Module 1

(Week 1-2)
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS: An Overview

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:
1. Define linguistics,
2. Differentiate language from dialect, and
3. Identify the components of language that works together to create a meaningful
communication.

Linguistics can be defined as the scientific or systematic study of language. It is a science in the
sense that it scientifically studies the rules, systems and principles of human languages. The word
linguistics has been derived from Latin words lingua meaning tongue and istics meaning knowledge
or science. The field of linguistics, the scientific study of human natural language, is a growing and
exciting area of study with an important impact on fields as diverse as education, anthropology,
sociology, language teaching, cognitive psychology, philosophy, computer science and neuroscience
among others. Fundamentally, Linguistics is the field which is concerned with the language and
(linguistic) communication. When linguists use the term language or natural human language, they
are revealing their belief that at the abstract level, beneath the surface variation, languages are
remarkably similar in form and function and conform to certain universal principles. The study of
language is ultimately the study of human mind. It is concerned with the structures, principles and
patterns of language, its development and relation to other languages. What is language then?
Language is the most powerful tool and adequate means of communication. It is a highly developed
communicating system. And it is defined as a symbol system based on pure arbitrary convention,
infinitely extendable and modifiable according to the changing needs and condition of speaker.
(Robins. R. H, 1980).

• Microlinguistics includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and

pragmatics.

• Macrolinguistics includes sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, stylistics,

discourse analysis, computational linguistics, cognitive linguistics, applied linguistics.

Phonology and Phonetics: Phonology is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of
a specific language. Whereas phonetics is about the physical production and perception of the
sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function within a given language or across
languages. In phonetics, we have articulatory phonetics (which deals with the production of sound),
acoustic phonetics (deals with the characteristics of the sound i.e, voicing, etc…) and auditory
phonetics (which studies about the perception of the sounds). Phonemics is the study of phonemes.
Phone can be phoneme or allophone. Phoneme is a minimal disticntitive unit in the sound system of a
language. (Ex: in pit and bit, when /p/, /b/ are used, the meaning of the words will change). It is very
important to pronounce these sounds correctly. If the meaning changes, then it will hamper the
communication. An allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme.

Morphology: Morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. Morphology studies the internal
structure of words and the relationships among words. A morpheme is a minimal distinctive unit in
the grammatical system of a language. Morpheme is distinctive because it can change the meaning.
(ex: centre (noun) + al = central (adjective). Words are the combinations of morphemes. Morphemes
are of two types. They are free and bound morphemes. Free morpheme is the one which can occur
on its own and which has meaning. Bound morpheme is the one which cannot occur alone and does
not have meaningless unless attached to a free morpheme.

Syntax: Syntax is the study of the structure of sentence in terms of grammar, etc… In every
language, there are several grammatical rules which are supposed to be followed by the speakers.
Every native person has the grammatical knowledge of his own language without being taught. He
acquires this competence i.e, acquisition of rules of language and performance is the application of
these rules in a given situation. The traditional grammar is prescriptive i.e, the rules are prescribed.
Descriptive grammar comprises of what exists in a language, i.e, rules.

Semantics: Semantics is a main branch of linguistics which deals with the study of meanings. It is
derived from Greek word ‘sema’ – sign or symbol. Broadly speaking, semantic s is that aspect which
of linguistics which is devoted to study of relation between linguistic symbols and concepts they refer
to. Pragmatics: Pragmatics deals with the usage of language. The person should know how to use
the language according to the context and he should know what he should speak at that time. And
even they should interpret the linguistic message according to the context. Study of all these things is
called as pragmatics.

Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. The
field of sociolinguistics is arguably the best known and most firmly established of the various
hyphenated varieties of linguistics (e.g., psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics) that
emerged during the second half of the twentieth century. Its roots can be located in the field research
of American anthropological linguists such as Dell Hymes, who noted the interesting range of ways of
talking and the variety of functions of talk among native American tribes whose languages they
described, and of dialectologists, such as Bill Bright, who drew attention to the social bases of much
of the linguistic diversity they documented in multilingual speech communities.

Psycholinguistics: Psycholinguistics is the discipline that investigates and describes the

psychological processes that make it possible for humans to master and use language.
Psycholinguists conduct research on speech development and language development and how
individuals of all ages comprehend and produce language. For descriptions of language, the field
relies on the findings of linguistics, which is the discipline that describes the structure of language.
Although the acquisition, comprehension, and production of language have been at the core of
psycholinguistic research, the field has expanded considerably since its inception: The neurology of
language functioning is of current interest to psycholinguists, particularly to those studying sex
differences, aphasia, language after congenital or acquired injury to the immature brain, and
developmental disorders of language (dysphasia). Some psycholinguists have also extended their
interests to experiments in nonhuman language learning (e.g., gorillas and chimpanzees) to discover
if language as we know it is a uniquely human phenomenon.

