
describing. This countered the claim that the Greek scholars actually pioneer the study
of language. However, Dionysius Thrax‟s grammar of the Greek language represents
the first discussion of grammar as we know it now. Thrax grammar is actually
summation of a resultant aggressive codification of the Greek language around much
the same time as the Panini‟s Grammar. Thrax grammar put together works from
Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. It is necessary to note that Panini‟s
grammar provide a backbone for what begins the modern linguistics tradition in the
west.

The western tradition of linguistics was motivated in the early 19th century by the need
to improve language pedagogy and the reconnection of the western scholars to their
Sanskrit counterparts which exposed them to an existing descriptive and a more
scientific approach to language studies. One of the characteristics of the Sanskrit
tradition that influence the western approach to language in the 19th century is the
focus on the linguistic aspect of language rather than the literary aspect as it is in
previous approaches under philosophers and philologers who study language only for
other purposes other to understand it as an autonomous subject.

Linguistics as a scientific study of languages is relatively old in the informal sense.

Reconnection to the scholars across the Indian Ocean revealed that scholars over there
have discussed concept under lexis, morphology, syntax and semantics long before the
Latin and Greek prescriptive grammars were born. But the concept of language is
even longer than that. Some have argued that the history of language itself dates back
to the early man long before Homo sapiens. The claim suggest that man language may
have been closer to animal sounds initially and later evolved into some kind of
organized, patterned, predicate based code which later developed into complex
patterned language needed by the advanced homo sapiens.
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. This definition stems from the goal of
linguistics as a modern discipline with distinct approach from that of philology,
archaeology, philosophy and sociology. Language was once only studied as a
complement to other discipline and only recently as an autonomous subject of
scholarship. This is why most of the early works on language were from people in
other fields such as philosophy, philology, archaeology and others. These older studies
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are characterized with strict rules and statement about correct forms from contacted or
already studied languages. 19th centuries ushered in a new approach to the study of
linguistics that shift away from the philological approach into an empirical
investigation of language as concept in human live on its own. Around 1911, a trend
started in two continents at about same time. Ferdinand de Saussure(1857-1913)
deliver a series of lectures at Geneva where he claimed that language “…should not be
seen as an organism developing on its own but… as a product of the collective mind
of a linguistic community”, Saussure(1916/1983). He introduced modern concepts of
langue and parole. Like most linguist around this period, Saussure was a
physicist/philologist who studied at a time of junggrammatiker furore in Leipzig. This
seeks to distinguish the focus of language form from the concept. Saussure lecture
notes were published posthumously and introduce a new era of linguistic study in
Europe.

While Saussure was ushering a new focus for language study in Europe, Francis Boaz
was providing a new approach to the study of language in America. The exposure of
the American linguists and the quest to document American-Indian languages led to
modern approach to linguistics study. Presently linguistics approach has inculcated
empirical analysis like a proper scientific analysis.

Who is a linguist? What is linguistics? What is its relationship with

language?
We started by defining linguistics. It is the scientific study of human language.
Linguistics is scientific in the sense that the study of language must be subjected to the
scientific processes of observation, data collection, formulation of hypothesis, analysis
of data and formulation of theory based on the structure of the language. When we
talk about language, we mean the human language, in contrast to other forms of
communication such as animal communication. An individual who engages in such a
rigorous and tasking procedure of language study is called a „linguist‟. Linguists are
professional language specialists who are equipped to analyse any language,
regardless of whether they speak the language or not. A linguist is a scientist who
investigates human language in all its facets; its structure, it use, its history and its
place in the society.
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LINGUISTICS AS A SCIENCE
The question of Linguistics as a science has been the subject of arguments amongst
scholars in the discipline as well as outside the field. The argument has been that what
makes a discipline a science? For the proponents of Linguistics as art, the position is
that the subjects of science are defined and required scientific procedures to arrive at
definite results. On the other side of the isle, the argument is that since empirical steps
involved in all other natural sciences are also involved in linguistics investigation.
Linguists go through rigorous scientific process in their analysis of language. They
can collect data on languages that do not have written forms and propose letters of the
alphabet (orthography) for such languages. This exercise forms the foundation for
writing in languages. Through this process, linguists help to develop languages, and to
ensure their continuous use. They also help to revive languages through language
documentation and other forms of development. What a medical doctor does to human
body is similar to what a linguist does to human language. For example, if a speaker
says [ᴂks] instead of [ᴂsk] „ask‟, a linguist will first observe the instances orsituations
in which the speaker uses either form, note, and classify the problem. He/she will
identify and elaborate the kind of relationships between the two forms. Thereafter, he
or she develops a hypothesis. The hypothesis has to be confirmed by subjecting the
data to further tests. Then, the conclusions are integrated with the previous concepts.

