BASIC CONCEPTS

IN LINGUISTIC
 SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE
• LINGUISTICS
-Itis often called the science of language/scientific study of
languages.
The word LINGUISTICS has been derived from Latin word LINGUA
(TONGUE) and ISTICS (KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE).
It is study not only of one particular language but of human languages in
general. It attempts to describe and analyze languages.
Linguists are scientists who apply the scientific method to questions about
the nature and function of language.
.

• Linguists conduct formal studies of speech sounds, grammatical

structures, and meaning across all the world’s over 6,000 languages.
They also investigate the history of and changes within language
families and how language is acquired when we are infants. Linguists
examine the relationship between written and spoken language as
well as the underlying neural structures that enable us to use
language.
• Sometimes language experts are referred to as linguists, but those
individuals do not necessarily conduct the same kind of scientific
research on language as carried out by those with advanced degrees
in linguistics. Polyglot is the term used for a person who has
knowledge of multiple languages. And although it is possible for a
person to be both a linguist and a polyglot, it is just as possible that a
linguist speaks only one language.
 LINGUISTICS TRIES TO ANALYZE:
1. What language is
2. What languages have in common
3. Social differences in language usage
4. How languages change over time
5. How languages work
6. How languages vary
7. How children acquire language
8. How language reflects the mind
 SCIENTIFIC APPROACH OF LINGUISTICS

-Linguistics is discipline as scientific study of language so

there are some scientific and nonscientific way of doing
things.

Linguistics scientific approaches are as follows :

• Objectivity
• Empiricism
• Rationalism
• Exhaustiveness
• Consistency
• Economy
 OBJECTIVITY

Objectivity is that, “it considers all languages to be equal ”. for a

linguist , there are no primitive ,pure, beautiful ,cultural and
sophisticated languages.
The objective study of language is hindered by various cultural, social
and historical misconception about certain languages.
 EMPIRICISM

Linguistics is basically an empirical, not a

speculative or intuitive, discipline in the sense that it
examines the specific data (e.g. Speech and writing),
and proceeds by variables and justifiable. it relies on
observation and experiments, and uses formalized
principles and theory capable of formulation. It aims
to analyze the data and make generalization about the
regularities encountered in linguistics phenomenon
under study.
 • CANONS OF SCIENCE
LINGUISTICS OBEY FOLLOWING CANONS OF SCIENCE
• Exhaustiveness: Linguistics deals with all relevant data, i.e., It analyzes
all the facts of languages that fall with in its scope and studies
systematically every linguistic element from all angles.
• Consistency it allows no contradictory statements and requires that all
parts of analysis be consistent with the whole.
• Economy repetition is not allowed either, and more economic
statements containing fewer concepts or symbols are preferred.
• Rationalism it emphasize the role that mind plays in the acquisition of
knowledge.
•SOME CHARACTERISTICS
OF HUMAN LANGUAGE
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
 LANGUAGE IS ARBITRARY
-Language is arbitrary because of the lack of a natural relationship between
the signifier (language form) and the signified (referent).
- there is no particular reason why the dog, or cow, or table was name
so. they could be named otherwise. that is why we have different words in
different languages.
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
PRODUCTIVITY/ CREATIVITY
whatever we speak or create is productivity. speaking itself is
productivity. humans can talk about topics that are displaced. they can
talk about the things that may be present or not, or talk about anything
in past, present or future.
-language allows speakers/writers to produce and understand new
utterances never heard or produced before.
ex: “phonology is a linguistic study of speech sounds”
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
• language can be culturally transmitted.
• what language the baby is going to speak is determined by the
culture the baby is born into.
-(direct exposure)
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
 LANGUAGE IS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON
It should be considered a social phenomenon.
-language only exists in society. It is a means of nourishing and
developing culture and establishing human relations.
DUALITY human language is organized at two levels. for
example, at speech production we have a physical level at which we can
produce individual sounds like n, b and i. in a particular combination such
as ‘bin’ we have another level producing a meaning that is different from
the meaning of the combination in ‘nib’.
 in animals there is only one level that is sound.
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
DISCREETNESS
The sounds of human language are meaningfully distinct.
• ex: man and ban
pig and big
*as you can see the different in only one sound is sufficient enough
to cause difference in meaning.
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION
-It is strong ,convenient, and the best form of communication for no
doubt, and it is the best way to express everything.
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
INTERCHANGEABILITY/RECIPROCITY
- language allows communicators to exchange positions.
At one point the communicator is the speaker, but at the other he becomes the
listener.
 FORM AND MEANING
WHAT IS TRANSLATION?