Neurolinguistics: Neurolinguistics is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the language

impairments that follow brain damage in terms of the principles of language structure. The term
“neurolinguistic” is neutral about the linguistic theory it refers to, but any linguistically based approach
to aphasia therapy is based on the principle that language has an internal organization that can be
described by a system of rules. The neurolinguistic approach stresses the role of language in aphasia
and analyzes it according to principles of theoretical linguistics. The first linguistically based typology
of aphasic impairments is probably that of Roman Jakobson (1964), although Alajouanine and
colleagues (1939, 1964) had already stressed the role of some linguistic phenomena in aphasia.
Many authors have underlined the importance of linguistic theory for aphasia therapy (Hatfield, 1972;
MacMahon, 1972; Hatfield and Shewell, 1983; Lesser, 1989; Miller, 1989), but linguistic analyses
were not carried out in great detail until interest in aphasia expanded beyond the field of neurology to
disciplines such as linguistics, speech−language pathology, and psychology.

Clinical Linguistics: Clinical linguistics is the application of linguistic science to the study of
communication disability, as encountered in clinical situations. Unfortunately, almost every term in
this definition requires further discussion, in order to identify the orientation and scope of the subject.
Clinical linguistics is a relatively new discipline, emerging in large part since the late 1970s, which can
be defined as “the application of the linguistic sciences to the study of language disability in all its
forms” (Crystal, 2001:673). As well as being a core subject in the education of speech and language
therapists, clinical linguistics is also interesting and valuable for students of the linguistic sciences
generally. In the UK the key figure in the emergence of clinical linguistics as an independent discipline
was David Crystal, and a number of publications by him and his colleagues still provide a valuable
introduction to the area for students (Crystal, 1981, 1982, 1984, 2001; Crystal, Fletcher & Garman,
1976). Where Crystal originally saw clinical linguistics as having primarily a clinical role in supporting
the work of speech and language therapists, more recent interpretations of the term have stressed
the two-way direction of influence: clinical linguistic analysis can support the SLT in assessing and
treating individuals with communication impairments, but of equal importance, clinical linguistic data is
a valuable tool in the critical evaluation of competing linguistic theories and methodologies (Ball &
Kent, 1987; Perkins & Howard, 1995a). For students, clinical linguistics has valuable things to say
about a number of key issues: how language develops in childhood; how it is processed, stored and
produced by the brain; how it may fail to develop and how it may go wrong later in life. A central issue
for linguistics students is the notion of normal language and its relationship with language variation.
By its consideration of atypical language data, and its perspective on the continuum of normal to
atypical language behaviour, clinical linguistics provides a perspective on what is normal and how
one might set about making judgements of normality and normal variation. Clinical linguistics can also
be taught in a general linguistics sciences degree as a module in its own right. Books such as Perkins
and Howard (1995b), Powell (1996), Ziegler and Deger (1998), Maassen and Groenen (1999) and
Windsor, Kelly and Hewlett (2002) provide good source material showing how clinical linguistics can
be applied to communication impairments at all levels of linguistics.

Clinical relevance of linguistics: The central focus of Clinical Linguistics is the application of the
principles and methods of linguistics and phonetics to communication impairment in children and
adults. Clinical linguistics plays a key role in the description, analysis and remediation of
communication impairment. The study of linguistic aspects of communication development and
disorder is also of relevance to linguistic theory and our understanding of language more generally.
Crystal (1984) and Grunwell (1985b, 1993) argues that the careful and systematic description of the
client’s communication behavior provides a means of assessing that behavior in relation to linguistic
and developmental areas. They suggest that clinical linguistic analysis can reveal the systematic and
communicative status of the client’s linguistic patterns in their own, regardless of considerations of
target norms. They further suggest that the descriptive and analytical processes should aid differential
diagnosis and categorization of the client’s behaviors according to different identifiable types of
linguistic deficit and disorder. The information derived from analysis should also facilitate the
formulation of specific treatment aims and strategies. Careful analysis carried out at different points
during the assessment and management process allows identification and evaluation of changes in
the client’s communicative behavior over time.

Thus, clinical linguistic analysis and description have an important role and developing role both
inside and outside the treatment room.

1. According to Jacobson (1964), the pathology of language, far from being a random disturbance,
obeys a set of rules; the rules underlying the regression of language cannot be elicited without the
consistent use of linguistic techniques and methodology. An explicit knowledge of the nature of
language, its grammar and its functioning would be helpful in providing adequate therapies to
individuals who are suffering from various kinds of language disorders. (Ex: Brain damage due to an
accident or stroke can lead to partial or complete loss of the ability to use of language. When the loss
is partial, the aspect of language that gets affected might differ from one person to another person.
Linguistic analysis helps to find out which component of language is affected.

