Masterdossier Linguistics 1
Introduction to Linguistics
1. What is linguistics?
Before we study individual areas of language, we need to understand what linguistics
actually is.
A useful starting definition is:
Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
The word scientific is important.
Linguists do not simply decide what they personally think sounds beautiful, correct or
logical. They investigate language systematically. They collect linguistic data, identify
patterns, formulate hypotheses and attempt to explain how language works.
Crystal describes linguistics as an academic discipline concerned with the scientific
analysis of language. Historically, language study was much more strongly concerned
with the development of languages through time. This earlier approach was known as
philology.
Modern linguistics is considerably broader.
It can investigate questions such as:
• How are speech sounds produced and organised?
• How are words constructed?
• How are sentences formed?
• How does language express meaning?
• Why does language vary between speakers and communities?
• How do languages change?
• How are languages related?
• How do children acquire language?
• How does the brain process language?
• How can computers process human language?
So linguistics is not simply:
“learning many languages.”
A linguist studies language scientifically. A linguist does not necessarily speak many
languages fluently.
That distinction is worth remembering.
2. Language as an object of scientific study
Language feels extremely ordinary because we use it constantly.
You probably produce thousands of words in a normal day without consciously thinking
about the system that makes this possible.
1
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
Take a very simple sentence:
The girl opened the door.
As an English speaker, you know an enormous amount about this sentence.
You know, for example, that:
The girl opened the door.
is a normal English sentence, whereas:
Girl the door the opened.
is not.
Nobody needs to calculate this consciously every time they speak. Speakers possess
knowledge of patterns and rules that allow them to produce and understand language.
A linguist tries to uncover and describe such patterns systematically.
This is one reason linguistics is concerned with several different dimensions of language.
Three useful starting points are:
Language form
How is language structured?
This includes, for example:
• sounds;
• words;
• word forms;
• sentences.
Language meaning
What do linguistic forms mean?
A sentence is not simply a sequence of sounds or words. Speakers associate those forms
with concepts and meanings.
Language context/use
How is language used by real speakers in real situations?
The meaning and function of an utterance may depend heavily on:
• who is speaking;
• who is listening;
• where the conversation occurs;
• what has already been said;
• the relationship between the speakers.
2
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
These three dimensions—form, meaning and context—will return throughout
linguistics.
3. Linguistics is descriptive rather than simply prescriptive
This distinction is fundamental.
Prescriptive approaches
A prescriptive approach tells people how language should be used.
For example:
“You must never end a sentence with a preposition.”
or:
“That form is incorrect English.”
Prescriptive grammar is concerned with rules or standards of appropriate usage.
Descriptive linguistics
A descriptive approach asks:
How do speakers actually use language?
A linguist may therefore investigate a non-standard construction without judging the
speaker as “bad at English”.
The goal is to describe and explain linguistic behaviour.
This does not mean that standard language is irrelevant. Standard English is extremely
important in education and formal communication. The distinction concerns the research
question.
A teacher might ask:
“Which form should my pupils use in formal written English?”
A linguist might ask:
“Which forms do different groups of English speakers actually use, and under which
circumstances?”
Those are different questions.
Exam distinction
Prescriptive
→ how language should be used
Descriptive
→ how language is actually used
3
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
4. From philology to linguistics
To understand modern linguistics, we need some historical background.
For a long time, language scholarship concentrated heavily on written texts and the
historical development of languages.
This tradition became known as:
philology
Philology studied language primarily through historical documents and comparison.
During the nineteenth century, comparative philology became particularly important.
Scholars compared languages systematically and discovered relationships between them.
This historical work laid an important foundation for linguistics.
But around the beginning of the twentieth century, the emphasis began to change.
Instead of only asking:
Where did this language come from?
linguists increasingly asked:
How does this language work as a system?
This distinction eventually became fundamental to modern linguistics.
5. Diachronic and synchronic linguistics
These two terms are essential.
Diachronic linguistics
Diachronic linguistics studies language through time.
It investigates language change and historical development.
For example:
How did Old English develop into Modern English?
or:
How has the meaning of a particular English word changed over several centuries?
Think:
DIA = through
→ language moving through time
Synchronic linguistics
Synchronic linguistics studies a language at a particular point in time, without
making its historical development the main focus.
For example:
How does the verb system of present-day English work?