Dictionary definition of translation: Changing from one state or

form to another, to turn into one's own or another's language
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
-Translation is basically change of form.
When we speak of the form of a language, we are referring to
the actual words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, etc.,
Which are spoken or written.
These forms are referred to as the surface structure of a language.
Translation the form of the source language is replaced by the form of
the receptor (target language).
This is done by going from the form of the first language to the form
of a second language by way of semantic structure (deep structure).
 It is meaning which is being transferred and must be held constant.
Only the form changes.
 The form from which the translation is made will be called the SOURCE
LANGUAGE and the form into which it is to be changed will be called the
RECEPTOR LANGUAGE.
Translation, then, consists of:
- Studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation,
and cultural context of the source language text.
- Analyzing it in order to determine its meaning.
- then reconstructing this same meaning using the lexicon and
grammatical structure which are appropriate in the RECEPTOR
LANGUAGE and its cultural context.
• Persons who know both the SOURCE LANGUAGE
and RECEPTOR LANGUAGE well can often make
the transfer from one form to the other very rapidly.
They must be equally fluent in the two languages.
They are mother-tongue speakers of the two
languages. 
• SL RL1 RL2

Inaantok ako
makaturturogak I am sleepy

Person (speaker) is
in state of being
sleepy
 English: I have money
Japanese &
Latin : me there is money
(literally)
Arabic & russian : with me there is money
(literally)

However, for complicated texts, and when the translators may

not be equally fluent in the two languages (if they are mother-
tongue speakers of only one), the study of the principles will
enable them to make a more adequate translation. 
e.g.
ILOKANO(SL): Anya nagan mo?
FILIPINO(RL1): Ano ang pangalan mo?
ENGLISH(RL2): What is your name?

IT IS NOT SIMPLY A MATTER OF DIFFERENT WORD

CHOICES, BUT OF DIFFERENT GRAMMATICAL
STRUCTURES AS WELL.
The best translation is the one which
uses the normal language forms of the receptor language.
Communicates, as much as possible, to the receptor
language speaker the same meaning that was understood
by the speakers of the source language.
Maintains the dynamics of the original source language
text.
SPEECH AND WRITING
When we talk about 'language', sometimes we mean speech
(spoken language), sometimes writing (written language).
How are they different? Of course, speech is spoken and
heard, while writing is written and read.
 SPEECH AND WRITING
Speech vs. Writing
Why it is sometimes claimed that writing is primary?
 written texts tend to be more carefully worded and better organized than spoken texts, they
contain fewer errors, hesitations, and incomplete sentences, because writing is usually
planned in advance, is subject to fewer time constraints, is proofread, etc. However: how
about instant messaging, quick e-mails?
 Spelling is more uniform across different individuals, places and times using the same
language than is pronunciation.
Written texts last and can be preserved for a long time. However: cds, youtube, videos . . .
can preserve speech.
 writing styles change much more slowly than speech styles, and so writing seems more
“permanent” and “authoritative”. However: this can be is also disadvantage – writing lags
behind the times.
2.2 linguists’ reasons for claiming that speech is primary
Historically, spoken language existed much earlier than writing. Writing was most
likely invented in sumer (mesopotamia, current iraq) about 5500 years ago.
Language probably exists for 40,000 or more.
 There are many societies which only speak their language and do not write it.
And no society uses only a written language (with no spoken form). We learn to
speak before we learn to write.
 Most people, say more during one month than they write during their entire lives.
 Writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired automatically.
 Psycholinguistic evidence suggest that the processing and production of written
language is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain (plus certain
other centers).
Speech contains information that writing lacks – intonation, stress, voice quality,
etc.
LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM
Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed),
or written symbols by means of which human beings, as
members of a social group and participants in its culture,
express themselves.
• When language is viewed as a system, we see it in terms of its component parts and
how these interact.

