Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics Science examines and discovers both the structure of human languages in particular, their uses and how they are possessed in the mind. Linguistics focuses on describing language and is not concerned with the prescriptive rules of the language (i.e., do not split infinitives). Linguistics is a science and is to be studied objectively, systematically, consistently and be explicit in its account. The field of linguistics is very popular in language learning teaching and, covering both the science and humanity, and the physics and anatomy through to philosophy and literary criticism.
A linguist is someone who studies linguistics, the more accurate term is ‘linguist” but it is generally too much of a tongue twister. It has two meanings. The word ‘linguist‘ is unsatisfactory: it seems complex, since many of them might be thinking it is someone who speaks a large number of languages. A linguistics expert need not be expert in one language, though they must have a wide experience of different types of languages. It is more important responsibility of linguist to know and attempt to explain linguistic phenomena such as the Turkish vowel system, or German verbs, than to make themselves understood in Istanbul or Berlin dialects. They must be skilled, fluent, observer able rather than a participant — a consumer of languages rather than a producer, as one social scientist flippantly commented.
The underlying goal of the linguist is to try to discover the universals behavior in language and linguistics. That is, what are the essential elements of all languages? The linguist then tries to discover these common elements in a theoretical framework approach that will describe all languages and also predict what cannot be applied in a language.
Linguistics is near to social science that concerns very soft relations with other social sciences such as applied psychology, historical anthropology study, experimental and clinical sociology and . It also may influence strong impact on English communication skill and computer language science. Now a DAYS cognitive science is also part of linguistics where it’s ultimately concerned with how the human brain functions work, implement and possess information in short and long term memory.
It differs from other sciences in that it both uses language as the tool and lakes language as its object to study. Linguistics has, for this reason, been described as language about language.
The term ‘linguistics science’ was first used by historical linguists in the middle of the nineteenth century. The linguistic study of language before modern linguistics is the interpretation of classics for the study of philosophy, literature, logic and history. Such a traditional approach to language is usually termed philology.
An independent science established by the Swiss linguist, F. de Saussure (1857 — 1913), the founder of general linguistics. He explains linguistics is the study of science and signs. He gave the concept of signification (signifier and signified). It tries to tell people ‘what language is’, ‘how language originates, changes and develops’, ‘what common properties or characteristics that all languages share’, ‘how language works and functions in human communication’ and many other facts about language.
There are several different disciplines within linguistics. The fields of semantics, phonology, and first language acquisition/second language learning acquisition are recognized the fundamental fields of study in linguistics.
Subjects Linguistics also can be classified into two major branches according to language scholars. These are: Theoretical linguistics which deals with the components of language and theories. Applied linguistics which is the application of linguistics theories to solve the real life language based problems in language learning teaching.
Step by Step Linguistics Science Study Guide
Linguists conduct its scientific investigation by means of controlled scientific approach and with reference to some general theory of language structure. The scientific terms adopt by the linguists in conducting adequate descriptions and analysis of a language includes: Observation; the linguists observe the unconscious knowledge and other language facts the speakers have their own language. They do this by using natural observation method in human speech. The linguist adopt naturalistic observation method in the human natural speech organs like, tongue, lips [i.e. upper and lower], pharynx, diaphragms, wind pipe, soft and hard palates, uvular, and both direct indirect natural observation using language machines like spectrograph and others. Data collection; by! This linguist is able to gather the necessary facts on what has been previously observed.
Hypothesis formulation; same as science the linguist draw the hypothesis on language and makes tentative and generalized statement for to discover what is unknown for language. Experimentation; the linguists do many testing and experiment on the validity and reliability of their findings. This is done so that the linguists will pass through systematic procedure as science does. Theory formation; There are many fundamental linguistic theories and laws which linguist has to follow in discovering human language such as laws of phonetic and phonology.
So the students of linguistics must know that this is much disciplined and systematic subject. The approach of student in language learning research will be scientific because it is linguistics which covers wide part in language development and language productions in sociolinguistic context. Distinctive features of language are the important issue in human speech. Linguistics helps to find out the elements of speech variation tins .computational linguistics is also near to science as it makes us logical and scientific. With these scientific roles we can say linguistic is very near to social science. And the scientific approach is core concept of language and linguistics.
Linguistics, the scientific study of language, is a vast and complex field. Here’s a concise tabular guide highlighting some key facts that everyone should know about linguistic science:
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Definition | Linguistics is the scientific study of language, including its structure, development, and relationship with other languages. |
| Branches | 1. Phonetics & Phonology: Study of sounds. <br>2. Morphology: Study of word formation. <br>3. Syntax: Study of sentence structure. <br>4. Semantics: Study of meaning. <br>5. Pragmatics: Study of language use. |
| Language Acquisition | Explores how children and adults acquire language, focusing on cognitive processes, social interaction, and the role of innate structures in the brain. |
| Historical Linguistics | Examines the history and evolution of languages, identifying relationships between languages and reconstructing ancient languages. |
| Sociolinguistics | Investigates the relationship between language and society, including dialects, language variation, and social factors influencing language use. |
| Psycholinguistics | Studies the psychological and neurobiological factors enabling humans to acquire, use, and understand language. |
| Applied Linguistics | Focuses on practical applications of linguistics, such as language teaching, translation, and language policy. |
| Computational Linguistics | Combines linguistics with computer science to analyze and process natural language, contributing to developments in AI and machine learning. |
This table provides a broad overview, and each branch encompasses various subfields and specialized studies.
