Linguistics S1 (First year)

without passing value judgements or normative rules.

Linguistics can be studied under two basic approaches:

Synchronic linguistics: study of language at a given point of time.( for example colloquial
construcions in present – day English).

Diachronic linguistic study: study of language I-LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

I-1 DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE

I 1.1DEFINITION WITH RESPECT TO FORM

Language is a system of speech symbols. It is realised acoustically (sound waves), visually,

spatially (sign language) and in written form.
Speech symbols
Entity consisting of formal element which has been assigned a meaning, the correlation
between form and meaning is arbitrary, but conventionalised within a speech community.
I 1.2 DEFINTION WITH RESPECT TO FUNCTION
Language is the most important means of human communication. It is used to
- convey and exchange information (informative function)
- prompt actions( appellative function)
- commit oneself to do something(obligatory function)
- open, hold and end social actions( content functions)
- convey and exchange artistic and/aesthetic function(poetic function)
I.2 MEANINGS OF THE TERM LANGUAGE
- refers to the human language faculty.
e.g. The philogenesis of human language lies in the dark of prehistory
-refers to a single language system
e.g. English is a Germanic language
- refers to a concrete utterance
e.g. Don’t say that it is bad language

Language includes a wide range of concepts in itself, as it is used for reflecting the
communication system of any kind of species including animals. Yet, our concern here is
human language; so definitions of language and discussions will be concerning the
language of human beings (not bee communication or the sign language of chimps etc.). In
this respect, it would be appropriate to draw upon the definitions of famous scholars by
analyzing the underlying trends, beliefs and ideas within their words.
According to Sapir (1921) “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive
method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntary
produced symbols.”
In this definition, some of the words and phrases are worth discussing in order to
reveal Sapir’s understanding of language. By using “communicating ideas, emotions and
desires” Sapir stresses importance to both transactional and interactional functions of
language (which will further be discussed in II. i ). In other words, the informative and
social perspectives of language are reflected. Another point to discuss is “voluntary
produced symbols” by which he means language consists of symbols produced voluntarily
unlike animal communication which is dominantly instinctive. Another definition is put
forward by Bloch&Trager (1942):
“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social
group co-operates.”
In this definition, there are two striking points to discuss. The first one is
“arbitrary”, which reflects the idea that the relation between the signifier and signified has
an arbitrary nature. In other words, there is no direct relation between the concept and the
vocalic symbol that is used to name the related concept. It may be argued that this
definition- as it reflects the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign- has roots from
Saussurean structuralism. The other point to consider in this definition lies under “by
which a social group co-operates”. Here, the social aspect of language is reflected as it is
viewed as the tool used for the co-operation of a social group. In addition to this definition,
Hall (1968) states that:
“Language is the institution whereby human communicate and interact with each
other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”
This definition also reflects the arbitrary nature of symbols in a language. The
difference emerges from the word “habitually”, which carries a behaviouristic perspective.
The idea behind a behaviouristic view of language is the belief that language is a set of
stimuli-response patterns and it is a process of habit formation. This approach to the nature
of human language was opposed by Noam Chomsky, who defines language (1957) as:
“A set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a
finite set of elements.”
Chomsky’s view of language includes its creative aspect as it is claimed that it is
possible to produce an infinite number of sentences from a finite number of rules and
structures. Therefore, this definition includes a rationalist and mentalist perspective. All the
definitions mentioned above reflect some particular aspect of human language and are
mainly affected by schools of thought like behaviourism, structuralism or rationalism. A
comprehensive definition of language should include all aspects of language free from a
particular philosophical thought and should reflect the nature of language holistically:
Language is a dynamic, creative and systemic tool for communication of
information and building interpersonal relations by means of verbal and non-
verbal signs and codes, which are community specific, arbitrary as well as
productive.
This broad definition of language includes all its aspects:
“Dynamic”: Language is dynamic as it tends to change through time according to
the needs of the society, or randomly. Any diachronic analysis is the proof for the dynamic
nature of language.
“Creative”: There is no clear cut limitation for the creativeness of human language.
Human beings can produce infinite number of sentences or unlimited utterances by making
use of finite number of structures in language or rules in grammar.
“Systemic”: Language has a system in itself which composes of many particular
signs and results with a synergic whole.
“Communication of information”: Language is used for transference of
information and content of knowledge from an individual to another or from one
generation to the next.
 “Interpersonal relations”: Language is the primary source for the continuation of a
society and each individual necessarily uses language to be a part of any social group or to
build interpersonal relations and rapport.
“Verbal and non-verbal”: In addition to verbal signs, human language includes
non-verbal signs which we generally name as body language, but it covers more than this.
Areas of study like para-linguistics, proxemics, kinesics etc. analyzes this aspect of
language.
“Community specific”: The signs and codes of language are unique to a particular
community. In this respect, the term “culture” is avoided; since a specific culture may not
be always homogeneous. However, the term community covers any sort of social group.
“Arbitrary”: The nature of the linguistic sign is arbitrary; there is no specific
relation between the signifier and signified (except for onomatopoeic words).