THE THREE BASIC COMPONENTS ARE SUBSTANCE, FORM AND MEANING.

Substance refers to the sounds the language uses (phonic substance), for example, its
vowels and consonants, and the symbols used in writing (graphic substance).

NEXT, FORM

THREE BASIC TYPES OF FORM:

GRAMMAR, LEXIS AND PHONOLOGY

In the case of GRAMMAR, English forms include past-tense endings, modal verbs and
prepositions, along with rules for putting these together (syntax).
The LEXICAL forms consist of words, which follow rules for vowel and
consonant combinations, how they combine with other words in
collocations, fixed expressions, etc. And how they interact with the
grammar.
Phonology gives us the forms for pronunciation, stress (the syllable
with most intensity) and intonation (e.g. Whether the voice rises or
falls).
The third component, MEANING, refers to what the combinations of
form and substance signify (the semantics).
*In English, the form, was speaking signifies past time, green and blue
signify particular colors and rising intonation often signifies a question.
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OR
PRESCRIPTIVE
• Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure,
including the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. With
regard to studying the grammar, there are mainly two
approaches that one can use; they are DESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR and PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR.
• The main difference between descriptive and prescriptive
grammar is that the DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR describes how
the language is used whereas the PRESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR explains how the language should be used by the
speakers.
 • DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DESCRIPTIVE AND PRESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR
Definition
• Descriptive grammar is the approach to grammar that is concerned
with describing the usage of language by native or non-native
speakers without reference to proposed norms of correctness or
advocacy of rules based on such norms.
• Prescriptive grammar, on the other hand, is an approach to grammar
that is concerned with establishing norms of correct and incorrect
usage and formulating rules based on these norms to be followed by
users of the language.
Rules of “good” or “proper” usage, which dictate what is “good
grammar” and what is “bad grammar”.
Example: (1) she doesn’t know him
(2) she don’t know him
-Example (1) is supposed to be good, while (2) is supposed to be
bad.
• The basic problem with she don’t know him: it is not part of
STANDARD ENGLISH but it is part of some varieties/dialects of
English.
PRINCIPLE
• Descriptive grammar takes the principle that the language
usage can vary according to varied speakers. Thus, it does not
consider what is correct or incorrect grammar whereas
Prescriptive grammar takes the principle that the long existed
grammar rules created by the native speakers are the correct,
and the variations are incorrect.
GRAMMAR RULES
• The rules are made according to the daily usage of the
language by the speakers. Therefore, no specific or standard
rules are there in descriptive grammar, rather the rules
describe and explain the speaker’s manner of language usage.
On the contrary, there are specified and standard set or
grammar rules in prescriptive grammar that should be followed
by the speaker in their usage.
CONCLUSION
• Descriptive and prescriptive grammar are two approaches to
grammar in a language. While descriptive grammar is a
subjective study of the use of language by speakers,
descriptive grammar attempts to impose certain normative
grammar rules on the speakers in order to reach the accepted
standard of that language. This is the main difference between
descriptive and prescriptive grammar.
SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC
STUDIES
 SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC STUDIES
• Synchronic vs. Diachronic approaches
• SYNCHRONIC LINGUISTICS is one of the two main temporal dimensions
of language study introduced by Saussure in his "course in General
Linguistics" (1916). The other is DIACHRONIC LINGUISTICS, which is the
study of language through periods of time in history. The first looks at a
snapshot of a language, and the other studies its evolution.
• For example, analyzing the word order in a sentence in Old English only
would be a study in SYNCHRONISTIC LINGUISTICS. If you looked at how
word order changed in a sentence from OLD ENGLISH to MIDDLE
ENGLISH and now to MODERN ENGLISH, that would be a DIACHRONIC
STUDY.
• The difference between synchronic and diachronic linguistics
depends on their focus of study.  This is because the
synchronic looks at language at a given period of time while
the diachronic looks at language through various periods in
history. However, both branches are important in order to study
a language properly.
LANGUAGE AND
PAROLE
LANGUE AND PAROLE
Langue- French word of language
Parole- French word of speech
LANGUE
THE FOLLOWING RULES AND CONVENTIONS CONSTITUTE
LANGUE:
 THE COMBINATIONS OF SOUNDS AND PRONUNCIATION
(PHONETIC, PHONOLOGY)
 FORMATION OF WORDS (MORPHOLOGY)
 CONSTRUCTION OF SENTENCES (SYNTAX)
 CONTEXTUAL MEANINGS (PRAGMATICS)
 WORDS RELATIONSHIP (SEMANTICS)
Language is a grammatical system
-That exists in the brain of a group of individual
- In the form of word-image and knowledge of conventions
Language exists perfectly
-Within society
-Not in any individual speaker
PRODUCT OF SOCIAL AGREEMENT
AMONG THE NATIVE SPEAKERS OF A LANGUAGE,
THERE IS A SIMILARITY OF:
 SOUNDS
 WORDS