4
Introduction to Linguistics
1. What is linguistics?
Before we study individual areas of language, we need to understand what linguistics
actually is.
A useful starting definition is:
Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
The word scientific is important.
Linguists do not simply decide what they personally think sounds beautiful, correct or
logical. They investigate language systematically. They collect linguistic data, identify
patterns, formulate hypotheses and attempt to explain how language works.
Crystal describes linguistics as an academic discipline concerned with the scientific
analysis of language. Historically, language study was much more strongly concerned
with the development of languages through time. This earlier approach was known as
philology.
Modern linguistics is considerably broader.
It can investigate questions such as:
• How are speech sounds produced and organised?
• How are words constructed?
• How are sentences formed?
• How does language express meaning?
• Why does language vary between speakers and communities?
• How do languages change?
• How are languages related?
• How do children acquire language?
• How does the brain process language?
• How can computers process human language?
So linguistics is not simply:
“learning many languages.”
A linguist studies language scientifically. A linguist does not necessarily speak many
languages fluently.
That distinction is worth remembering.
2. Language as an object of scientific study
Language feels extremely ordinary because we use it constantly.
You probably produce thousands of words in a normal day without consciously thinking
about the system that makes this possible.
1
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
Take a very simple sentence:
The girl opened the door.
As an English speaker, you know an enormous amount about this sentence.
You know, for example, that:
The girl opened the door.
is a normal English sentence, whereas:
Girl the door the opened.
is not.
Nobody needs to calculate this consciously every time they speak. Speakers possess
knowledge of patterns and rules that allow them to produce and understand language.
A linguist tries to uncover and describe such patterns systematically.
This is one reason linguistics is concerned with several different dimensions of language.
Three useful starting points are:
Language form
How is language structured?
This includes, for example:
• sounds;
• words;
• word forms;
• sentences.
Language meaning
What do linguistic forms mean?
A sentence is not simply a sequence of sounds or words. Speakers associate those forms
with concepts and meanings.
Language context/use
How is language used by real speakers in real situations?
The meaning and function of an utterance may depend heavily on:
• who is speaking;
• who is listening;
• where the conversation occurs;
• what has already been said;
• the relationship between the speakers.
2
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
These three dimensions—form, meaning and context—will return throughout
linguistics.
3. Linguistics is descriptive rather than simply prescriptive
This distinction is fundamental.
Prescriptive approaches
A prescriptive approach tells people how language should be used.
For example:
“You must never end a sentence with a preposition.”
or:
“That form is incorrect English.”
Prescriptive grammar is concerned with rules or standards of appropriate usage.
Descriptive linguistics
A descriptive approach asks:
How do speakers actually use language?
A linguist may therefore investigate a non-standard construction without judging the
speaker as “bad at English”.
The goal is to describe and explain linguistic behaviour.
This does not mean that standard language is irrelevant. Standard English is extremely
important in education and formal communication. The distinction concerns the research
question.
A teacher might ask:
“Which form should my pupils use in formal written English?”
A linguist might ask:
“Which forms do different groups of English speakers actually use, and under which
circumstances?”
Those are different questions.
Exam distinction
Prescriptive
→ how language should be used
Descriptive
→ how language is actually used
3
, Masterdossier Linguistics 1
4. From philology to linguistics
To understand modern linguistics, we need some historical background.
For a long time, language scholarship concentrated heavily on written texts and the
historical development of languages.
This tradition became known as:
philology
Philology studied language primarily through historical documents and comparison.
During the nineteenth century, comparative philology became particularly important.
Scholars compared languages systematically and discovered relationships between them.
This historical work laid an important foundation for linguistics.
But around the beginning of the twentieth century, the emphasis began to change.
Instead of only asking:
Where did this language come from?
linguists increasingly asked:
How does this language work as a system?
This distinction eventually became fundamental to modern linguistics.
5. Diachronic and synchronic linguistics
These two terms are essential.
Diachronic linguistics
Diachronic linguistics studies language through time.
It investigates language change and historical development.
For example:
How did Old English develop into Modern English?
or:
How has the meaning of a particular English word changed over several centuries?
Think:
DIA = through
→ language moving through time
Synchronic linguistics
Synchronic linguistics studies a language at a particular point in time, without
making its historical development the main focus.
For example:
How does the verb system of present-day English work?
4