SCIENTIFIC STEPS IN ANALYSIS

I. Observation: This represents the first formal contact of the linguist with the
target language. At this point, only a cursive look is what the linguist uses to
make statements about the language. Such statements are not valid until further
analysis. They are aim at motivating further analysis.
II. Data Collection: This refers to the process of gathering information about the
target language. Such information includes usage data (synthetic), information
about users and the other principles of language use domain in the speech
community. To do this, the linguist often needs to go into the field (community
where the target language is the primary means of communication) and made
contact with speakers of the language. It often advised that language data
should be obtain from „consultants‟ who are resident of the speech community
and except in research targeted at peer language forms, it is considered more
profitable for consultants to be no less young than 40 years.
III. Formulation of Hypothesis: At this point, the researcher can began to make
informed statements about the language in respect of what he/she observed in
the collected data. These statements are formal and specific unlike the general
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statements that come out of the cursory observation at initiation of the research.
The researcher hypotheses must be in formal terms and often involves use of
metalangauge.
IV. Analysis of Data: At this stage, the linguist considers his hypothesis using
information from language data he has. He needs to look at his hypotheses to
know if they conform to what is observable in the language data. The research
work here is to identify the principles and systems operated in the target
language. His/her analysis must seek only to describe what is in the language.
Analysis of data often includes looking at things within a theoretical
framework. However, the goal is not to impose the characteristics and
properties of the adopted framework on the language but to observe how the
theory is verified through language data.
V. Formulation of Theory: This comes from formal generalization that results
from a rigorous analysis of language data. It is at the stage where the linguist is
fairly sure that his observation is true and valid in the languages observed and
when other similar data are presented to it, the theory will hold.

Linguists are also involved in other aspects of language development such as language
planning, standardization, and language policies.

PRINCIPLES OF MODERN LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is a principle based approach to language. Modern Linguistics study is

motivated by five basic principles;

 Linguistics is the scientific study of language for its own sake.

 Linguistics is not prescriptive.
 Spoken language is the primary object of study.
 Linguistics is an autonomous discipline.
 Synchronic studies of language at a specific point in time take precedence over
Diachronic (historical) studies.

LANGUAGE
There are many definitions of language based on different schools of thought.

It has been defined as „a system of vocal auditory communication using conventional

signs composed of arbitrary patterned sound unit and assembled according to a set of
rules, interacting with the experience of its users‟ (Bolinger 1968:12).

Sapir (1921:8) defines language as a purely human and non-instinctive method of

communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced sounds.
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Both definitions refer to the arbitrary nature of the symbols representing sounds in
language. The reference is arbitrary and conventional because each language
expresses ideas using different words; for example „house‟ is house in English, „ile‟ In
Yoruba, ufk in bibio/Efik, ulo in Igbo, and gida in Hausa.

Language is the use of a shared set of signs or symbols within a society to interact and
express their feelings, ideas and emotions. Every society has a way of communicating
through words, writing or through making signs as in sign language or even through
iconic ways of communication such as the colours of a traffic light which each convey
a message or the blast of a siren when there is fire outbreak or danger. Language is
also a system by which sounds, signs and gestures are used to communicate meaning.
For humans, a system of speech sounds or signs which constitute linguistics
knowledge of both speaker and addressee use to convey and receive information. For
animals like bees, chimpanzees, parrots, dolphins which are known to communicate
through sounds and signals, it is stimulus-based and is quite limited in comparison
with human system of communication. Human communication is innate-based and is
what we use to generate an infinite number of messages. That humans have the
capacity to generate new sentences according to certain rules in a language is evidence
that human language is contained within a biological faculty specifically for humans.

Every human society has a language, a shared set of symbols, which they use in
communication.

ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

The human language origin has been traced with reference to two broad approaches.
There is the religion/biblical account which relates language origin to the biblical
account of human creation in the garden of Eden. The second approach is the
scientific approach which play to Darwin’s theory of evolution and Jean-Baptiste
Lamark’s theory of use and disuse

a. Biblical Account of Origin of Language

In the biblical account, language could be traced to the first assignment God gave man
(Adam) which is to assign names to other creations. Apparently, Adam would need a
communication ability to undertake such assignment. This has been claimed to be the
origin of human language by most religions in one variation or the other. The
differences in the languages of different speech communities were ascribed to the
event recorded in the Genesis 11: 1-9 about the tower of babel.

b. Evolutionary Account

The evolutionary account of the origin of human language relies on the empirical
science of organism growth and change. Evolution proponents claim that human
language developed out of the human need to communicate beyond simple choices
that lower organisms are restricted to. The position is that non-human organism
possess only basic instinct to find food, shelter, safety and reproduction. These
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choices are therefore communicated with basic grunts and other sounds or mechanism
that animals uses. The lower animals’ methods of communication are apparently
grossly inadequate to communicate human choices which are often more complex and
are in randomly dynamic state. Humans were of course at some earlier time in the
stages of their evolution without complex system called human language.
Evolutionary theory proposes that human language came through the process of use
and disuse as explained by Jean-Baptiste Lamark. The scenario he created will suggest
that human language developed through a system of creating or adjust parts to serve
new functions when such functions arise and are essential to survival and continuity of
any organism. This will mean that human language developed from a simple system
of communication using basic sounds like grunts and calls to a more complex system
that involved intricate patterns and paradigmatic versus syntagmatic constructions and
reconstructions.

Thus, a system of simple grunts evolved into a system of complex sounds structures
creating multi-levels of patterns from the individual phones to combinations such as
syllables, morphemes, words, phrases or groups, clauses, sentences to a full
discourse.

The evolution approach implication is that human will continue to evolve and maybe
at some point in the future, we will no longer have needs for articulatory based
language.

However, it is important to examine the components of the human language as it is

now and decide if there are evidence of the complexities that supposedly distinguished
it from other organisms mode of communication.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

Some characteristics separate the human language from animal communication. Some
of the characteristics may have been found in studied animal communication such as
bird calls and bee signals; it is however only in human language that one can find all
of them together.

I.Vocal-Auditory Channel: Human language involves the use of vocal symbols that
are perceived through the auditory organs. The presence of presence of vocal and
auditory organs is human ensures the possibilities of language.
II. Rapid Fading: Vocal symbols life span is very short. It exists only for as long it takes
for the sound to get to the hearer. It does not hover In the air but fades rapidly.
III. Interchangeability: Adult members of the speech community are
interchangeably transmitters and receivers of the linguistic signal.
IV. Complete Feedback: Human language allows its users the possibility to perceive as
well as reflect upon the message that they transmit themselves.
V. Specialization: human language allows its users to continue to talk while engaging in
an activity unrelated to the subject matter of the discussion.
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VI. Semanticity: Linguistic signs are connected to elements and features of the world.
VII. Arbitrariness: Sounds in human language do not have any direct bearing on the
meanings of the entities that they designate.
VIII. Discreteness: The messages a language is able to convey are not arranged along a
continuum, but are discrete of each other. Had they been continuous, the system
would have had to be iconic. A discrete system can either be iconic or arbitrary.
IX. Displacement: Human language allows its users to talk about things or situations
which are not necessary present during the time of discourse.
X. Openness: Language allows for the making and interpretation of infinitely many new
messages. Its grammatical patterning allows us to make new messages by blending
old ones, or transforming old ones. Second, in new context, old linguistic forms can
take on new meaning e.g. hardware, software.
XI. Tradition/Cultural transmission: human language is culturally transmitted so as
long as children are exposed to the environment where language is spoken.
XII. Duality of Patterning: In human language, there is an inbuilt mechanism in which
several meaningless sounds can be combined to derive meaningful longer expressions.
XIII. Prevarication: Human language is the only form of communication that allows users
to lie.
XIV. Reflexiveness/Creativity: Human language is creative in the sense that its users are
able to express new ideas, produce and comprehend new sentences.
XV. Learnability: Human language is the only one in which users of one language cab
learn another human language.
XVI. Pattern Congruity: Human language allows its users to communicate in connected
discourse. Human beings do not communicate in isolated words, words are woven
together.
XVII. Versatility: There is no limit to which human language can be employed in
communication. Every aspect of human behaviour or endeavour can be expressed.

