COURSE

SKBP1013 INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE & LINGUISTIC

SEMESTER 1 2021/2022

SET 1

TITLE
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

LECTURER

DR. KHAZRIYATI SALEHUDDIN

NAME

MUHAMMAD FARIS ARFAN BIN ABDULLAH (A186424)

Introduction

To whoever is reading this, I wish you a wonderful year ahead! My name is Muhammad
Faris Arfan bin Abdullah and I am 21 years old this year. For semester 1, I am registered in
English Language Studies, which is one of the mandatory courses in my degree programme.
To be honest, it really is a fascinating course for me personally. Simply put, linguistics is the
study of language, including how it functions, how it is learned, and how people
communicate using it. Solemnly, I enjoyed studying every topic in this course which is
Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Discourse, Pragmatics,
Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and finally Historical Linguistics. With that being said, I
shall never take for granted the knowledge I have learnt from those topics.

Me myself and I > <

Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of the nature, production, and perception of sounds of speech. It helps
me in improving my ability to communicate. I appreciate learning Phonetics since it reminds
me of my childhood experiences. My friends used to mock me because I mispronounced the
English words when I was a kid. It was mostly due to a misalignment of my tongue in my
mouth as I spoke the words. Nevertheless, I perfected my pronunciation of English words
since I began practising on my own. The more I'm exposed to Phonetics, the more I
understand how to pronounce words correctly.

Phonemes which are covered under topic Phonetics ^_~

Phonology

Phonology is the study of how sounds function in languages which covers Phonemes,
Phones, Allophones, Syllables, and Pitch. In fact, Phonology assists me in better learning and
understanding a language. The more I learn about the different sounds of words, the better I
understand how to pronounce them. If you know me, you know how much I enjoy singing.
Singing requires the incorporation of various language sounds. There is a blending of sounds
from two or more languages in some songs. Understanding the sound patterns of these
languages such as stressed syllables is important in creating melodies and tunes.
 My current fav song is /a;I drɪŋk wʌɪn/ by Adele!!!
Been singing it so often lately lol

Morphology

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words as well as the grammar
components that include the rules of word formation. Obviously, I can use my morphological
knowledges to expand my vocabulary. When words contain recognised elements such as
prefixes and suffixes, learning morphology has helped me in identifying and predicting their
meaning. I believe that throughout middle school, I was already exposed to some aspects of
fundamental morphology by attempting to construct a new word by adding prefixes or
suffixes to a base word. As an example, I added prefix ‘dis’ to ‘respect’ which implies ‘not
respect’.

Prefixes and suffixes

Syntax

Syntax is the element of grammar that represents a speaker's understanding of sentences and
their structures. Syntax is the set of rules that must be observed when putting words, clauses,
punctuation, and phrases together to produce a sentence. All of these criteria must be
followed in order for our statements to be grammatically correct. It must make perfect sense
when we read it all together. According to the tree diagram I learned in tutorial class, I
understood better that syntax is the key to understanding more about sentence structure. Now,
I can organise perfect sentences by using the tree diagram.

An example of syntax tree diagram Semantics

Semantics is the study of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences to determine their
linguistic meaning. At first, I learned language through imitating sounds for verbal
communication and visuals for written language. However, such sounds and visuals must
eventually be given meaning, which is the domain of semantics. People learn the meaning of
words in a simple way at first, but as their language skills improve, more complex meanings
emerge. Semantics examines the numerous sorts of meaning that exist inside a language,
providing insight into how a person develops linguistic skill and comprehension.
Discourse

Discourse is the study of how sentences from spoken and written language combine to form
larger, more meaningful units like paragraphs, conversations, and interviews. Discourse, in
my perspective, denotes a higher degree of conversation than daily causal speech. When I'm
communicating, there are times when I want to say something but don't know how.
Therefore, I use a variety of communication tactics to get their point through in these
situations. Paraphrasing, substitution of a recognised term or phrase, and circumlocution are
examples of these techniques which are the knowledges I obtained from this topic.

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning and how more is transferred than what is
expressed. Pragmatics is the method I used to communicate. I can learn all there is to know
about a language, but not everything there is to know about it. I need to establish a number of
circumstances that surround an utterance (something said) or a text in order to do this
(something written). In addition, my intercultural communication competence has improved
as a result of learning pragmatics because I am more aware of cultural differences and their
importance in appropriate languages.
Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of language in connection to society, drawing on insights from

sociology, anthropology, and social psychology, as well as other linguistic areas. After
studying this topic, I'm interested in learning how I can speak differently in different social
situations and how we can use specific functions of language to express social meaning or
components of our identity. Sociolinguistics guides me on how to understand real-world
attitudes and social situations. For instance, language is a powerful tool for communication
and interaction. Hence, lingua franca is considered as an effective vehicle for social
relationship and understanding among its speakers.

I am now taking basic Japanese in UKM :3

Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationships between linguistic behaviour and

psychological processes, including the process of language acquisition. To put it another way,
psycholinguistics is the psychology of language. We look at and analyse psychological and
neurological variables that enable us as language-speaking humans to acquire, employ, and
interpret language in this science and subdiscipline of philosophy. Personally, I believe that
because there are numerous connected fields, research in the field of psycholinguistics is
interdisciplinary. Cognitive science, neurology, philosophy, and psychology are among the
subdisciplines.
 Psycholinguistics = The psychology of language

Historical Linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of not only the history of languages, but also how they
change and interact with one another, as the name suggests. I think why historical linguists
investigate language change is that because they want to make a significant contribution to
linguistics and other branches of linguistic theory. Moreover, this topic has societal
implications because it aids in the study of history, speech, language, culture migration
patterns, and historical events. I can better comprehend how and why we use specific terms
and phrases because of the historical social combination of various cultures.

Wanna know more about Historical Linguistics? Try this book babes !!!
Conclusion

Finally, studying English Language and Linguistics has given me the opportunity to learn
about the evolution of English over time and space, as well as the science behind language
acquisition, processing, and communication. I am truly honoured to be learning every topic in
this course that I can apply in my life, especially sociolinguistics, because it is the most
interesting topic of all because I want to travel all around the world one day and meet a lot of
people while studying their ways of speaking, such as their unique accents, and be referred to
as a wanderlust and a language genius at once, just kidding. Finally, I'd like to express my
gratitude for taking the time to read my mediocre journal. With that said, I'm going to sign off
for now. Thanks and bye.
References

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Phonetics (Week 2). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Phonetics

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Phonology (Week 3). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Phonology

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Morphology (Week 4). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Morphology
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Syntax (Week 5). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Syntax

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Semantics (Week 6). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Semantics

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Discourse (Week 7). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Discourse

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Pragmatics (Week 8). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Pragmatics

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Sociolinguistics (Week 9). Slide. SKBP1013
Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Phonetics

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Psycholinguistics (Week 10). Slide.
SKBP1013 Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Psycholinguistics

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khazriyati Salehuddin. 2021. Historical Linguistics (Week 11). Slide.
SKBP1013 Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Historical Linguistics