After dealing with the definition of language with all its components, it may be
appropriate to focus on the functions of language.
I 3. The functions of language
According to linguistic philosophers and discourse analysts, language has two
major functions. These two functions will be dealt concerning two views as: the
transactional view and the interactional view. Brown (1983:1) states that “the distinction
between transactional and interactional functions stands in general correspondence to other
functional dichotomies as; ‘representative/expressive’ (Buhler), ‘referential/emotive’
(Jakobson), ‘ideational / inter-personal’ (Halliday), and ‘descriptive/social-expressive’
(Lyons)”.
I.3.1 Transactional view
Transactional view reflects the idea that the most important function of language is
the expression of content. According to the supporters of this view, the aim to
communicate information dominates the use of language. According to Bennett (1976)
“communication is primarily a matter of a speaker’s seeking either to inform a hearer of
something or to enjoin some action upon him”.
The speaker sets the transference of information as his/her primary goal for
communication; thus the use of language is mostly message oriented. In educational
settings, the nature of the classroom also seems to be message oriented which is mostly
informative. The teacher seeks to transfer the content as informative as possible; yet it
should be kept in mind that the affective considerations has an important function in
classroom and this may be well understood by the interactional view.
I.3.2 Interactional view:
The function of language involved in expressing social relations and personal
attitudes is interactional function of language. It is the case that a great deal of everyday
human interaction is characterized by the primarily interpersonal rather than transactional
use of language. The interactional function mostly refers to emotive and affective uses of
language in daily discourse and is claimed to be in spoken form in general. At this point,
some exceptions may be given like love letters which have emotive function rather than an
informative one.

I.4 Design features of communication:

There is an ongoing communication process in our lives. But what does
communication consist of? To answer this question, Charles Hockett proposed design
features of communication (adopted from: Miller; 1963)
      a) Auditory-vocal channel: Sound is used between mouth and ear.
       b) Broadcast transmission and directional reception: A signal can be heard by any
auditory system within earshot, and the source can be located using the ears’
direction finding ability.
       c) Interchangeability: Speakers of language can reproduce any linguistic message
they can understand.
     d) Total Feedback: Speakers hear and can reflect upon everything that they say.
       e) Specialization: The sound waves of speech have no function other than to signal
meaning.
       f) Semanticity: The elements of the signal convey meaning through their stable
association with real-world situations.
        g) Arbitrariness: There is no dependence of the element of the signal on the
nature of the reality to which it refers.
        h) Discreteness: Speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly contrast
with each other.
       i) Displacement: It is possible to talk about events remote in space or time from
the situation of the speaker.
         j) Productivity: There is an infinite capacity to express and understand meaning
         k) Traditional transmission: Language is transmitted from one generation to the
next primarily by a process of teaching and learning.
        l) Duality of patterning: The sounds of language have no intrinsic meaning, but
combine in different ways to form elements that do convey meaning.
All these features are components of human communication system and a language
teacher should have a heightened awareness of communication as an ongoing verbal and
non-verbal process.
I. 5 Human language Versus Animal Language

Language is the modeling of human language in non- human animal systems. While the
term is widely used, most researchers agree that animal languages are not as complex or
expressive as that which they attempt to model - the human language.

Some researchers argue that there are significant differences separating human language
from animal communication even at its most complex, and that the underlying principles
are not related.

Others argue that an evolutionary continum exists between the communication methods
these animals use and human language.

The following properties of human language have been argued to separate it from animal
communication:

Arbitrariness: There is no rational relationship between a sound or sign and its meaning.
(There is nothing "housy" about a house.)

Cultural transmission: Language is passed from one language user to the next,
consciously or unconsciously.

