LINGUISTICS 121
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
NOTEWORTHY
LINGUISTS
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of these weeks, the Pre-service teacher
(PST) should be able to:
• Identify the noteworthy linguists and their contributions to the
language that it is today;
• Trace the development of language in a historical; perspective
from Anglo-Saxon to global periods;
• Recognize the language family of English; and
• Differentiate the three Englishes according to the linguists.
NOTEWORTHY
LINGUISTS
• Linguistics started to make a mark
after Panini composed his Sanskrit
grammar in India in 400 B.C.
followed by the remarkable linguists
namely, Lowth, De Saussure,
Jones, Chomsky, and Aristotle. The
lineages of linguists that history
records are all noteworthy.
However, in the field of language
and history, the following linguists
below are well remembered.
ARISTOTLE
(384-322 B.C.)
CONTRIBUTION TO
LINGUISTICS
Aristotle's huge contribution to the development of language
started when he demythologized language.
In Ogden and Richards, He explained that the "semiotic triangle"
refers to (a) language is human's means of expression of thoughts
that are purposefully connected to elements present in this world.
In his theory of truth, He provided that the properties of either
thoughts and sentences are truth and falsity.
He identified the primary parts of a sentence - the Noun and Verb.
COTRIBUTION TO LINGUISTICS
Aristotle developed a linear
model of communication for
oral communication known as
Aristotle's Model of
Communication.
Aristotle defines "Speech" as a
kind of articulated "Voice", and
the basic difference between
"voice" and "speech" is the
process of articulation which is
performed by the tongue.
ROBERT LOWTH
(1710-1787)
CONTRIBUTION TO LINGUISTICS
In 1762, He published his book titled, "Short Introduction to
English Grammar" which became a standard textbook.
Lowth then earned a reputation as a prescriptivist and that period
gave rise to prescriptivism.
He was one of the few grammarians to publish writing about what
is right and wrong in English grammar.
FERDINAND
DE
SAUSSURE
(1857-1913)
As a linguist, He was among the pillars of
linguistics in the 20th Century and known
as a co-founder of semiotics and
structuralism.
CONTRIBUTION
TO LINGUISTICS
Saussure maintained the difference
between Langue (a set of conventions and
rules) and Parole (language as used in daily
life).
He claimed that the Sign, Signified,
and Signifier, there was no intrinsic and
particular reason why a sign was utilized to
express a signifier.
SIR WILLIAM JONES
(1746-1794)
CONTRIBUTION TO LINGUISTICS
He postulated that
languages can
change and die.
He published A
Grammar of the
Persian Language.
The
Famous Proposition.
NOAM
CHOMSKY
CONTRIBUTION TO LINGUISTICS
Universal Grammar.
Chomsky's Theory of
Language Acquisition.
He asserts that Human
Brain is
biologically programmed
to learn language, so
language faculty is innate.
REFERENCES:
https://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJELC/PDF/2014/August/
Qiu.pdf
https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/booknotices/?p=2063
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-de-Saussure
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/languageand-linguistics-biographies/sir-william-jones
https://www.britannica.com/summary/Noam-Chomsky
Language, Culture, And Society by Janet A. Mananay, LPT, EdD and
Gino G. Sumalinog, LPT, EdD