LINGUISTICS: 'prof;Annad Ahmed'

LINGUISTICS
is the scientific study of language. It endeavours to
answer the question--what is language and how is represented in the
mind? Linguists focus on describing and explaining language and are not
concerned with the prescriptive rules of the language . Linguists are
not required to know many languages and linguists are not interpreters
The
underlying goal of the linguist is to try to discover the universals
concerning language. That is, what are the common elements of all
languages. The linguist then tries to place these elements in a
theoretical framework that will describe all languages and also predict
what can not occur in a language
Linguistics is a social science that
shares common ground with other social sciences such as psychology,
anthropology, sociology and archaeology. It also may influence other
disciplines such as english, communication studies and computer science.
Linguistics for the most part though can be considered a cognitive
science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer science ,
linguistics is ultimately concerned with how the human brain functions
There
are several different disciplines within linguistics. The fields of
phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and language
acquisition are considered the core fields of study and a firm knowledge
of each is necessary in order to tackle more advanced subjects
Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception
Phonology, the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning
Morphology, the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified
Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences
Semantics,
the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word
combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings
of sentences
Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used in
communicative acts, and the role played by context and non-linguistic
knowledge in the transmission of meaning
Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)
Many
linguists would agree that these divisions overlap considerably, and
the independent significance of each of these areas is not universally
acknowledged. Regardless of any particular linguist's position, each
area has core concepts that foster significant scholarly inquiry and
research.
Alongside these structurally motivated domains of study are
other fields of linguistics, distinguished by the kinds of
non-linguistic factors that they consider:
Applied linguistics, the
study of language-related issues applied in everyday life, notably
language policies, planning, and education. (Constructed language fits
under Applied linguistics.)
Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals, compared to human language.
Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology.
Computational linguistics, the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures.
Developmental
linguistics, the study of the development of linguistic ability in
individuals, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood.
Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language by the human species.
Historical linguistics or diachronic linguistics, the study of language change over time.
Language geography, the study of the geographical distribution of languages and linguistic features.
Linguistic
typology, the study of the common properties of diverse unrelated
languages, properties that may, given sufficient attestation, be assumed
to be innate to human language capacity.
Neurolinguistics, the study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication.
Psycholinguistics, the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use.
Sociolinguistics, the study of variation in language and its relationship with social factors.
Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context

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