ROLES OF LANGUAGE

Human language has some communicative roles which are peculiar to humans;

1) Informational Role: This is the most important function of language. It is used

to pass on information from one person to the other.
2) Expressive Role: Language serves as means by which one can express
emotions, feelings or attitudes towards one‟s fellow being or state of affairs.
Exclamatory words and swear words are typical examples of this.
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3) Phatic Role: Language is used as a means of establishing contacts and

relationship with other people within one‟s speech community. This is easily observed
in greetings.
4) Directive Role: Language is also used to influence the behaviour or attitude of
other persons as in issuing orders, commands or making requests.
5) Ideational Role: Language is use as a means of controlling or seeking
compliance of the forces of nature in consonance with people‟s beliefs or faiths. This
kind of communicative role is seen in prayer, libation, incantations and rituals.
6) Performative Role: Language can be used to bring about a sudden change in
the state of affairs in the real world as soon as the utterance is made. Example of this
can be seen when the priest or pastor pronounces two persons „man and wife‟ during a
wedding ceremony or when a magistrate sentences someone to a term of
imprisonment with hard labour in a law court.
7) Ludic Role: we use language also to amuse and entertain.

FUNCTIONS OF LANGAUGE (FACTORS OF COMMUNICATION)

It must be noted that communicative roles is not exactly the total function of language.
Jacobson (1960) identified six basic factors of communication and functions of
language;
i. Referential: language functions to represent items and entities for users of
language. In speech language denotes physical and non-physical elements in
real word. Examples include lexical items like; Table, run, Ball, Spot. Each of
the listed items and events are not physically present in communication and are
therefore represented by reducing them to language referential form.
ii. Emotive: this is in reference to the expressive role of language. Language can
be used to represent the emotions of users or the degree and direction of such
emotions and feelings. Examples include screams of pain, elation, sadness and
indifference.
iii. Conative: this function signifies the imperative or the urgent.
iv. Phatic: this is language as actually representative of the relationship amongst
users. It marks relationship through the kind of addresses, greeting exchange
that contacts deemed appropriate
v. Metalingual: Language serves as the viable tool for discussing language.
Concepts and ideas about structures and forms of language are discussed with
tags and reference within language.
vi. Poetic: language functions as a means of presenting human choric activities
such as songs and Poetry.
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LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

Language is the object of study for Linguistics and linguists study the structure of
language empirically at all levels namely, Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax
and Semantics. The linguistic study of language in relation to other disciplines such as
Philosophy, Psychology, Communication, Sociology etc. has expanded its scope. In
addition, researchers in the fields of Language Development, Teaching and Publishing
have developed a field of applied linguistics through linguistic study.

BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
Linguistics as a science covers various areas of human language which are usually
discussed under two broad areas namely; micro-linguistics and macro-linguistics.

We shall introduce the branches of linguistic study under these two branches briefly.
More detailed discussions of the various branches will follow in later sections of this
course.

MICRO-LINGUISTICS

Micro-linguistics covers the basic components or constituents of a language. This is

also referred to as theoretical linguistics. Theoretical linguistics is concerned with the
form and structure of the linguistic knowledge of a typical native speaker. This is refer
to as Competence. The actual use of language is refers to as Performance.
Theoretical linguists study the structural aspects of language under the broad levels of
grammar. Grammar is further divided into form and meaning. Under form are
phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax while under meaning; semantics and
pragmatics. These are introduced briefly here but will be discussed in more detail in
subsequent units of this course.

PHONETICS
This is a branch of linguistics that is concerned with the study of speech sounds-how
they are produced (articulated), sent across (transmitted) and perceived (reception). In
other words, phonetics accounts for how they are received by the hearers. There are
three areas of study in phonetics and they are: articulatory, acoustics and auditory
phonetics.

Articulatory phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds. It is the aspect of
phonetics that studies the various processes involved in the production of human
speech sounds. These include the description of organs of speech, muscle movements
and motor-control functions from the brain as well as characterization of phones. It is
necessary to note that most of the articulatory organs do have other functions apart
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from their involving in speech production. People who have lost ability to produce
speech sound could still use their teeth, nose and other part of their mouth.