Discreteness: Language is composed of discrete units that are used in combination to

create meaning.
Displacement: Languages can be used to communicate ideas about things that are not in
the immediate vicinity either spatially or temporally.

Duality: Language works on two levels at once, a surface level and a semantic
(meaningful) level.

Metalinguistics: Ability to discuss language itself.

Productivity: A finite number of units can be used to create an infinite number of

utterances.

Research with apes, like that of Francine Patterson with Koko, suggested that apes are
capable of using language that meets some of these requirements. However, now the
validity of such research is widely disputed and, for some, discredited.

In the wild chimpanzees have been seen "talking" to each other, when warning about
approaching danger. For example, if one chimpanzee sees a snake, he makes a low,
rumbling noise, signalling for all the other chimps to climb into nearby trees.

Arbitrariness has been noted in meerkat calls; bee dances show elements of spatial
displacement; and cultural transmission has occurred with the offspring of many of the
great apes who have been taught sign languages.

However, these single features alone do not qualify such instances of communication as
being true language.
 II DEFINITION OF LNGUISTICS

Linguistics in a broader sense: collective term for sciences which study language (language
philosophy- philology- dialectology,…)

General Linguistics /Linguistics in a narrower sense: study of systematic properties of

natural language.

Systematic properties of language: Language is as system; i.e.; an entity of elements

which are in relation to each other, making the system work.

Main property of a system: a system has structure (pattern of interrelated elements.)

Thus, General linguistics studies the structure of language.

The system we describe is not a real object, but a model of reality. It can not b true or false,
only more or less adequate.

Linguistics, basically, is the scientific study of language. The founder of modern linguistics
is accepted as the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) who proposed that
language should be analyzed synchronically and systematically as opposed to diachronic
analysis. He suggested language is the modeling of human language in non human animal
systems. While the term is widely used, most researchers agree that animal languages are
not as complex or expressive as that which they attempt to model .

Linguistics makes use of a descriptivist methodolgy,i.e., scientific methods of clarifying

/describing propreties of language change ( for example historical phonology).

II 1 LINGUISTICS AND OTHER APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE

Language has long been a concern for manhood throughout centuries and was
studied by ancient civilizations like Greeks and Romans. There were also comparative and
historical linguistics; however our concern here is the scientific study of language, so we
will mainly focus on modern linguistics. Linguistics may be studied and well understood
drawing upon Lyon’s distinction among micro and macro linguistics. This distinction
clearly shows how linguistics is scientific in itself and how it is interrelated with other
disciplines like sociology, psychology, anthropology, neurology etc.

II.1.1. Micro-linguistics
Micro-linguistics is concerned solely with the structure of language systems in
itself and for itself. It includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
The case about semantics seems to be problematic; since semantics may be concerned
beyond sentential level. Therefore, it is a question of debate among linguists. For some
linguists, semantics – the scientific study of meaning- should be located in macro-
linguistics, because studying meaning needs a holistic approach.
 a) Phonetics:
Phonetics is the study of the production, classification and transcription of the
speech sounds. There are three corresponding branches of phonetics: articulatory (the
analysis of speech production), acoustic (acoustic properties of production) and auditory
(the audition of speech production) phonetics (Demirezen: 1987).
Phonetic alphabet is an indispensable guide for a language teacher as it is an
important reference for appropriate articulation. If we consider the fact that a language
teacher is a model for students, his knowledge in phonetics becomes an important
determinant in the learning environment.
b) Phonology:
Phonology is the study of the distribution and patterning of speech sounds in a
language. It is the study of the distinctive sounds of a language, the so-called phonemes.
Phonology examines the functions of sounds within a language. Focus in phonetics is on
finding gross characteristics of speech sounds that are adequate for description and
classification of phone perception in language use.
Phonetics and phonology may help to a language teacher in various ways. He/she
may use the contrastive analysis of sound patterns among the native language and target
language. In addition to this, examples of minimal pairs or exercises on problematic
sounds may help students overcome problems in target language pronunciation.
c) Morphology:
Morphology, basically, is the study of how words are formed out of smaller units.
Morphology studies the smallest meaningful elements of a language, which are called
morphemes.There are free and bound morphemes. The former can stand alone within a
given discourse. Morphology can be divided into two areas as derivational and inflectional.
Affixes play the primary role in this distinction.
Affixes may be in three forms: suffix (attached to the end of a word), infix
(attached within a word) and prefix (attached to the beginning of a word). Derivational
affixes have the potential to change the part of speech of a word. In English, infixes are not
so common (except examples like mother-in-law etc.). In Turkish, there are not so much
prefixes except the examples like namusait, namağlup which have an Arabic origin.

