LINGUISTICS Essays - Articles, Academic Disciplines, Linguistics

LINGUISTICS The word Linguistics' has been derived from the Latin lingua (tongue) and istics (knowledge or science). Etymologically, therefore, linguistics is the scientific language. But it is the study not of one particular language but of human language in general. It studies language as a universal and recognizable part of human behavior. It attempts to describe and analyze language. The field of linguistics comprises under-standing of the place of language in human life, the ways in which it is organized to fulfill the needs it serves, and the functions it performs. So linguistics is that science which studies the origin, organization, nature and development of language descriptively, historically, comparatively and explicitly, and formulates the general rules related to language. Diachronic (historical) linguistics studies the development of language through history, through time, for example, the way in which French and Italian have evolved from Latin. Linguistics, therefore, is the science that describes and classifies languages. The linguist identifies and describes the units and patterns of the sound system, the words and morphemes, and the phrases and sentences, which is the structure of language, as completely, accurately, and economically as possible. LINGUISTIC LEVELS Linguistics levels' means the levels of language structure. There is a considerable difference among the linguisticians about the number and terminology of linguistic levels. Robert Hall (1969: 32) recommends the levels-phonology (phonemics-phonetics), morphology and syntax. R.H Robins (1971: 11) mentions phonology, grammar and semantics. Hockett (1973: 137-138) advocates the following five levels which he calls subsystems: The Grammatical System: a stock of morphemes, and the arrangements in which they occur; The Phonological System: a stock of phonemes, and the assignments in which they occur; The Morphophonemic System: the code which ties together the grammatical and the phonological system; The Phonemic System: the ways in which sequences of the phonemes are converted into sound waves by articulation of a speaker, and are decoded from the speech signal by a hearer; The Semantic System: This associates various morphemes, and arrangements in which morphemes can be put, with things situations, or kinds of things and situations. Hockett calls the first three of the above "central" subsystem, and the last two "peripheral" subsystems. Such a labeling of names, however, should not lead one to confusion. There are no basic differences about the structure of language. Such a classification is done by the linguist for the sake of convenience in the study of the subject matter, i.e. language which is a complex phenomenon. All these levels are inter-related aspects of his subject matter, quite often overlapping. Any separation or classification should not be treated as rigid or opaque. A linguist has to describe human language, and human beings do not use just one level of it at a time. There are three aspects of language activity, or three types of pattern in language, the material, the structural and the environmental leading to three separate linguistic levels-SUBSTANCE, FORM AND CONTEXT. "The substance is the raw material of language; auditory (PHONIC substance) or visual (GRAPHIC substance). The form is the organization, the internal structure, it is grammar + lexis. The context is the relationship between form and situation, which we call meaning (Semantics). The linguistic science has to explain language at all these levels. These levels are explained below: Phonics. Phonics is the study of speech processes including the anatomy, neurology and pathology of speech, the articulation, classification and perception of speech sounds. Phonetics is a pure science and need not be studied in relation to a particular language, but it has many practical applications e.g. in phonetic transcriptions, language teaching speech therapy, communications engineering. Some phoneticians consider phonetics to be outside the central core of linguistics proper, but most would include it under the heading linguistics science'. The linguistic aspects of phonetics, i.e., the study of sound systems of particular languages are part of phonology. -32385033655 The study of phonetics can be divided into three main branches, ARTICULATORY PHONETICS, the study of the movement of the speech organs in the articulation of speech, ACOUSTIC PHONETICS, the study of the physical properties of speech sounds such as frequency and amplitude in their transmission, and AUDITORY PHONETICS, the study of hearing and the perception speech sound. Laboratory Phonetics.