Category: LINGUISTICS

This will the content on linguistics and the scientific study of language.

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Sociolingusitics | Key Concepts| Key Methods

The term sociolinguistics is the study of relationship between language and society. It is a scientific study of a language in a society where it establishes language having different set of forms in a different situations. The changes occur as a result of the change in social patterns that include class, gender , race or regional groups. The different particular groups speak different forms of language from the rest and hence develop a speech community. It is an interdisciplinary field that studies how language varies and changes in social groups and how language and society interact with each other. It is a branch of linguistics that looks at language in its social context.

Key Concepts:

Language Variation: Sociolinguistics recognizes that language is not a uniform, static system. It varies according to the social characteristics of speakers including their region, social class, gender, age, and ethnicity. For example, the same language can have different dialects or accents in different regions. The following shows the different varieties in language.

A dialect is a geographical variation of language that can be identified by vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation characteristics. Compared to other regional dialects of the same language, it is distinctive. Both the morphemes and the syntax exhibit the modifications. Instead of the word “climbed,” “clim,” “clum,” and “clome” are used in several dialects of the Atlantic states. The Americanization of the British “lift” elevator’. The grammatical difference is between “I have seen anything” and “I ain’t seen nothing.” American /vatmin/ is British /vtmn/.

Due to the social distinctions between different economic classes, such as the working class and aristocracy, these shifts can occasionally be seen within the same geographic area. Class dialects are the outcome of these modifications. Dialectology is the study of how dialect boundaries are drawn across a region and the distinctive characteristics of each dialect. It is possible to distinguish one dialect from another by enumerating a collection of characteristics that are unique to a given area.

The way a speaker employs language in various contexts is known as their “register.” It is because language is used in a particular domain of human action. The English language is utilized in a variety of sectors, including law, religion, science, and sports.This variety is influenced by things like the social setting, the purpose, the audience, and the environment. The register can be either formal or very intimate depending on the language, syntax, and tone. Even without using words, one can communicate effectively. Such research is beneficial because it helps us comprehend how language use is connected to a social setting. The idea of register is crucial for demonstrating that language use in communication is limited by situational and contextual rules rather than being random or uncontrolled.

When two separate languages are spoken inside the same speech community, the situation is referred to as diglossia. Two different dialects of the same language are used in a variety of social contexts. The two alternatives are H and L, with H being utilized for high-end uses and L for low-end purposes. Daily encounters and casual communication are seen as low purposes, whereas sermons, political speeches, university lectures, and news broadcasts are regarded as high purposes. It entails more than only altering diction within a single language.

A person’s dialect is their unique way of speaking at a particular time. It is an individual’s distinctive method of speaking. Each person’s dialect is continually changing, and no two people talk precisely the same manner. In addition to linguistic characteristics, a person’s idiolect is influenced by a wide range of other factors, including their experiences with various languages, what they have read and heard, where they went to school, and their jobs.

An isogloss is a line separating areas or regions with varying linguistic features. The barrier may exist between two dialects of the same language or between two separate languages.

Pidgin is a shortened form of speech used to communicate among speakers of many languages. These are certain languages designed to make it easier to communicate with others. When persons who speak two different languages must collaborate, whether in a trading relationship, administrative process, or refugee scenario, this occurs. In these cases, pidgins develop where grammatical complexity is mutually abandoned and vocabulary from both languages is more or less purposefully combined. Sometimes a pidgin replaces both the original languages as the first language of following generations as a result of relatively long-term colonization and the mixing of two speech communities. Creoles are first languages that develop in this way, from manufactured pidgins.

A natural language called creole was historically created from a pidgin. Creolization is the term used to describe the historical change from a pidgin to a creole. Like any other language, creoles are susceptible to natural processes of development, and with time, they develop their own intricacies. The pidgin may occasionally become entrenched and stable to the point where even the community’s young people start using it; at this point, the language has evolved into a creole and is utilized in all contexts.

In a single discourse, code switching is the process of switching back and forth between two languages. Many language users have command of at least two dialects, and many more have command of two languages. According to various circumstances, including who they are speaking to, where they are, and what they are discussing, such speakers will alternate between their variants.

