WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?

What is
Linguistics?

• Linguistics is the scientific

study of human language-
how it is put together and
how it functions.
• It is a valuable component of
education and is also useful
as pre-professional training
for individuals interested in
teaching languages.
Video defining linguistics
 Phonology
• analyzes the patterns of all
human speech sounds, esp
different patterns of sounds in
different languages or within
each language,
• speech sounds of a particular
language
• It looks at how sounds organize
in a word, how sounds are
pronounced.
• How sound is pronounced and
stored in the mind
• What sounds go together?
• Looks at what sounds/sound
combinations are accepted and
why.
 In linguistics, a phoneme is the smallest sound unit in a language
that conveys a distinct meaning,

E.G. the s of sing and the r of ring. Adjective: phonemic.

Phonemes are language-specific.

PHONEM
ES In other words, phonemes that are functionally distinct in English
(for example, /b/ and /p/) may not be so in another language.

(Phonemes are customarily written between slashes, thus /b/

and /p/.)

Different languages have different phonemes.

PHONETICS

• Phonetics- studies the production of

sounds of human speech as they stand
in isolation
• (describes how vowels and consonants
are produced or articulated in different
parts of the mouth and throat,
• how speech sounds are transmitted
and received using the mouth, lips,
throat etc.).
• The study of alphabet also falls under
phonetics.
 Difference
between
phonetics and
phonology
 •Why knowing morphological skills is
important
• Knowing the relationships between words,
• how they sound,
• how they are spelled,
• what their morphological structure is,
• enhances vocabulary knowledge as well as
reading comprehension.

MORPHOLOGY
• studies word structures, especially in
terms of morphemes (smallest
grammatical unit of a language that
cannot be divided without changing its
actual meaning).
• It identifies, analyses, and describes
the structure of a word.
Syntax
Semantics
•studies meaning in language/ the actual definition of a word or text
•It can be applied to entire texts or to single words.
•One part of studying a language is knowing the many meanings of
individual words. For example, the word create can mean build, make,
construct, erect, compose or imagine.
•Semantics largely determine our reading comprehension, how we
understand others, and even what decisions we make as a result of our
interpretations.
 • deals meaning beyond the surface level;
• deals with the study on how meaning changes with different contexts.
• Pragmatics highlights the study of meaning in the interactional
context.
• As language is an instrument of interaction, Pragmatics focuses on
what implied meanings, that is what people mean when they make
use of language.
• Pragmatics refers to how words are used in a practical sense.
Pragmatics • Words can mean different things, and often the same word can mean
something different depending on the context in which it is used.
• Example of Pragmatics:
• 1. Will you crack open the door? I am getting hot.
•
Semantically, the word "crack" would mean to break,
but pragmatically we know that the speaker means to open the door
just a little to let in some air.
Sentences

Clauses

Phrases

Words

Morphemes
THANK
YOU!!!!!