Acoustic phonetics deals with the physical properties of sounds. When speech
sounds are produced from the speaker, they possess certain physical properties such as
frequency of air molecule vibration (Formant), speed of vibration(roughly Pitch), the
energy displacement involved(Intensity) and shapes of displacement. These physical
properties are measured by using instruments available in experimental area of
phonetics.

Auditory phonetics has to do with how sounds are perceived by the organs used for
hearing, the ear and the brain.

Modern phonetic studies also include a demarcation between impressionistic and

experimental phonetics.

Impressionistic phonetics looks at sounds of language in respect to how we

perceived them as hearers. It relies on the natural auditory effect or impression hearers
get when a sound or sounds is/are produced for description. This type of phonetics is
limited in its ability to describe all of the characteristics and properties of sound
segment in language. It is relatively not a reliable source of fully specified description
of sounds partly because on one side, the hearer‟s and the speaker‟s performance
ability could be inhibited by non-linguistic factors such as drowsiness, hunger, injury,
emotions e.tc.

Experimental Phonetics is the practical activities or steps involve in the study of

phones language or a language. Experimental phonetics often involve the use of
apparatuses such a camera, recorder, spectrogram, computer, sounds modulators as
well as modern software in the study of sounds. To establish the properties of phones,
the phonetician may need to perform some experiments such as, Palatography which
looks at the various parts of the roof the mouth that the tongue interact with during
articulation; Glottography which looks at the state of the glottis during sound
production; Spectrography which identifies physical properties of sounds such as
pitch, intensity, frequencies (formants), time and wavelength.

A new area in the study of phonetics looks at the social influence on the selection of
secondary properties of language such as accents and harmonics. This new area is
called Socio-Phonetics.

PHONOLOGY
Phonology is the study of how speech sounds ar combined to form patterns and
systems. It helps us to know the combination of sounds that are permissible in a
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language. It is related to phonetics in that phonetics supplies the data for phonology. A
phonological account will show which sounds can make a difference in meaning of
words. For example, /p/ and /b/ make a difference in the meaning of the following
words in English:

 Park /pa:k/
 Bark /ba:k/
 In phonology, sounds that make a difference in meaning of words are the
significant sounds in a language and are known as Phonemes. It is not only the sounds
that can make a difference in the meaning of words; other features like stress,
intonation and tone perform similar functions. For example, in Nigerian languages,
tones can make a difference in meaning.

Igbo Ibibio Yoruba

Ákwá bed étim millipede igbá calabash
Àkwà egg ètim pound (plural) igba two hundred
Ákwà cloths étim someone‟s name ìgbá garden egg

There are sounds in language that are representation of phonemes. These sounds are
phonetically conditioned to varies in different phonetic environment. Because they are
predictable and are usually mutually exclusive of one another (in a phonemic family),
they are refer to as Allophones. They are variants of a phoneme in different
phonological positions. E.g
In English, the Phoneme /P/ has allophones like the aspirated [ph, th, kh] which could
only be found in word-initial positions such as in words like;
Pot [phɒt], tap [thap], cat [khat]

MORPHOLOGY
This is the branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and how
they are formed in a language. Morphology accounts for word formation in languages.
The basic unit of analysis in morphology is called „morpheme‟. A morpheme is
defined as the minimal meaningful unit of grammatical analysis. For example, the
word „unfaithfulness‟ can be broken into different units or morpheme as in;

Un + faith + ful + ness

The main word or the root morpheme is faith. This word is called a free morpheme
because it can stand on its own and have meaning. The other parts of the word
(unfaithfulness) that are attached to the left (prefix) or right (suffix) of the root word
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that cannot stand on their own and have meaning are called bound morpheme. They
have meaning only when they are affixed to the main word. In terms of their
functions, bound morpheme is inflectional if it has only grammatical function such as
{-t} in talked, walked. It is Derivational if the bound morpheme has the function of
word creation such as {ʃən} in communication.

SYNTAX
Syntax is the study of how words are arranged to form sentences. Just as minimal
units of speech form the data for phonetics and phonology, and morphemes are the
minimal units in morphology, the sentence, made up of phrases and words are the
minimal units of study in syntax.
The words in a language have to be arranged according to the rules of that language to
make meaning. These rules are innate and internalized rules and constitute the
knowledge that a native speaker has of his or her language. Consider the languages
below:

a. English: A fair girl is coming

b. Yoruba: Omo obinrin pupa mbo
Child girl fair coming

In the sentences above, the English syntactic rule in (a) places adjective (fair) before
the noun (girl), whereas in the Yoruba syntactic rule in (b) place the adjective (pupa)
after the noun (obinrin).