 MEANING

THEY HAVE THE SAME IMAGES AND SIGNS IN THEIR

MINDS
THE SOCIAL BOND CONSTITUTES LANGUAGE
• PAROLE

Parole belongs to the individual

It is the concrete physical manifestation of the abstract langue that
exist in mind.
An individual makes use of this knowledge to produce actual
sentence.
LANGUE
VS.
PAROLE
  Language is social  Parole is individual

-A set of conventions and rules -Individual performance of a

language
-Shared by all the speakers of
language -In speech or writing
 Language is abstract Parole is concrete
 These conventions exists in the  It is physical, makes use of the
mind of speakers physiological mechanism
-who belong to that society -speech organs
-that has created the in uttering words and
language sentences
 Underlying system  Performance
-which makes the individual -sound and sentence parole can’t
performance(parole) meaningful be a mean of communication and
understood without language.
If we hear unknown language we
can’t understand as we do not
share the language.
  Language as a system  Language behaviour

Consist of stable : production of sentences:

conventions unpredictable
rules heterogeneous
codes whimsical (capricious)
variable
  Legislative side of
language
-Like law langue is relatively
fixed
- it does not change with
individual
-Langue maintains:
The social order
Homogeneity of the
language
Executive side of language
-it uses the law or code the
language
- It executes langue through
individual acts of speaking and
writing
 Language can be studied
-it is well defined
-homogeneous object
-it is in form of written symbols
so, it can be studied
Parole can not be studied
-unpredictable mass of speech act
-it cannot be accurately
represented
-it is heterogeneous
so variable that cannot be
studied
CHOMSKY’S THEORY OF LANGUAGE
In 1957, Linguist Noam Chomsky published a groundbreaking
book called “syntactic structures.” It proposed a novel idea: all
human beings may be born with an innate understanding of how
language works.
Whether we learn Arabic, English, Chinese, or sign language is
determined, of course, by the circumstances of our lives.
But according to Chomsky, we can acquire language
because we’re genetically encoded with a universal grammar —
a basic understanding of how communication is structured.
Chomsky’s idea has since become widely accepted.
• American-born linguist Noam Chomsky believes that we are born with
a predisposition to learn language. The essence of his theories of
language acquisition state that human beings are pre-wired to learn
language and in fact are born with the basic rules for language intact.
Many of the unique details of any specific language structure are
heavily influenced by the environment, but according to Chomsky, the
human brain is ready made to quickly acquire language at specific
stages in the developmental process.
• Prior to Chomsky, it was widely agreed that language acquisition was
mostly a learned process. For instance, many believed that language
skills were developed solely through watching and learning our parents
and other people in our environment. Chomsky's notion that the brain
is pre-wired for language was quite a contrast to the accepted beliefs of
the time.
  Chomsky originally theorized that children were born with a hard- wired Language
Acquisition Device (LAD) in their brains. He later expanded this idea into that of
universal grammar, a set of innate principles and adjustable parameters that are
common to all human languages. The child exploits its LAD to make sense of the
utterances heard around it, deriving from this ‘primary linguistic data’ – the
grammar of the language.
 LAD is exploited to explain the remarkable speed with which children learn to
speak, and the considerable similarity in the way grammatical patterns are
acquired across different children and languages
 According to Chomsky, the presence of universal grammar in the brains of children
allow them to deduce the structure of their native languages from "mere exposure".
 Primary data is then used to make sentences or structures after a process of trial
and error, correspond to those in adult speech.