Name : Ali Haider

Roll No: 2k20/ELL/14

Class: B.S Part 1
Semester: 2nd
Department: INSTITUTE OF English
Language And Literature
Topic: Introduction to Linguistics
Assigned By: Sir Shoaib Shah
Introduction
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It involves analysis of language form,
language meaning, and language in context, as well as an analysis of the social,
cultural, historical, and political factors that influence language.
Linguistics is concerned with the nature of language and communication. It deals
both with the study of particular languages, and the search for general properties
common to all languages or large groups of languages.
It also includes explorations into the nature of language variation (i. e., dialects),
language change over time, how language is processed and stored in the brain,
and how it is acquired by young children.
Linguists investigate how people acquire their knowledge about language, how
this knowledge interacts with other cognitive processes, how it varies across
speakers and geographic regions, and how to model this knowledge
computationally. They study how to represent the structure of the various aspects
of language (such as sounds or meaning), how to account for different linguistic
patterns theoretically, and how the different components of language interact
with each other. Many linguists collect empirical evidence to help them gain
insight into a specific language or languages in general. They may conduct
research by interacting with children and adults in schools, in the field, and in
university labs.
Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing the relationship
between sound and meaning. Meaning can be studied in its directly spoken or
written form through the field of semantics, as well as in its indirect form
through body language and gestures under the discipline of pragmatics. Each
speech sound particle is called a phoneme. How these phonemes are organised to
convey meaning depends on various linguistic patterns and structures
that theoretical linguists describe and analyse.
It includes the following subareas :
1)
Phonetics is the study of the sounds of speech. This includes understanding how
sounds are produced using the mouth, nose, teeth, and tongue, and how the ear
hears these sounds and can distinguish them. A study of phonetics involves
practicing the production of sounds (sometimes exotic) and determining what
sound you heard. The waveform of each wire can be analyzed using computer
programs. In sign language, phonetics refers to the possible forms, movements,
and use of physical space.
2)
Phonology uses phonetics to see how sounds or signs are arranged in a system for
each language. In phonology, it is important to know if the sounds are contrastive
or not, that is to say if the substitution of one son by another gives a different
meaning, or "contrastive". For example, in English, [r] and [l] are two different
sounds - and the words "road" and "load" differ depending on which of these
sounds is used. But in some languages, [r] and [l] are variations of the same
sound. They could never make a difference in meaning in words that differ only in
that sound. Phonologists describe the stages and contrasting sentences in a
language, and comment on pronunciation is affected by the position of the sound
in the word and the sounds that are nearby. They also look for syllables, phrases,
rhythm, tone and intonation.
3)
Morphology examines how individual words are formed from small pieces of
meaningful units called morphemes. For example, the English word `` untied '' is
actually made up of three parts, one referring to the process of reversing an
action (non-), the other indicating the action of twisting similar things. strings
together to stay (tie), and the last one indicating that the action has occurred in
the past (-d). Many languages have a much more complex way of putting words
together. Morphology interacts in important ways with both phonology (bringing
sounds together can cause them to change) and syntax, which must pay attention
to the form of a word when combining it with other words.
4)
Syntax is the study of how sentences, clauses, and sentences are constructed and
combined in particular languages. Writing a grammar requires defining the rules
that govern the sentence structure of the language. These rules involve both the
order of the words and the shape of the words in their various possible positions.
There are common patterns among languages, even unrelated ones, and many
linguists believe this is the result of general principles that apply to most, if not all,
languages. For example, languages where the direct object usually follows the
verb have a lot in common, unlike the things in common held by languages in
which the direct object usually precedes the verb.
5)
Discourse analysis focuses on larger pieces of language - texts, conversations,
stories, speeches, etc. For example, "Once Upon a Time" is a good start to a fairy
tale, but not a report on the Evening News. Speech characteristics can also show
important organizing principles such as actors in a story who have key roles and
those who have only parts.
6)
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relationship between words,
sentences and other elements of language and how these words and sentences
connect to the world. Pragmatics is similar, but it involves the study of how
speakers of a language use the language to communicate and accomplish what
they want. Pragmatics is more concerned with the relationship between the
speaker and the listener, which allows hypotheses to be made about the intended
message, by considering, for example, how the context contributes to the
meaning. A classic example is when someone is asked "Do you want coffee?"
Does the answer "Coffee will keep me awake" mean yes or no? It depends on
whether the person wants to stay awake - and the questioner will only
understand the meaning if he knows if the person wants to stay awake.
7)
Historical linguistics is the study of the evolution of languages over time. Some
changes occur due to slow (perhaps incremental) changes in the language, such as
the pronunciation or meaning of a word. Other changes occur due to contact with
speakers of other languages. The best-known example is that of 'borrowing', but
language contact can lead to other types of change as well. It may be interesting
to compare the phonology, syntax, and wordlists of similar or geographically close
languages to see how similar they are. Some linguists then use this information to
understand the past of languages, for example when two languages separate.
Combined with other known facts about the speakers of the language, it can lead
to important discoveries about their history.
8)
Sociolinguistics is the study of society and language. Sociolinguists can use surveys
to examine in which contexts a language is used (eg market, home, school,
workplace) and attitudes towards each language (especially in multilingual
contexts). They can examine the ways in which variation in a particular language
correlates with social factors such as speaker's age, ethnic identity, location, etc.
For more information on sociolinguistics.

