UNIVERSITY OF ASIA PACIFIC.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
Assignment Topic : “ Branches of Linguistics ”.
Corse Code : ENG 401.
Corse Titles: [ Introduction to Discourse Analysis ].
Submitted to :
Submitted by :
Taked Ahamed Chowdhury,
Md.Sakib ul Hasan.
Corse Teacher. ( UAP )
( Reg : 11216013 )
Department of English.
B.A in English literature
4th Year 1st Semester.
Date of Submission : May 04,2015.
History of Linguistics : The History of Linguistics. It’s important
to distinguish between the History of Linguistics (a scientific discipline),
and the history of languages. Languages have been spoken for
thousands of years, and the history of language is rich. However the
History of Linguistics arguably started off as early as 6th century BC
with Pāṇini’s description of Sanskrit grammar (Sanskrit was an early
language spoken in India). The majority of early linguistic thought was
based around the study of religious texts. In modern day History of
Linguistics however, the main focus of study is what people of the past
thought about language. This is done as the way people thought about
language can be used to find out about their opinion of the world
around them.
Linguistics of the past is very different from modern linguistics. Modern
linguistics, as you can see elsewhere on this website, encompasses:
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Phonetics
Morphology
Semantics
Phonology
Syntax
Pragmatics
History of Linguistics looks at grammars, dictionaries, language reform,
language revolution, the nature of language and language teaching.
The History of Linguistics is sometimes referred to as:
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The History of Linguistic Thought
The History of the Language Sciences
The History of Thinking about Language
Branches of Linguistics : Linguistics study all aspects of language,
from its formal structural properties through to the way it is used and
represented in the brain.
The Branches are:
(a) Linguistics :
“ Linguistics s the science of language. It is the
subject whose practitioners devote their energy to understanding
why human language is the way it is. They study the history,
acquisition, structure, and use of many languages as possible.”
( Professor David Crystal ).
(b) Morphology : Morphology means words formation.
The term morphology is Greek and is a makeup of morph- meaning
'shape, form', and - ology which means 'the study of something'. The
term is used not only in linguistics but also in biology as the scientific
study of forms and structure of animals and plants, and in geology as
the study of formation and evolution of rocks and land forms. We are
going to stick to morphology in linguistics, as the scientific study of
forms and structure of words in a language. Morphology as a subdiscipline of linguistics was named for the first time in 1859 by the
German linguist August Schleicher who used the term for the study of
the form of words. Today morphology forms a core part of linguistics.
(c) Syntax : Syntax means sentence formation. Syntax is all about
the structure of sentences, and what determines which words go
where. Studying syntax allows us to define descriptive rules about how
language works. It is the aim of syntacticians to find out the factors
involved in grammar, more specifically in regards to certain languages.
Ultimately it is believed that there are such rules that apply to all
languages, which is why it is important to study as many different
languages as possible.
The main characteristics taken into account in syntax
are morphology (the structure of language and the sounds it uses) and
the principles which govern sentence construction. Syntax also notes
the differences between written and spoken language, as spontaneous
speech will often ignore standard structural rules. By studying syntax
you will learn about different parts of speech, including just how many
types of verbs there are, and many mind-boggling structural
phenomena such as why the location of contextual information
determines who a pronoun is really talking about.
(d) Semantics : Semantics deals with the meaning of words and
sentence. Where syntax is concerned with the formal structure of
sentences.
(e) Phonetics : The word ‘phonetics’ has been derived
from the
word ‘phone’ which means a single sounds (vowel or consonant)
used for human speech. Phonetics is the name accorded to the
branch of knowledge that deals with speech sounds methodically
and systematically. Phonetics is thus defined as the systematic
study of speech sounds, their productions and the signs used to
represent them in an act of transcriptions.
(f)
Phonology : Phonology is an abstract study of the speech
sounds of a language. Speech sounds or phonemes and how they
function in a particular language including the relationships
among the theoretical context/ subject of phonology.