2. Speech disorders can also affect the control of grammar in various ways. Study of aphasia
requires the structural analysis of language. The symptoms exhibited in aphasia like agrammatism
can be better understood with a thorough knowledge of linguistics. It is found that in many of these
instances, the defect can be very much reduced through therapeutic intervention. But a fairly good
explicit knowledge of grammar of the concerned language is necessary not only for providing such a
therapeutic intervention, but also for establishing the exact type of grammatical defect that has
affected the speech of a particular individual. The process of diagnosis by the linguistic analysis of
disordered speech by suitably devised tests may show which abilities have been impaired.

3. Patients with congenital hearing impairment show various language deficits like phonological
deficits, syntactic errors, and semantic deficits. Autistics may exhibit pragmatic deficits. For the
purpose of assessment of any language deficits in such cases, various tests are required, the
formulation of which demands good knowledge in linguistics.

4. Developmental linguistics has been the basis for development of various language tests for the
diagnosis of child language disorder. Ex: the Linguistic Profile Test that tests for phonology, syntax
and semantics compares the language performance of children with that of the normative established
to get the appropriate language age of the child tested.

5. For post therapy evaluation, concept of linguistics stands crucial. Ex: in post treatment evaluation
of syntax the goal taken may be to work on the case markers and the appropriate usage may be
evaluated based on linguistic knowledge.

6. Transcription, which is a part of linguistics, is used in the assessment of various speech and
language disorders. Whenever a speech sample is obtained from a client for linguistic study (whether
spontaneous speech, reading aloud, conversation, etc…) the first step should be to make a good
transcription. This transcription can be referred to again and again and the same transcription can
serve as the basis for a prosodic, grammatical, semantic, sociolinguistic or other analysis.

7. Linguistics is the basis for many diagnostic tests in speech and language. Test of articulation, like
Kannada articulation test, Malayalam articulation Test, etc… which tests for articulation of various
phonemes based on phonetics. Tests for diagnosing learning disability, like Early Reading Skills,
tests for Phoneme-Grapheme correspondence, screening test for acquisition of syntax in Kannada,
tests for syntax. Test of Emergent Expressive Morphology (TEEM), Test for knowledge of
morphemes. Kannada Language Test and Malayalam language test (MLT) are used to find the
language age of a child. It tests various linguistic aspects like case markers, synonyms, homonyms,
etc…

What do linguists study?

The mind - they study the unconscious knowledge that speakers have about their language.
A linguist is interested in figuring out unconscious "rules" that people know about their
language.

What is linguistic theory?

A model of what speakers know about language. Linguists build their models based on indirect
evidence, such as speakers behavior and judgments about language.

Method for theoretical linguist

a. Investigate speakers judgments about sentences.

b. Infer properties of the internal linguistic system of the informants that would account for
their judgments
c. Formulate hypotheses about the structure of what they cannot observe based on what they
can observe.
d. Observable data > Make hypothesis > Form theory

Pragmatics

a. Study of how language is affected by the context in which it occurs.

b. Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics and semiotics that studies the ways in which context
contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational
implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy,
sociology, linguistics and anthropology.
c. Study of sentence meaning in context

Semiotics: Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the study of meaning-making, the study of sign
process (semiosis) and meaningful communication. It is not to be confused with the Saussurean
tradition called semiology, which is a subset of semiotics.

Language: Language is a system that consists of the development, acquisition, maintenance and
use of complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so; and a language is
any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics.

Dialect: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of
the language's speakers

The other usage of the term "dialect", often deployed in colloquial settings, refers (often somewhat
pejoratively) to a language that is socially subordinated to a regional or national standard language,
often historically cognate or genetically related to the standard language, but not actually derived from
the standard language. In other words, it is not an actual variety of the "standard language" or
dominant language, but rather a separate, independently evolved but often distantly related language

Word: In linguistics, a word is the smallest element that can be uttered in isolation with objective or
practical meaning. ... The term word may refer to a spoken word or to a written word, or sometimes to
the abstract concept behind either

Five main components of language

The five main components of language are phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, syntax, and
context. Along with grammar, semantics, and pragmatics, these components work together to
create meaningful communication among individuals.