ii) Historical Development/Advancement

The history of linguistics is bound up with various theories which have been
proposed in the attempt at explaining the nature of the human language faculty.
These theories can be grouped into three broad categories which correspond
roughly to historical epochs.
Orientation Period
0)   non-theoretical studies before the 19th century
1)   historical linguistics 19th century
2)   structuralism first half of 20th century
3)   generative grammar second half of 20th century
Various linguistic theories have been developed over the past two centuries as
shown above. The school of historical linguistics came to be known in the late
19th century as Neogrammarianism. Structuralism in the 20th century was
introduced by Ferninand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss-French linguist whose
original ideas were published in a book posthumously (Cours de linguistique
générale, 1916). Generative grammar was invented and developed by Noam
Chomsky (1928- ) and has been the dominant model of formal linguistics in recent
decades.
Linguistics as a science began at the beginning of the 19th century and was
diachronic in its orientation. The essential theoretical assumption of linguists at
this time was that of the sound law which maintains that (phonological) change is
without exception unless this is prevented by phonotactic environment.
Later analogical change can mask an earlier change and make it appear irregular
by increasing its scope beyond environments in which it originally applied.

In the latter half of the 19th century linguistic techniques reached a highwater
mark and the linguists involved are known today
as Neogrammarians (Junggrammatiker). One of their main concerns was the
reconstruction of the proto-language Indo-European from which nearly all
languages in Europe and many in the Middle East and northern India are derived.

The advent of structuralism at the beginning of the 20th century is associated

with Ferdinand de Saussure, a French-Swiss scholar whose ideas have had a
lasting effect on the linguistic thought of following generations. Saussure stressed
the interaction at any one time of elements in a language's structure and
maintained that these were interrelated in a network of relations. Diachrony is in
his view just a stringing together of various synchronic slices, so that the structure
of a language at one point in time is primary and historical considerations are
dependent on the principles derived from viewing language synchronically.

The generative approach to language change sees it primarily as rule

change which becomes part of the internalised grammar of a certain generation
and remains so until replaced by another rule change. This type of change is
always binary, i.e. a rule is either present or not, and as such has been rejected by
many, notably by sociolinguists, who argue that there is often a variable
application of rules and that speakers can have a command of several subsystems
whose use is determined by external, social factors.

Conclusion
As I conclude my research, I have come to realize that the topic of linguistic is
immensely huge. From all of the different languages that can be studied to all of
the different aspects of cognition that can be tested, there is so much out there
that my initial proposition evaluating all of the current research on linguistic was
deemed impossible pretty early on.
Linguistics plays a major role in the evolution and understanding of different
traditions and cultures around the world. Without the knowledge of languages,
perhaps a man would be nothing but a mere caveman until now.
Linguists are not only polyglots, word lovers and grammarians. They are
researchers dedicated to the systematic study of language who apply the
scientific method by making observations, developing theories and testing
hypotheses. The science of language encompasses more than meaning, grammar
and sounds. When you study linguistics, you are at the crossroads of every
discipline.”