SEMANTICS
Semantics is the branch of linguistics that is concerned with meaning in language. The
main reason for communication is to make meaning. The goal of semantics is to
develop theoretical framework of statements of fact and definitions on the basis of
which make meaning can be described.
There are two components of meaning namely, lexical meaning and phrasal meaning.
Lexical meaning refers to meaning of words in terms of their properties e.g. gender,
animate quantity etc.
Phrasal meaning refers to meanings of word combinations.

MACRO-LINGUISTICS
Macro-linguistics refers to aspect of linguistic study which involve the application of
the findings of theoretical linguistics to the analysis of language in use. It is also called
Applied Linguistics, because it involves the application of linguistics in relation to
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other disciplines. The sub-fields that come under this label include: sociolinguistics,
historical linguistics, mathematical linguistics, ethno-linguistics, computational
linguistics, and clinical linguistics. They will be briefly discussed in this course and
will be clearer as you proceed in your course.

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that

enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language. Psycholinguistics is
concerned with the psychological mechanism underlying speech production and
reception. It also studies how children acquire their first language, speech perception
and loss of the ability to use and understand language. Initial forays into
psycholinguistics were largely philosophical ventures, due mainly to a lack of
cohesive data on how the human brain functioned. Modern research makes use of
biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and information theory to study how the
brain processes language. There are a number of sub-disciplines; for example, as non-
invasive techniques for studying the neurological workings of the brain become more
and more widespread, neurolinguistics has become a field in its own right.

Psycholinguistics covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate

grammatical and meaningful sentences out of vocabulary and grammatical structures,
as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text,
etc.

Developmental psycholinguistics studies infants‟ and children‟s ability to learn

language, usually with experimental or at least quantitative methods.

LANGUAGE TEACHING

This is the area of linguistics knowledge application to the teaching of language to

second language learner. This area of language looks into how discoveries in the area
of theoretical linguistics help in providing effective teaching methods and materials
for language teachers and students. The importance of this is that ability in language
has been linked to the rate of learners‟ success in other areas. The practical application
of linguistic knowledge and tools to developing this area is the purview of expert in
this field.

LEXICOGRAPHY
Lexicography deals with dictionary compilation for language. It is the process of
compiling the words of a language with the aim of defining and describing them for
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use of learners. This part of linguistics is concern with applying acquired knowledge
about language systems into compiling dictionary for different languages. This branch
of application of linguistics knowledge follows principles developed through
linguistic analysis to design effective dictionary.

TYPES OF DICTIONARY
 Monolingual Dictionary: Dictionary compiled for a specific language. Terms
and concept are defined in the target language using simple selected words from the
language. It is peculiar in one sense. It makes use of the non-recycling principle which
disallowed defining terms using the target words. E.g. Sleep; A state of being asleep.
This principle is based on the concept of symmetry developed within the field of
Semantics.
 Bilingual Dictionary; this refers to a dictionary targeted at defining terms in
one language using another language. Such dictionaries are usually interpretative.
Terms in one language are translated and explain in a second language. The target is
second language L2 learners. Examples of such includes; The Yoruba-English
Dictionary, Spanish-English Dictionary, French-German Dictionary etc.
 Concise Monolingual Dictionary; this refers to an abridged type of
dictionary. It usually signifies that limited information is provided about entries in the
dictionary.
 Advanced Monolingual Dictionary; This refers to a type of dictionary meant
non-rudimentary users of the dictionary. The target is people already advanced in the
use of the target language.
 Multilingual dictionary; this is a type of dictionary that focus on presenting a
number of concepts in more than two Languages. It is a rare kind and often are
developed with specific users in mind.
 Specialized dictionary; this refers to dictionary type which contains only
registers in a particular field of human endeavour such as Medicine, Engineering,
Chemistry, Physics.
 Encyclopaedia: this is usually in volumes and contains general information
about everything relating to a particular people or culture including their land,
location, Language and Practices.
 Thesaurus: this is design to provide simple definitions about all the words of a
target language. It also serves to provide other information such as synonyms,
antonyms, homophones and homonyms.

