GE N E R A L L I N G U I S T I C S

CONTENTS
Linguistics .1
Linguist .2
Descriptive linguistics .3
Prescriptive linguistics .4
Some characteristics of language .5
?WHAT IS LINGUISTICS
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.
? IS LANGUAGE HUMAN SPECIFIC
 Definitions of language
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of “
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily
produced symbols.” (Sapir, 1921)
Language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact
with each other by means of habitually used oral auditory arbitrary
symbols.” (Hall, 1968)
From now on I will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) “
of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set
of elements.” (Chomsky, 1957)
:Generally accepted definition
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for
human communication. (Wardhaugh, 1972)
.Human language, that unique characteristic of our species
?WHAT THEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
Language = is a communication tool

Linguistics = is the study of the science of language

It is defined as “the science of language or, alternatively ,
as the scientific study of language”. Linguistics “is a science
which studies the origin, organization and natural
development of a language . It can formulate general rules
and regulations of grammar”.
 LINGUISTICS AS A SCIENCE
The term science has been used in the definition of general linguistics. It may be understood in
two ways.
In the widest terms it refers to the fact that the study of language in general and of languages in
particular, is considered worthy of scholarly attention and that a systematic body of facts and
theory is built up around it.
In more specific and particular terms it indicates the attitude taken by the linguist today
towards his subject, and in this perhaps it marks a definite characteristic of twentieth century
Linguistics.
 Some problems that are related to general linguistics discussed with reference to :
An activity:
general linguistics includes a search for the most universal features of human languages, in
order describe language simply, exactly and objectively.

A doctrine
body of information should focus on theories and descriptions of language advanced by
various scholars.

A theory:
general linguistics can be viewed as a theory, will therefore be seen to depend on historical and
comparative work as well as on descriptive linguistics. This interplay of general descriptive,
historical and comparative linguistics should result in a general linguistics theory on which we
can draw in applied linguistics.
?WHY STUDY LINGUISTICS
We study linguistics because language is fascinating, we cannot imagine
.our life without language
.It has real-world application and it can get you a job .1
.It is a good practice .2
.Almost everything you do involves languages .3
.Linguistics can be understood as a science
?Why do we call linguistics as a science
?What is the kind of science
We call linguistics as a science and its working as scientific because it
:follows the general methodology of the science such as
Controlled observation .1
Hypothesis formation .2
Analysis .3
Generalization .4
Prediction .5
Scientific methodology in linguistics as we know that linguistics is scientific study of language.
The approach and methodology of linguistics is scientific.
Like a scientist a linguist observes his data.
Linguist uses by observing simple listening and phonetic transcriptions and uses various
instruments like oscilo graph, endoscope, laryngoscope etc.
A linguist has his own language laboratory too.
Like a scientist a linguist develops hypothesis makes generalized statement in the favor of fact
of language.
 When a linguist makes his statement about language he makes it
on the basis of observation.

First he observes linguistics events he finds some similarities and

contrast on the basis of which he makes sounds.

Like any scientific discipline linguistic too is not static. View points
and theoretical method in the field change even in fundamental
ways from time to time.
Linguistics may be inductive or deductive but it is objective, precise,
.tentative and systematic. It is between natural and social sciences
,According to Robins
Linguistics is an empirical science and within the empirical sciences it “
is one of the social sciences because its subject matter concerns human
.”beings and is very much different from that of natural sciences
 HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS?

RELATION OF LINGUISTICS TO NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Relation of linguistics to natural and social sciences finally closeness of
linguistics with other natural sciences like biology, physiology,
.anatomy, etc
It is another proof of its scientific nature, linguistics is getting more
and more technical and sophisticated day by day. Yet it is not a pure
.science its position is between the natural science and social sciences
In case of natural science it is impossible to produce language without
use of internal and external structures of the human mouth…also their
physiology is included in phonetics, so it is related to natural sciences.
And in case of relation with social sciences, languages usually depicts
the behavioral aspects of a language, the values, social interactions with
different societies.
One can make the position of linguistics within the sciences more precise.
It is an empirical science, in that its subject matter is observable with the
senses, speech as heard, the movements of the vocal organs as seen directly or
with the aid of instruments, the sensations of speaking as perceived by
speakers, and writing as seen and read.
Within the empirical sciences linguistics is one of the social sciences, in that
the phenomena forming its subject-matter are part of the behaviour of men
and women in society, in interaction with their fellows.
This last statement is not invalidated by the existence of purely secondary uses
of language by persons alone and out of earshot of others, in monologue ('
talking to oneself '), ejaculations of joy, terror, or annoyance, addressing
animals, and the like; the essence of language, and the vast majority of its
uses, involve two or more persons in social intercourse.
?WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF LINGUISTICS
Linguistics observes language in action as a means for determining how
language has developed, how it functions today, and how it is currently
evolving. (Duffy)
Linguistics is concerned with the nature of human language, how it is
learned and what part it plays in the life of the individual and community.
(Corder)
LINGUIST
Linguist is a scientist who investigates human language in
all its facets, its structure, its use, its history, and its place
.in society
What are the different aspects that linguistics
?attempts to analyze
:Linguistics tries to analyze
What language is .1
?What languages have in common .2
Social differences in language usage .3
How languages change over time .4
How languages work .5
How languages vary .6
How children acquire language .7
How language reflects the mind .8
 Scientific Approach of Linguistics