d)Syntax:
Basically, syntax is concerned with the ways in which words can be combined
together to form phrases and sentences(Radford:1997). It deals with the structural or
grammatical rules that define how symbols in a language are to be combined to form
words, phrases, expressions, and other allowable constructs. In syntactic analysis, tree
diagrams are used in order to reveal how phrases come together and form grammatical
sentences:
 IP
I
D
I VP

We V

IP
are
I VP
trying
V D
to

protect you.

Chomsky’s transformational generative grammar and the recent minimalist

approach mainly drew upon syntactic analysis. However, he was severely criticized as he
generally used isolated sentences in his analysis which are free from their context. Many
linguists believe that naturally occurring data should be used in any form of language
analysis; isolated sentences neglect semantic and contextual considerations.
A language teacher, surely, should have a broad knowledge on the syntactic structures of
both his native language and the language to be taught. Therefore, it may be claimed that a
pre-performed syntactic and morpho-syntactic study will be helpful for a language teacher
and relatedly for a student. Syntactic knowledge of a speaker will obviously lead to a
comprehensive and holistic competence in a particular grammar.

e) Semantics:
In simple terms, semantics is the study of meaning. Meaning in a specific discourse
may be analyzed in terms of lexis, sentence, grammar and utterance. The relation between
lexical meaning, sentence meaning, grammatical meaning and utterance meaning is
mutual; as they can not be saperated from each other in revealing the meaning in a
particular discourse.
Therefore, it does not seem to be appropriate to put semantics in micro-linguistics,
as it would narrow its scope. Semantics deals with meaning at also beyond-sentence level,
which is a fact that John Lyons may have missed in building a distinction between micro
and macro linguistics.

II 1.2 Macro-linguistics:
Macro-linguistics is concerned with everything that pertains in any way at all to
language and languages (Lyons:1981). It is also named as applied linguistics by many
scholars drawing upon its interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary nature. It builds relations
with other sciences like sociology, psychology, neurology, anthropology etc.
There are plenty of sub-disciplines in macro-linguistics like anthropological
linguistics, geographical linguistics, computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, bio-
linguistics, field linguistics, clinical linguistics, forensic linguistics, philo
sophical linguistics etc. But here, it is not possible to deal with all these macro-
linguistic areas; so some important ones, namely sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics,
discourse analysis, pragmatics, semiotics and educational linguistics will be explained
briefly.

a) Sociolinguistics:
In general terms, sociolinguistics may be defined as the study of language in
relation to society. It has become a thriving area within linguistics since 1960s, and the
father of sociolinguistics is claimed to be William Labov. Sociolinguistics studies issues
like accents, dialects, language change, age, gender, etchnicity, social context, pidgins and
creoles, language planning, power, code-switching and code-mixing etc.
(Bloomer&Trott:1988).
Sociolinguistic research in language teaching may be performed in different ways.
As classroom is a heterogeneous social group, there may be different students from
different cultural backgrounds, ethnic identities, genders, socio-economic backgrounds etc.
Revealing these diversities in discourse may help a language teacher overcome some
difficulties in learning by modifying the classroom discourse.
b) Psycholinguistics:
Psycholinguistics is concerned with language and the brain. In other terms, it builds
relations with psychology and linguistics. A Psycholinguist should have a comprehensive
understanding of neurology (brain mechanisms), psychology (the processes by which we
interpret the world) and linguistics (the variety of cathegories that are found in human
language) (Bloomer&Trott:1988).
Psychological mood of a learner is an effective determinant in the success of
learning in a language classroom setting. A language teacher should have the capability to
analyze and overcome the psycholinguistic problems of a learner by analyzing the
language use. This will obviously lead to betterment in the learning process.
c) Discourse analysis:
Discourse analysis is defined as the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'.
Discourse analysts study larger chunks of language as they flow together. Although it’s
originated back to the birth of rhetoric 2000 years ago, 1960s may be suggested as the
emergence of modern Discourse Analysis. A discourse analyst deals with naturally
occuring data unlike a sentence grammarian who uses isolated sentences in studying
language. Discourse analysis studies discourse markers, turn-taking, speech acts,
conversation analysis as well as the discourse of media, politics, sports etc.
Discourse Analysis has a lot to serve to language teachers. In adressing the
importance of discourse analysis, Mc Carthy (1991) states that “ Discourse analysis is of
immediate interest to language teachers because we too have long had the question of how
people use language uppermost in our minds when we design teaching materials, or when
we engage learners in exercises and activities aimed at making them proficient users of
their target language...”.