In a related practice known as “code mixing,” two languages are freely combined in a variety of contexts that may be official or informal.

A person who is bilingual is able to speak both languages as fluently as a native speaker who has had formal education.The phrase can be used to describe both specific people and an entire culture. Since so few people are thought to be capable of meeting this criteria, this is frequently referred to as the perfect type. On the other hand, multilingualism describes a speaker’s or a community’s capacity to interact effectively in three or more languages. In addition to these two, a polyglot is a person who is able to speak, read, and write in multiple languages.A linguist will be able to explain a language’s rules and syntax and be interested in the science of language, as opposed to a polyglot, who may not always be able to do so or be familiar with the language’s syntactic rules. But many linguists also happen to be polyglots, and not all polyglots are linguists.

Language Change: Language evolves over time and this change is influenced by social factors. For instance, contact between different languages can lead to the borrowing of words and phrases.

Bilingualism and Multilingualism: Sociolinguistics studies the effect of knowing multiple languages on individuals and societies. It explores codeswitching (alternating between languages), and the social implications of different language policies and practices.

Language Attitudes: People have attitudes and beliefs about different ways of speaking and different languages. These can affect and be affected by social structures and cultural values.

Language and Identity: Language is a key part of people’s identity. For instance, people can use language to show membership in social groups, from large-scale social categories to smaller-scale groups like families or friendship groups.

Language and Power: Language plays a crucial role in power relations in society. In many situations, certain ways of speaking are treated as more powerful or prestigious than others, and this is associated with wider social inequalities.

Language Planning and Policy: This refers to efforts by governments or other institutions to regulate language use. It can include efforts to promote a particular language or dialect, to standardize language, or to protect minority languages.

Key Methods:

    Sociolinguistics uses a range of research methods, including:

    • Surveys: To get information about people’s language use and attitudes.
    • Interviews: To get more detailed information about individuals’ language use and attitudes.
    • Observation: To see how people use language in naturalistic settings.
    • Corpus analysis: To analyze large collections of written or spoken text.
    • Experiments: To test specific hypotheses about language use.

    Sociolinguistics has applications in a range of areas, including language teaching and learning, language policy and planning, and understanding social issues related to language.While some sociolinguists focus on describing the linguistic features of social groups or explaining why language changes in the ways it does, others take a more critical approach, looking at how language contributes to social inequality and how it can be used to challenge this.

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    Concept of Langue and Parole

    The concept of langue and parole was given by Ferdinand de Saussure. He developed a structural linguistics and binary oppositions is the most important element if structuralism. Langue and parole also exists in the form of binary oppositions. These two are French words. Langue means language or tongue while parole means speech or speaking.

    Structure is an important topic in the study of languages. It was Saussure who coined the terms langue and parole to denote the rules or system that constitute a language and actual utterances of language, respectively, to characterize the structure of a language.

    The term “langue” refers to a set of internalized, communicative norms that control a language’s lexicon, syntax, and sound system. Parole is the term for language as it is used in spoken and written communication in daily life. Due of its unpredictable character, parole can never really be studied. The term “langue” refers to the social organization of a language, which includes its organization and usage guidelines.

    Parole is frequently compared to speaking. By hearing the language repeatedly, the kids acquire their native tongue. Following their initial expressions, infants gradually alter them by paying attention to the language used by those around them. Even though mistakes are made, the kids pick up on the language’s rules through this statement. They start to adapt their own understanding of the language by frequently listening to the paroles around them. By changing certain words, they gradually learn the language’s rules.

    Language comprises the set of rules and grammar of a language. It comprises of syntax, the phonetics , spellings and others. Parole is the making of these rules to produce utterances. Langue is independent because it exists inside the mind of a person. Parole is dependent on langue and is merely a manifestation of the abstract systems of governing principles into speech and utterances. It is not possible without the existence of a langue.

    Langue is the system of language whereas parole is the practical use of these systems. An individual can use the language system to produce speech and also to produce writing. Hence, writing can also be considered as an act of parole.The very existence of a complete language cannot exist without langue and parole. Language is thus equal to langue and parole. These two entities had to exist to make a language complete and meaningful.