(g) Psycholinguistics : Psycholinguistics or psychology of
language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological
factors that enable human to acquire, use comprehend and
produce language. A few days ago the focus of psycholinguistics
was more philosophical in nature as the researches lacked
sufficient data on how the human brain functioned. Modern
research makes use biology, neuroscience, cognitive science,
linguistics and information theory to study how the brain
processes language.
(h) Socio-linguistics : Sociolinguistics is basically the study of the
effect that society has on language use. Sociolinguistics is the study
of the relationship between language and society.
Sociolinguistics can help us understand why we speak differently in
various social contexts, and help uncover the social relationships in a
community.
For example, you probably wouldn't speak the same to your boss at
work as you would your friends, or speak to strangers as you would to
your family.
Sociolinguistics may also wonder whether women and men speak the
same as each other.
Or why do people the same age or from the same social class or same
ethnicity use similar language?
Sociolinguistics attempts to explain all these questions and more.
Ultimately, sociolinguistics is everywhere!
( i ) Language Acquisition : Language is a very important part
of life. Communication between people not only enables us to
understand one-another, but aids in developing relationships and
allowing us to communicate our problems, suggestions and plans. I'm
sure you can all agree that language is a crucial part of everyday life.
But how did we learn to speak? How do we know what to say and when
to say certain things? Language Acquisition is something that can often
be misunderstood, or simplified, or even forgotten. Yet from the word
GO, acquiring language and using language is an amazing ability we, as
human-beings, have.
(j) Pragmatics :
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the study of the practical aspects of human action and thought.
the study of the use of linguistic signs, (words and sentences), in
actual situations.
Pragmatics outlines the study of meaning in the interactional context
It looks beyond the literal meaning of an utterance and considers how
meaning is constructed as well as focusing on implied meanings. It
considers language as an instrument of interaction, what people mean
when they use language and how we communicate and understand
each other.
Jenny Thomas says that pragmatics considers:
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the negotiation of meaning between speaker and listener.
the context of the utterance.
the meaning potential of an utterance.
This may be best presented in an example:
Speaker: 'Are you putting the kettle on?'
Listener knows the speaker is hinting that they would like a hot drink.
(k) Discourse Analysis : To truly understand what Discourse
Analysis is, it is important to first understand what discourse is. There
are three ways in which we can describe discourse; each of which are of
equal importance:
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Firstly, discourse can be described as language beyond the level
of the sentence. By this we mean that it is a type of language that
extends past features such as sounds (phonetics), structures
(syntax) and the parts that make up words (morphology).
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The second description of discourse concerns language
behaviours linked to a social practice; this suggests that a
discourse is a type of language. For example, the most popular
discourse you may have heard of is the discourse of law, whereby
legal documents are written in as much depth as possible to avoid
any vagueness and ambiguity. This style of writing is unique to the
legal profession, meaning it is a specific kind of discourse.
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Finally, discourse is described as being a system of thought. This
is by far the most scientific description of the three, as it disagrees
with the notion that knowledge and truth are either universal or
objective. Conversely, it suggests that the ideas about knowledge
and truth emerge from particular social and historical situations.
An example would be the process of contemporary science and its
attempts to produce objective knowledge. The concept of
objectivity is itself socially constructed; it's subjective. This means
that 'natural' categories are actually produced by human
categorisation, such as the differences between humans and
animals; all humans are animals, but not all animals are humans.
However, this is purely because humans have decided it has to be
like this. Discourses appear to produce 'natural' knowledge, but
they're actually shaped by powerful institutions (such as
capitalism and heterosexuality). Michel Foucault offered a further
insight into the idea of discourse as a system of thought.
This may all seem a little bit confusing at the moment, so for now just
be aware that discourse, in its broadest definition, refers to a written
or spoken type of communication. As such, a discourse analysis
attempts to delve deeper into the various types of written or spoken
language.