BOOK PUBLISHING
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Book publishing involves the production of books for public consumption. It is an

economic endeavour that is undertaken by professionals. The process of book
publishing includes a language use that requires the attention of linguist. When a
writer writes a book, it is often not in a form publishable. The linguist can bring
his/her knowledge to bear on it and edit it into a form and format readable by the
target public.

HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
Historical linguistics was developed in the nineteenth century. During this time,
Linguists were concerned with the historical development of languages. The aim of
such investigations was to arrive at a general hypothesis about how language changes
over time, and hence is also known as Diachronic Linguistics as opposed to
Synchronic Linguistics which is a non-historical approach. Historical linguistics did
not originally develop as branch of linguistic study as it is today. It began as the core
of linguistic research with its investigation into the historical development the English
from Anglo-Saxon which is currently referred to as the Romance Languages; French,
Spanish, and Italian which in turn originated from Latin. During this said period, the
two primary methods of research were the “Comparative method” and the “Internal
Reconstruction method”. In comparative method, the Linguist examines data from
languages for which it is possible to establish a historical relationship. In internal
reconstruction is mostly used in those rare instances when a language appears to have
no „relations‟ with other languages. Through historical linguistics, languages are
classified into families based on relationships with other languages.

MATHEMATICAL LINGUISTICS

Mathematics is the science of patterns: it is by finding such patterns that knowledge is

compressed. Thus, mathematics compresses knowledge or information. A few decades
ago, courses in calculus were purview of students of Mathematics, Physics and
Engineering. Contemporary scholarship has brought mathematics into practically all
area of human endeavour. Mathematical linguistics is the study of linguistics using
mathematical methods of analysis. It covers brought area of linguistics, probability
theory, speech synthesis, and speech recognition, computational linguistics (formal
languages and machine), Natural Language processing. It focuses on the statistical and
mathematical representation of information in texts; statistical and algebraic
linguistics constitute two different areas of mathematical linguistics.

COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS

Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with statistical and/or

rule-based modelling of natural language from a computational perspective. This
modelling is not limited to any particular field of linguistics. Traditionally,
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computational linguistics was usually performed by computer scientists who were

specialized in the application of computers to the processing of natural language.
Recent research has shown that human language is much more complex than
previously thought, so computational linguists often work as members of
interdisciplinary, teams including linguists (specifically trained in Linguistics),
language experts (persons with some level of ability in the languages relevant to a
given project) and computer scientists.

Computational linguistics draws upon the knowledge of Linguists, Computer

Scientists, and experts in Artificial Intelligence, cognitive psycholinguists,
mathematicians, and logicians, amongst others. Computational linguistics can be
divided into major areas depending upon the medium of the Language being
processed, whether spoken or textual; and upon the task being performed, whether
analysing language (parsing) or creating language (generation).

Speech recognition and speech synthesis deal with how spoken language can be
understood or created among computers. Parsing and generation are sub-divisions of
computational linguistics dealing respectively with taking language apart and putting
it together. Machine translation remains the sub-division of computational linguistics
dealing with having computers translate between languages. Some of the areas of
research that are studied by computational linguistics include aided corpus linguistics.

CLINICAL LINGUISTICS

Clinical Linguistics is a sub- discipline of linguistics and involves the application of

linguistics theory to the field of speech-Language Pathology. The central focus of
Clinical Linguistics is the application of the principles of the principles and methods
of linguistics and phonetics to communication impairment in children and adults.
Clinical linguistics plays a key role in the description, analysis and remediation of
communication impairment. The study of linguistic aspects of communication
development and disorders is also of relevance to linguistic theory and understanding
of language more generally.

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Language is used by people who live in a community with culture and social
interaction rules. The culture and conventions for social interaction have been
discovered to influence language use in various contexts. The society determines what
is appropriate in various contexts. Society may also employ language as a means of
identity of units or group within it. Social factors such as age, economic status, and
social status also do have influence on language use in the society. The branch of
linguistics that looks into the relationship between culture and language is
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sociolinguistics. Language and identity is considered under the study of ethno-

linguistics.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Sociolinguistics is the study of society on the way language is used. The main aim of
sociolinguistics is to study language in its social and cultural context. This includes
the study of language in a society or speech community; language varieties; and
language functions. Sociolinguistics relates the differences observed in language use
to the problems that arise from those societal aspects. Examples include the study of
how individual‟s pronunciations differ between groups that are separated by certain
social variables such as ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, and how
these variables are used to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic
classes. The variation of language from one region to another is called dialect, while
variation of language among social classes is referred to as sociolects.

