Unit 1

Introduction to Linguistics

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, the 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. Its 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… Western
Aphasia Battery also tests for components of language.