Linguistics is discipline as scientific study of language so there are some scientific and
nonscientific way of doing things. Linguistic scientific approaches are as follows :
1. Objectivity 2. Empiricism
3. Rationalism 4. Exhaustiveness
4. Consistency 5. 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 objectivity is difficult to attain because
language is so familiar to us that we can hardly dissociate our selves
from it.
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 the theory capable of formulation. It aims to
analyze the data and make generalization about the regularities
encountered in linguistics phenomenon under study.
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 ether, and more economic statements containing
.fewer concepts or symbols are preferred
Rationalism
.it emphasizes the role that mind plays in the acquisition of knowledge
Principles of Linguistics
there are two principles that prove linguistics as science verification principle and reductionism
Verification principle
the principle that no statement is meaningful unless it could by verified by observation standard scientific
methods applied to the data provided by observation.
Reductionism
the principle that, of the sciences, some one more basic than others and that in the grand synthesis of unified
science the concept and propositions of the less basic sciences were to be reduced.
In the first place it is desirable to consider the difference between general linguistics as the
science or scientific study of language and the study of individual languages. This latter
study is, indeed, more familiar to the majority of people, and has played a major part in all
stages of education in many parts of the world for some time; the study of linguistics, on the
other hand, is, at least in its present form a relative newcomer in the field of scholarship,
though in the present century and particularly in the past decade. It has shown marked
growth in the numbers of its students and teachers in the universities of great Britain,
Europe, the United States, and several of the newly developing countries of the rest of the
.world
General linguistics is concerned with human language as a universal
and recognizable part of human behaviour and of the human
faculties, perhaps one of the most essential to human life as we know
it, and one of the most far-reaching of human capabilities in relation
to the whole span of mankind's achievements.
Needless to say, there is no 'general language' as the specific subject-
matter of linguistics other than and apart from the numerous and so
far uncounted different languages (estimated at around 3,000) spoken
in the world; but the general linguist, in the sense of the specialist or
the student concerned with general linguistics, is not as such involved
.with any one or more of them to a greater extent than with any others
LANGUAGE AND SYMBOL SYSTEMS
Language makes contact with the world on two sides.
Speaking makes use of certain organs of the human body, the physical properties of the air,
and the physiological properties of the ear;
writing makes use of visible marks on a surface and the physiology of the eye.
On this side the connection is with a very limited part of the total realm of human
experience and human capabilities. On the other side, language uses the audible movements
of the vocal organs and the visible marks of writing in relation to the vastly greater and
potentially infinite totality of human experience, past, present, and to come.
In this use of a restricted range language falls within the wider scope of symbol systems; and
symbols are a special class of signs. The science of sign and symbol systems, sometimes called
semiotics, lies outside the range of an outline introduction to general linguistics, but a brief
clarification of the terms is desirable.
Signs in general are events or things that in some way direct attention to, or are indicative of,
other events or things. They may be related naturally or causally, as when shivering is taken as
a sign of fever, or as when earthquakes are, or were, said to be signs of the subterranean
writhing of the imprisoned god loki; or they may be related conventionally and so used, and
they are then called symbols, as, for example, the 'conventional signs' for churches, railways,
etc. On maps, road signs, and the colours of traffic lights.
Languages clearly include members of this class of conventional signs or
symbols, and as a great many different symbols are involved, languages
are regarded as incorporating symbol systems. Among symbol systems
language occupies a special place, for at least two reasons. Firstly, it is
almost wholly based on pure or arbitrary convention; whereas signs on
maps and the like tend to represent in a stylized way the things to which
they refer, the words of a language relate to items of experience or to bits of the world in this
.way only in the proportionately very small part of vocabulary called onomatopoeic
The, connection between the sounds of words like cuckoo, hoopoe, and such imitative words as
.dingdong, bowwow, rattattat, etc .. and the creatures making such
Noises or the noises themselves is obvious; and in a wider set of forms in languages a more
general association of sound and type of thing or event is discoverable, as in many English