ETHNO-LINGUISTICS

Ethno-linguistics is a field of linguistic anthropology which studies the language of a

particular ethnic group. Ethno-linguistics is often associated with regions where
ethnicity plays a major role in language description and status. Ethno-linguistics study
the way perception and conceptualization influences language, and how this is linked
to different cultures and societies. An example is the space is perceived and expressed
in various cultures. In many societies, words for the cardinal directions; East and West
are derived from terms for sunrise/sunset.

SEMIOTICS

This is an area of language study that looks into communication and symbols use in
sharing messages amongst member of a community. This area try to understand the
conventions behind symbols and symbolism in different society and the way members
of such society decode such symbols.

PRAGMATICS

This is an aspect of linguistics that look into how meaning are generated in terms of
social background of language users. It is the area of linguistics concern with language
use in terms of society rules of appropriateness and social conventions. It focus on
how the social knowledge of members of the community allows them use language
effectively.
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TYPES OF LANGUAGE

Language can be typified using broad criteria such as function and time of exposure,
social value as well variation. The following are some broad classification of
language.

a. Mother-Tongue: The mother-tongue is the first language that a human child is

exposed to. The language of immediate environment that one acquires natural
within the society. It is often the language of the speech community where a
child resides in the first six years of life. This is also often refer to as First
Language (L1)
b. Second Language (L2): This is the second language or any language a child
acquires or learns formally or informally after acquiring a Mother tongue.

VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE

Language varies in respect of the social value attached to it. Variation can be in
respect of regional location of speaker or social functions that a language
performs. Below are some of the variants of language commonly discussed in
Linguistics;

a. Lect: This is the name given to any variant of a language. It may be regional or
specialized variant. It refers to any variations in language form and use
particular to a group or individuals.
b. Dialect: A dialect is a regional variation in a language. It is the form of a
language associated with a geographically distinct group. A group of often
mutually intelligible dialects comprise a language. No dialect is considered
superior or primitive as each serves its users effectively. Examples of dialects
include egba, ekiti, ijebu, ijesa, oka dialects of Yoruba language. (Note: the
tandard Yoruba is considered a dialect despite the fact that it is man-made and
useful for formal use of Yoruba)
c. Sociolect: This refers to a variant of language motivated by social differences
in speakers. Sociolect refers variation condition by users‟ social status or group
such as age, class, education, economics or identity.
d. Idiolect: This is a variant of language associated with an individual. It is
usually in respect of idiosyncratic variations that individual uses and is peculiar
to him/her. This could be pause-fillers, slurring or accent.

LANGUAGE AND THE INDIVIDUAL

Language use by individuals is an area of linguistics that looks into performance

ability of individuals and the society in relation to language availability. Any
human child without impairment has the ability to acquire as many languages as
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possible with ease within the first 1-12 years of age. Any unimpaired adult could
acquire more than one language at any time (although usually with less ease than
what has been observed for children). These are language distinctions as found in
individuals or society;

a. Monolingual: This is a language situation in which only one language is

available in the individual or society. Monolingual situation is rare and has
been considered unrealistic since people of different linguistic and social
backgrounds often live together in the same community.
b. Bilingual: This often refers to an individual who can speak or use two
languages. Bilingualism is a language situation whereby the linguistic
repertoire of a person contains more than codes for one language. This is a
common phenomenon since most people can speak more one language.
c. Multilingualism: This is a language situation in which a society has more than
one language available in the society. This however does not necessarily refer
to individual ability to use more than one language. It is the most common
language situation in human society due to migration and interaction amongst
various kinds of people.

CONCLUSION

In this unit, you have been introduced to linguistics, language and their relationship.
The various fields of linguistic study were also briefly introduced. From the
discussion, the grammar of language is the main focus of linguistics study. It can also
be examined from the perspective of other disciplines such as history, mathematics,
anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

SUMMARY

In this course, linguistics has been defined as the scientific study of language(s) which
involves scientific processes of observation, data collection, formulation of
hypothesis, analysis of data and formulation of theory based on the structure of the
language. Language on the other hand was defined as a shared set of symbols used by
a society to express their feeling, ideas and emotions. The relationship between both is
that language is the object of study for linguistics.