1. Phoneme
a. Smallest unit of sound that may cause a change of meaning within a language but that
doesn't have meaning in itself.
b. An indivisible unit of sound in a given language.
2. Morpheme
a. Smallest unit of a word that provides a specific meaning to a string of letters (which is
called a phoneme). There are two types of morpheme: Bound and Free Morpheme.
b. The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning, such as "un-",
"break", and "-able" in the word "unbreakable."
3. Lexeme
Set of all the inflected forms of a single word
4. Syntax
Set of rules by which a person constructs full sentences
5. Context
How everything within language works together to convey a particular meaning

Grammar
Set of rules for generating logical communication
Lexicon
Sum total of all the words in that language
Phonetics and Phonemics
Study of individual units of sound in languages
Morphology
Study of words and other meaningful units of languages
Syntax
Study of sentences and phrases, and the rules of grammar that sentences obey
Semantics
Study of sentence meaning
Communicate
To share or exchange information, news, ideas
Native Speaker
A native speaker is someone who learned to speak a language as part of his or her
childhood development. A native speaker's language is usually the language their
parents speak and/or the language of their country of origin. It is the only language of a
monolingual person, and likely the first language of a multilingual person which is
 acquired naturally in their native environment. It may serve as the basis for their
sociolinguistic identity

Reference/s:
www. quizlet.com/module/intro-to-linguistics-flash-cards/#
www.pdfcoffee.com/introduction-to-linguistics
Renato De Guzman Rosales, Introduction to Linguistics, Jimczyville Publications

ACTIVITY 1:

Written questions. Write your answer on the blank .

1.Set of rules for generating logical

communication:__________________________________________
2.Study of sentence meaning:________________________
3.A model of what speakers know about language. Linguists build their models based on indirect
evidence, such as speakers behavior and judgments about language.:________________________
4.To share or exchange information, news, ideas:_____________________________
5.Study of sentences and phrases, and the rules of grammar that sentences
obey:___________________

Matching questions: Match column A with column B. Write the Letter on the blank.

A. B.
1. Smallest unit of sound that may cause a
change of meaning within a language but that
doesn't have meaning in itself. An indivisible unit A. CONTEXT
of sound in a given language. B. SEMIOTICS
_________
2. One usage refers to a variety of a language
that is a characteristic of a particular group of the C.PRAGMATICS
language's speakers D.PHONEME
_________
E. DIALECT

3.Study of how language is affected by the

context in which it occurs. Study of sentence
meaning in context
__________

4. How everything within language works together

to convey a particular meaning
_________
5. The study of meaning-making, the study of
sign process (semiosis) and meaningful
communication. It is not to be confused with the
Saussurean tradition called semiology, which is a
subset of semiotics.
_________
Multiple choice questions: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. Definition of grammatical
1 : of or relating to grammar
2 : conforming to the rules of grammar
a grammatical sentence

A. Pragmatics

B. Communicate

C. Grammatical

D. Semiotics

2. Set of rules by which a person constructs full sentences

A. Semantics

B. Morphology

C. Syntax

D. Grammar

3. The mind - they study the unconscious knowledge that speakers have about their language.
A linguist is interested in figuring out unconscious "rules" that people know about their
language.

A. Method for theoretical linguist

B. What do linguists study?

C. Five main components of language

D. What is linguistic theory?

4. Smallest unit of a word that provides a specific meaning to a string of letters (which is called a
phoneme). There are two types of morpheme: Bound and Free.The smallest linguistic unit
within a word that can carry a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word
"unbreakable."

A. Lexicon

B. Phoneme

C. Syntax
 D. Morpheme

5. A native speaker is someone who learned to speak a language as part of his or her childhood
development. A native speaker's language is usually the language their parents speak and/or
the language of their country of origin. It is the only language of a monolingual person, and
likely the first language of a multilingual person which is acquired naturally in their native
environment. It may serve as the basis for their sociolinguistic identity

A. Pragmatics

B. Language

C. Method for theoretical linguist

D. Native Speaker

True/False questions: Encircle the word True if the answer is true. Give the correct answer if it’s false.

1. Investigate speaker’s judgments about sentences.

Infer properties of the internal linguistic system of the informants that would account for their
judgments
Formulate hypotheses about the structure of what they cannot observe based on what they
can observe.
Observable data > Make hypothesis > Form theory

Answer: Five main components of language

True False

2. Language is a system that consists of the development, acquisition, maintenance and use of
complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so; and a language is
any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics.

Answer: Language
True False

3. Study of individual units of sound in languages

Answer: Morphology
True False
4. The five main components of language are phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, syntax, and
context. Along with grammar, semantics, and pragmatics, these components work together to
create meaningful communication among individuals.

Answer: What do linguists study?

True False
 5. Sum total of all the words in that language

Answer: Lexeme
True False

ACTIVITY 2: Essay.
1. What is linguistics
2. What is language?
3. Differentiate language from dialect.
4. Discuss Free Morpheme from Bound Morpheme.
5. Describe Semantics from Syntax.