    Langue is abstract and it is difficult to observe and almost impossible to capture. Parole is however concrete and can be seen in writing and even recorded as a speech by individuals. Langue exists before parole. Langue is the collective act of the whole race. It is internal and innate. It cannot be changed. Parole is an individual act or expression. It changes from one individual to another and is subjected to individual preferences.

    Saussure uses the analogy of a game of chess to highlight the distinctions between the two. Both players must comprehend all phases, how each piece moves, and various game strategies in order to win. The language of the game is comprehension of this rule. The players continuously make decisions that demonstrate their understanding of the rules based on these rules and the movement of the pieces. The game’s parole is represented by these actions. Similar to Noam Chomsky’s proficiency and performance, langue and parole concepts

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    Linguistic | Science |Scope and Levels of Linguistic Analysis

    Linguistic is a scientific study of a language. It is scientific because it helps to analyse the structure of a language. Linguistic studies are also known as descriptive studies. The linguists uses algorithms to deduce the patterns of a language. Linguistic describe the language as they are and consider language as an ever changing phenomenon. It also describes a language and its evolution into structures from old to new because of different influences from other languages. Language research is the study of spoken language. It conducts systematic research on the development and organization of human language. It examines many different systems as a scientific subject, including the physical properties of speech sounds, how sounds work together and mix, how words and phrases are generated, etc. It investigates the nature of language as a result. All facets of human behavior, physiology, and culture that influence language are also of interest to linguists.

    The scientific study of the structure and evolution of language is known as linguistics. The word is derived from the Latin words “linguistics,” which means “knowledge,” and “lingua,” which means “tongue.” It is focused on the process of language acquisition and its significance to both the person and the community. One can learn about the history, current usage, and evolution of language by looking at its features.

    Linguistics as Science

    The discipline of linguistics is by definition scientific.Because it is precise, methodical, and open to scientific inference, linguistics is a science in approach, nature, and method. Studying language, which is both objective and flexible, is the focus of linguistics. The many parts of a language can be studied; the speech sounds can be observed and evaluated, as well as the way they are produced. Language collections and organizes the parts of a language, each of which can be assessed independently or collectively. This whole process turns it into science such as data gathering, classification, and analysis shows the connection and provides verification and a reasonable justification for scientific reasoning.

    These are the processes a linguist takes when analyzing a language. He observes the characteristics of language and, using the principles of empirical research, categorizes these characteristics as sound characteristics of specific types or words belonging to specific classes. In this case, experimentation and observational methods are both inductive.

    The issue of the function of language’s mental process also becomes apparent at this period. Here, language creation and survival are social factors rather than scientific ones. Language is a social science, and the study of it involves social conduct and community interaction, both of which are important. Here, instead of in empirical research, the philosophers use a deductive approach where there is room for assumptions. Using this technique, the mind creates specific conceptions or ideas in advance that it interprets observational and experiential data. As a result, an initial hypothesis is developed that seeks to support a theory by using the facts. Consequently, linguistics is a social science as well as an empirical field of study. It is possible to observe several aspects of a language that provide concrete illustrations of factual material that can be verified and from which logical inferences can be drawn. After the data have been gathered, a speculative hypothesis may also be able to explain the findings. This justification may eventually be accepted, rejected, or changed.

    Scope of Linguistics

    One of the fastest-growing academic fields is linguistics. It addresses a variety of subjects.
    It tries to investigate the elements of the language system and come to a conclusion about how the system functions. It is concerned with describing language, examining its makeup, and developing a philosophy of language. The study of a language was once included in the study of language history. As a result, it had several branches as allies. Modern linguistics refers to the study of language as a self-contained, independent system deserving of independent study. It entails an extensive, intricate, and systematic study with several key subfields, including phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Although it is allied to other areas of disciplines such as historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics.

    Modern linguistics is sometimes referred to as descriptive since the most crucial job is to describe the language system. The description of language makes no particular rules recommendations. Modern linguistics broadens the field’s focus beyond just defining languages to encompass linguistic history and comparative analysis.

