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Branches of Linguistics PDF
Branches of Linguistics PDF
Moisés A. Bittner
Phonetics and Phonology
Autumn Term
What is Linguistics?
It is the scientific study of human language.
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Language
‘Language is a purely human and
non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions
and desires by means of voluntarily
produced symbols.’
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‘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.’
3
Importance of Language
The most important tool ever invented.
4
Languages of the World
5
Hierarchy of Language
Texts/discourses
Sentences/utterances
Clauses
Phrases
Words
Morphemes
Syllables
Phonemes
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Main Branches of Linguistics
Phonetics
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics Semiotics*
Pragmatics
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Phonology
Phonology studies the sound system of specific languages.
It is about the abstract aspect of sounds and it studies
the phonemes.
Phonemic transcriptions adopt the slash / /.
Phonology is about establishing what are the phonemes in a given
language, i.e. those sounds that can bring a difference in meaning
between two words.
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Morphology
Studies the formation of words from smaller units
called morphemes.
10
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Syntax
The syntax of a language deals with the grammatical
structure of a language.
12
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Semantics
Study of language meaning.
13
Semantic Relations
Exempli gratia:
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Pragmatics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Linguistics
http://linguistics.wfu.edu/Some_basics.html
https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/what-
is-linguistics
http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/a-pragmatic-note
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