d) Pragmatics:
Pragmatics is the study of the use of signs and the relationship between signs and
their users. The distinction between pragmatics and discourse analysis is that pragmatics is
mainly concerned with written texts; whereas discourse analysis is concerned with
naturally occuring discourse of daily language used in various contexts.
Language teachers use various written materials in their courses, and they also get
written assignments or exam papers from their students. Both in the written materials to be
used in class or in evaluating the papers of the students, knowledge in pragmatics is of
great importance for a language teacher.
 e) Semiotics/ Semiology:
Semiotics (or semiology within Saussurean trend), basically, is the systemic study
of signs in communication processes. The foundation of semiotics as a scientific discipline
dates back to the works of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). The sign is
the basic unit in semiotics and is handled in different ways by the co-founders of semiotics,
F. Saussure and C.S.Peirce. Saussure defines sign as being composed of a signifier (the
form that the sign takes) and signified (concept to which sign refers) and asserts that the
relation between the signifier and signified is arbitrary. Peirce has a triadic model of sign
as representement (the form which the sign takes, an interpretant (the sense of the sign) and
an object (to which the sign refers). Peirce introduces types of sign as icon, symbol and
index (Chandler: 2002).
Social signs and codes play an important role in semiotics and lead to the
emergence of cultural semiotics and educational semiotics as scientific areas of study.
These areas are of great importance for a language teacher; since he/she should teach the
cultural signs and codes of the target language to his students keeping in mind that
teaching of a language can not be isolated from teaching its culture.

f) Educational Linguistics:
Educational linguistics tries to build links between pedagogy and linguistics and
focuses on language use in educational contexts for educational purposes. In addition to
analysis of classroom discourse, it is mainly concerned with teacher training and teacher
development (Stubbs:1986).
It has a multi-disciplinary nature as it is in close relationship with macro-linguistics
(especially discourse analysis and almost any form of applied linguistics) and disciplines
like psychology, pedagogy, sociology etc. Although ELT is located in Applied linguistics
by many scholars, the exact location of ELT seems to be within educational linguistics.
The reason is that Educational linguistics builds direct relations between education as an
interdisciplinary area and any form of linguistic research-either micro or macro. However,
Applied linguistics is an umbrella term referring to any form of linguistic study which is
applied.
II 2. Trends in linguistics:
Linguistics –like any scientific discipline- has undergone an evolution in relation to
advances in other social sciences throughout the history. There have been eras in
linguistics called historical linguistics, comparative linguistics etc. But here, we will deal
with structuralism, functionalism, and generativism; as our aim is to reflect the
development of linguistics as a science in the scientific era. Nevertheless, it should be
mentioned that if diachronic and comparative studies did not exist, language families could
not have been established.

I. Structuralism
The birth of structuralism in linguistics traces back to the publication of Saussure’s
“Cours de linguistique generale” (Course in General Linguistics) in 1916. According to the
structuralists every language system is unique and should be described on its own terms.
Because the relation between the signifier and signified is arbitrary; so the linguistic sign is
not a meaningful form. The phonological shape of a word results from the network of
contrasts and equivalences that a particular language system imposes upon the continuum
of sound (Lyons:1981).
Structuralism is mainly concerned with the relations which hold among entities
than with the entities themselves. In other words, the synergy of the system (in our case
language) is much more than the amount of the total energy of the sum of each element in
the system. This structuralist view reveals the consideration of a particular language as a
whole system.
II 2 2. Functionalism:
Functionalism is characterized by the belief that the phonological, grammatical and
the semantic structure of languages is determined by the functions that they have to
perform in the societies in which they operate (Lyons:1981). The best known figures of
functionalism are Roman Jakobson and Nikolaj Trubetskoy representing the Prague
Linguistic Circle founded in 1926.
Functionalists emphasize the multifunctionality of language and the importance of
its expressive , social and conative functions, in contrast with or in addition to its
descriptive function. Although it seems to be a new trend in structuralism, it should be
considered as a separate trend with its new ideas on functionality and evolutionary steps
through scientifity.

