INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is often called the 'Science of Language' and in many ways this is justified since it is concerned with observing fact about language, setting up hypotheses,testing their validity and accepting or rejecting them accordingly. Linguists have sometimes been criticised for not making value judgments about language. Linguistics analisis begins with the identification of the sounds of speech, shows how these are combined into contrasting groups and meaningful elements and examines the structure of words and their relationships in larger structures. Some indication of these levels of descriptive analysis may be helpful at this point and serve as an introduction to the ensuing discussion.

 1. Phonetics is the study of the articulation, transmission and perception of speech sounds; articulatory phonetics is concerned with a description of the speech organs and how sounds are produced; acoustic phonetics is concerned largely with the physical properties of the sounds produced and their transmission through the air, in terms of pitch, frequenscy, amplitude etc; auditory phonetics is concerned with the perception and recognition of speech sounds by the human ear.

 2. Phonology is the application of phonetics to a particular language or languages. The human speech organs are theoretically capable of producing an infinite number of speech sounds but in fact most languages distinguish fewer than fifty distinet sound units. Phonology is concerned not only with estabilishing which units of sound a language uses but also how it makes use of them. It examines the relationship between sounds in a given language and in addition takes account of the theory of sound systems in general.

 3. Morphology, which is concerned with the way in which words and meaningful elements are constructed ang with how they function within the grammatical system of a language.

4. Syntax, which deals with the combination of units such as words into phrases, clauses and sentences.

5. Lexis involves the study of vocabulary, particularly those aspects which are outside the range of grammar.

6. Semantics is the study of all aspects of meaning in language, and examines the relationship between words and the concepts to which they refer. It considers the complex interactions between language, thought and behaviour.