Introduction to Linguistics Essay

What is meant by the field of philology? This forward chapter concerns some dimensions of linguistics, which give us a general idea of what linguistics is, including the history of linguistic, grammar, and other disciplines of linguistics work. What does grammar consist of and what ar the relationship mingled with one and a nonher? How many styles do mercifule creations have the susceptibility to acquire? What other studies are made in recent centuries? distributively of these aspects are clearly described, and other chapters will go into further details. date in this chapter we will provide some less detailed training on the versatile aspects of linguistics mentioned so far. 1. 1 Defining philology There is nothing that idler be said by mathematical symbols and relations which cigarettenot also be said by words. The converse, however, is false. Much that can be and is said by words cannot success completey be posture into equations, because it is non intelligence. C . Truesdell Linguistics is a study to describe and explain the human might of words. There is no doubt that linguistics has changed through human development. 1. 1. 1 History of linguisticsThe history of linguistics can be dual-lane into three periods antiquity, middle ages and modern linguistics. Antiquity Dating back to prior period of linguistics, linguistics is often associated with a need to disam queen-sizeuate discourse, in discontinueicular for ritual texts or in arguments. Ancient Indians made a big contribution to linguistics development. Similarly, ancient Chinese played a backbone social function in improving linguistics development. Around the analogous m as the Indian developed, ancient Greek philosophers were also debating the nature and origins of language.During this period, phrase structure and the use of particles developed fast. In addition, scholars proposed that word meanings are derived from sentential usage. 1. 1. 1. 2 Middle Ages In Middle East, in terms of expanding Islam in eighth century, a enormous number of people learn Arabic. Because of this, the earliest grammar came to being gradu all(prenominal)y. At the same time, Sibawayh, a famous scholar, wrote a book to espy phonetics from phonology. In the 13th century, Europeans introduced the notion of universal grammar. modernistic Linguistics Modern linguistics beginning can date back to the late eighteenth century.With time passing by, the study of linguistics contains increasing contents. Meanwhile, it is used in other fields, computer, e. g. , has come to be called computational linguistics. The study of applications (as the recovery of address ability) is generally known as applied linguistics. But in a narrower sense, applied linguistics refers to the application of linguistic principles and theories of language teaching and learning, in particular the teaching of foreign and second language. Other related branches include anthropological linguistics, neurological linguistics, mathematical linguistics, and computational linguistics.However, linguistics is only a part of a much larger academic discipline, semiotics. It is the scientific study of language. It studies not bonnie one single language of any one society, just like Chinese or French, but the language of all human beings. A linguist, though, does not have to know and use a large number of languages, but to investigate how each language is constructed. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operated as transcriptions of communication in their societies or communities. 1. 1. 2 An Interesting ComparisonLinguistics is a full field to study, therefore, a linguist sometimes is only able to bang with one aspect of language at a time, and thus various branches arise phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, applied linguistics, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, lexicology, lexicography, etymology and so on. Suppose that the study of linguistics can be considered to be a computer, so linguistics is equal to the CPU, which supports all the other parts. Moreover, sound card would stand for phonetics and phonology, and then morphology and semantics are like the memory of the computer.Whats more, syntax plays as an important role to translate single words to a whole sentence which is full of meaning, just like a graphics card, which uses picture to constitute sense of the idea of memory stick. Finally, everything is ready, it s time to use computer and the same goes for language acquisition. Very interestingly, the properties of computer are amazingly similar to human language. from www. iflytek. com/english/Research-Introduction%20to%20TTS. htm Above all, linguistics is concerned with the study of verbal language particularly speech and written language.Whats more, language is a system and there is a set of options of which one must be chosen depending on the purpose and context. (Marie E. & l egerdemain P. , 1991, p. 64). 1. 2 The broad study of language Language is a highly complex system of communication, so it sometimes will be called a system of systems. It is used to construct, exchange, express, and record teaching and ideas. It performs these functions effectively because it is based upon systems that are understood by those using the language. In this chapter, four topics will be concerned.They are phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. In this section, some general definitions and interactions among the four parts will be talked about. 1. 2. 1 Phonology In order to assist learners at the early stages of literacy, it is very important to bring in the relationship between sounds and letters. The sounds of speech are studied in phonetics and phonology. (Marie E. & John P, 1991) 1. 2. 1. 1 Definitions of phonology and phonetics Phonology is the study of sound systems- the invention of classifiable speech sounds that occurs in a language and the patterns wh erein they fall.In other words, we study the abstract side of the sounds of language, a related but different report that we call phonology (Peter, 2000). In short, it is about patterns and roots. On the other hand, it is more strict linguistics. Phonetics is the science which studies the characteristics of human sound-making, especially sounds used in speech, and provides methods for their description, sort and transcription. In common, speech sound is used everywhere, and it can be divide into three parts articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics, and acoustic phonetics. . 2. 1. 2 The digression between phonology and phonetics It seems that phonology and phonetics are similar. That is why both of them make learners confused. In fact, they have great difference. Phonology pays attention to how speech sounds of a language pattern are put together according to standard rules. On the contrary, phonetics focuses mainly on description of how speech sounds are made. For instance, i f person says we should get our two lips close together and then push them return with a strong air, that means he or she is relevant to phonetics field.