II 2 3. Generativism:
Generativism, the founder of which is Noam Chomsky, describes human languages
by means of generative grammars. Chomsky opposes to behaviorists (like Bloomfield and
Skinner) in saying that human behaviour and language acquisition includes creativity; they
can not be described with stimuli-response patterns and conditioning. This creativity serves
as the basis of transformational generative grammar: It is possible to create an infinite
number of sentences from finite grammatical structures.
Generativists emphasized language universals as opposed to structuralists like
Bloomfield who defended the structural diversity of languages. Innateness hypotheses
(human beings have an innate capacity to acquire language), mentalism, universal
grammar and the competence-performance distinction are key concepts in generativism
and Chomskyan revolution.

III LINGUISTIC DICHOTOMIES

Introduction to Modern linguitics (20th century)

Ferdinand De Saussure , a swiss scholar, is seen to be the father of modern linguistics. His
book ‘ cours de linguistique generale’, published posthumously by his students in 1916 ,
stresses the importance of styding language for its own sake.(as an autonomous object of
analysis). As such De Saussure defined language as a system of interwoven elements.
This definition of language as a system o structure forms the basis of structural linguistics.
De Saussure introduced the following basic dichotomies

III.1-Synchronic V.S Diachronic linguistics

Synchronic :study of language is concerned with its form at a given moment.
Diachronic: study covers the historical development of a language, watching language
with all its feature changes

III 2-Langue V.S Parole

‘Langue’ is the system of a language ( lexical, grammatical; and phonological constitution
of a language), whereas, ‘ parole’ is the actual speech. a ‘langue’ is what the individual
assimilates when he learns a language , a set of forms deposited by the practice of speech
in the speakers who belong to the same community.’ parole’, on the other hand, is the
actual manifestation of ‘langue’. ‘Langue’ is the same for all speakers of the same speech
community. ‘ Parole’, however differs from one individual to another.

III 3 Syntagmatic VS Paradigmatic Relations

syntagmatic relations are relations of combination. They are said to operate on the
horizontal axis of language. Words in a sentence are related syntagmatically to one
another. Paradigmatic relations, on the other hand are relations of substitution. They are
said to operate on the vertical axis of language.
e.g. He wrote the lesson
She read the book
‘ He’ and ‘She ‘ ; ‘wrote’ and ‘opened’ ; ‘lesson’ and ‘book’ are in a paradigmatic relation
( one item ca n substitute the other in a given linguistic environment).
These syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations serve to explain the structural view of
language.

III4.The Arbitrary Nature of the Sign

The sign is the union of a form which signifies, which Saussure calls the ‘signifiant’
(signifier) , and an idea signified, ‘the signifie’(signified). We may speak of signifier and
signified as if they were separate entities, though they exist only as components of the sign.
The linguistic sign is arbitrary . That is , there is no natural or inevitable link between the
signifier and the signified. There no intrinsic reason why one particular signifier rather
another should be linked to a particular signified.

IV Language History

IV .1 A Brief Survey of the History of Linguistics

The science that has been developed around the facts of language passed through three
stages before finding its true and unique object;

1-‘ Grammar’ was studied . This study, initaited by the Greeks and continued by the
French, was based on logic.It lacked a scientific approach and was detached from language
itself.Its only aim was to give rules for distinguishing between correct and incorrect forms;
it was a normative discpline, far removed from for actual observation, and its scope was
limited.

2- The second stage was marked by the philologists .The early philologists sought
especially to correct, interpret and comment upon written texts. Their studies also led to
literary history, customs,etc.They applied the methods of criticism for their own
purposes.When the dealt with linguistic questions, it was for the express purpose of
comparing texts of different periods, determining the language peculiar to each aauthor, or
deciphering and explaining inscriptions made in an archaic or obscure language.Doubtless
these investigations broke the ground for historiacl linguistics.But phiological criticism is
still defecient on one point:it follows the written language too slavishly and neglects the
living langauge.Moreover, it is concerned with little except Greek and Latin antiquity.

3- The third stage began when scholars discovered that languages can be compared with
one another.However, the comprartive school, which had themerit of opening anew and
fruitful field, did not succeed in setting up the true science of linguistics.It failed to seek
out the nature of its object of study.Clearly, without this elementary step, no science can
develop a method.