    Levels of Linguistic Analysis

    Language has a hierarchical structure that makes it simple to break it into different parts as a system. Language is composed of a variety of units. Up until the smallest unit is reached, each unit can be broken into smaller units. The lowest indivisible unit according to this division is sound. A phoneme is a single sound that cannot be further broken down. Larger units are created from phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest unit as a result.

    Phonetics and Phonology – The study and organized classification of spoken-word sounds is known as phonetics. It is a real example of how science may be used to study languages. It investigates how sounds are formed, how the human speech mechanism articulates them, how the auditory mechanism processes them, and how sounds can be identified and described based on how they are produced. Phonology is the study of how sounds are combined to create syllables and other larger speech units. It covers a language’s sound system, including the combinations and distribution of sounds that are used in that language. Classification is based on the phoneme, or sound, such as /p/ or /b/. Together with additional noises, these sounds create by adhering to a rule, meaningful units. The laws for combination vary depending on the language, though.

    Morphology – The study and analysis of word development in language is known as morphology. It investigates the processes by which sounds are combined to generate tiny, discrete units of meaning known as morphemes. A morpheme can be divided, but the result will be meaningless. For instance, the morpheme “pin” is composed of the letters /p/, /i/, and /n/. The morpheme “pin” is created by the right combination of these sounds, however its distinguishing sounds do not convey meaning. Thus, the combination of phonemes creates a word. By adding a suffix or prefix to this one morpheme, known as the “pin,” more morphemes are made conceivable. Pin can be used to create the words “pinned” (pin + ed) and “unpinned” (un+ pin+). The study of morphology examines how words change through time, such as how the morpheme “pin” becomes “pinned.” A shift in tense is indicated by this alteration. Changes in morphology occur at the level of meaning.

    Syntax -Another method that words might move is to combine into bigger parts.This formation is dealt with by syntax. We examine how words mix to form phrases, phrases to form clauses, and clauses to unite to form sentences at this level. The placement of words in sentences or clauses matters and follows a set of rules, depending on whether the word serves as an adjective, a noun or a noun phrase. These words are arranged in a specific order to form a sentence. Thus, syntax examines how each word works and what its function is. The sentence’s meaning is established by these roles and functions.

    Semantics – The study of meaning is the focus of semantics. It discusses the connection between a term and the thing it refers to. Additionally, it examines the relationship between words that are similar or dissimilar, or the structure of meaning in a language. Semantics aims to define and analyze words that are abstract in nature and to convey meaning at both the word and sentence levels. Denotatively, the word “snake” is simple to define, but connotative definitions are more challenging. Some words don’t relate to something; they indicate or suggest. Because of this, semantics is a difficult subject because meaning is determined by the speaker’s tone or the way they express themselves.

    Discourse– A language construct called a discourse is one that is longer than a sentence. In addition to morphemes and syntax, it examines the structure and purpose of language in conversation. A wide range of social and historical meaning is communicated through language. The social context, the audience, and the usage circumstances all contribute to the interpretation of meaning. Because dialogue incorporates situational knowledge in this case, meaning is context-dependent.

    Semiology– The study of signs is known as semiology or semiotics. The phrase was coined in the 1970s as a component of structuralism and owes a lot to Saussure. The words signifier and signified are combined to form the idea of a sign. The concept or idea that a signifier recalls is known as the signified, and the signifier is a spoken word’s sound or a group of letters on a page. Here, Saussure makes the argument that there is no connection between a word’s meaning and what it signifies; rather, the connection is established socially. Meaning is subjective. We frequently concur that an object may or may not be called in a certain way. There is no relationship between an object and what it refers to since it was called or named by someone in the past.Any given sign’s significance is determined by how it interacts with the other signs in the system. A sign’s link to other signs determines its meaning.

    Click Here to know about Concept of Sociolingusitics– https://getsetnotes.com/what-is-Sociolingusitics-approaches-and-study/


    Click Here to Know Concept of Langue and Parole – https://getsetnotes.com/concept-of-langue-and-parole/

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