words ending· in -ump, such as thump, clump, stump, dump, which tend to have associations of
.heaviness, thickness, and dullness
The second special feature of language is far more important, and
puts language in a unique position. Language alone is able to relate
its symbols to every part and every sort of human experience and to
all the furniture of earth and heaven; and for this reason all other
symbol systems are explained by reference to it.
Languages are infinitely extendable and modifiable according to the changing
needs and conditions of the speakers; this is clearly seen in the immediate
adaptation of the vocabulary of English and other languages to the scientific
discoveries and concomitant changes that took place in the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. This alone sets language quite apart from
such symbolizing as gesture, and from the communication systems of certain
creatures such as bees, fascinating and revealing as these are.
One topic connected with the study of language that has always exercised a strong
fascination over the general public is the question of the origin of language. There
has been a good deal of speculation on this, usually taking the form of trying to
infer out of what sort of communicative noise-making fully fledged languages in all
their complexities gradually developed. Imitative exclamations in response to
animal noises, onomatopoeia and more general sound mimicry of phenomena,
.exclamations of strong emotion, and calls for help have all been adduced
Linguists, however, tend to leave this sort of theorizing alone, not
because of any lack of intrinsic interest, but because it lies far beyond
the reaches of legitimate scientific inference. Language as a human
faculty is immeasurably older than the earliest attested languages
(some 4,000 years old), and writing, by which alone extinct languages
are known to us, is, as compared with speech, a very recent
introduction, the· product of settled and developed civilization. In
.relation to the origin of language, every known language is very recent
PRESCRIPTIVE APPROACH
&
DESCRIPTIVE APPROACH
It involves labelling the grammatical categories in sentences ( traditional
grammar, rules of Latin)
.It sets out rules for the correct or ‘proper’ use of a language
.It is based on the written language
.It advocates the standard language
In this approach , grammarians decide what the correct use of language, not speakers of
.the language
:Examples of prescriptive rules
.a. you must not split an infinitive
to slowly drive*
.b. you must not end a sentence with a preposition
.this is the girl i gave the book to*
Other examples that would be considered ‘improper’ to prescriptive
:grammarians
mary runs faster than me *
?who did you see*
Unlike the descriptive approach, the prescriptive approach deals
with what the grammarians believe to be right and wrong, good or
bad language use; not following the rules will generate incorrect
.language
A prescriptive grammar, on the other hand, specifies how a
language and its grammar rules should be used.
A prescriptivist view of language implies a distinction between
"good grammar" and "bad grammar," and its primary focus is
on standard forms of grammar and syntactic constructions.
A descriptive approach looks at the way a language is actually used by its
speakers and then attempts to analyse it and formulate rules about
.the structure
descriptive grammar does not deal with what is good or bad language use; -
.forms and structures
it is a grammar based on the way a language actually is and not how some -
.think it should be
 ”I ain’t got no money“
?Is this sentence grammatical and acceptable
Does descriptive approach belong to synchronic or
?diachronic? And why
A descriptive grammar is a study of a language, its structure, and its rules as
they are used in daily life by its speakers from all walks of life, including
standard and nonstandard varieties.
Linguistics takes a descriptive approach to language: it tries to explain things as they
.actually are, not as we wish them to be
When we study language descriptively, we try to find the unconscious rules that
people follow when they say things like sentence (1). The schoolbook approach to
.language is typically prescriptive. It tries to tell you how you should speak and write
Notice that there is a place for both description and prescription in
language study. For example, when adults learn a foreign language, they
typically want someone to tell them how to speak, in other words to
prescribe a particular set of rules to follow, and expect a teacher or book
.to set forth those rules
But how do teachers know what rules to prescribe? At some point in time,
someone had to describe the language and infer those rules. Prescription, in
other words, can only occur after the language has been described, and good
prescription depends on adequate description. We obviously don't want to be
teaching people the wrong things about language.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
1. LANGUAGE IS SOUND 7. LANGUAGE IS LINEAR
2. LANGUAGE IS SYSTEMATIC 8. LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM
OF SYSTEMS
3. LANGUAGE IS MEANINGFUL 9. LANGUAGE IS
ARBITRARY
4. LANGUAGE IS CONVENTIONAL 10. LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM OF
CONTRASTS
5. LANGUAGE IS CREATIVE 11. LANGUAGES ARE
UNIQUE
6. LANGUAGES ARE SIMILAR
THANK YOU