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What is
CHAPTER Linguistics

LEARNING OUTCOME

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. discuss the theory of communication;

2. explain the importance of linguistic Competence and linguistic

performance to job situations;

3. evaluate the concept of language universals; and

4. discuss the relevance of the sub-fields of linguistics to job

situations;

ELL322 LINGUISTICS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHER

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INTRODUCTION

Linguistics is usually defined as ‘the scientific study of language’. Such a statement, however, raises two
further questions: what do we mean by 'scientific'? and what do we mean by 'language*? The first one can
be answered relatively easily but the second needs to be examined more fully. When we say that a
linguist aims to be scientific, we mean that he attempts to study language in much the same way as a
scientist studies physics or chemistry, that is systematically, and as far as possible without prejudice.
It means observing language use, forming hypotheses about it, testing these hypotheses and then
refining them on the basis of the evidence collected. To get a simplified idea of what is meant, consider
the following example. With regard to English, we might make a hypothesis that adjectives always
precede nouns. In support of this hypothesis, we could produce the following acceptable uses:
 a good man
 a dead tree
But against our hypothesis, we would find the following acceptable sentences:
 The man is good.
 The tree is dead.
where our adjectives do not precede the nouns they modify. In addition, a careful study of the
language would produce further samples such as:
 life everlasting
 mission impossible
where, once again, the position of the adjective contradicts our original hypothesis. When we have
carried out a detailed examination of adjectives in English, we are in a position to say that adjectives in
English are used in two main ways: (a) they can be used attributively that is before a noun, as in:
 a good man
and: (b) they can be used predicatively, that is following a verb, as in:
 The man is good.
Such rules would cover the uses of most adjectives in English. It would be necessary, however, to add
a further rule. In English a finite number of adjectives, borrowed from other languages or used in
fixed phrases, follow the nouns they modify. Such a finite list would include:

 astronomer royal
 attorney general
 court martial heir
 apparent prince
 imperial princess royal.

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1.1 WHAT IS LANGUAGE

Put at its simplest, a language is a set of signals by which we communicate. Human beings are
not the only species to have an elaborate communication system. Bees communicate about
honey and about the sitting of a sew hive; chimpanzees can use vocalisations to warn of danger,
to signal the finding of food or to indicate attitudes to mating; and dolphins can
communicate information on food and danger by means of whistles and clicks. It is not
possible in a short book to illustrate all the similarities and differences between human and
animal communication. Nor would it prove fruitful to discuss whether human languages
developed from earlier, simpler signalling systems. The evidence is just not available. Language
seems to be as old as our species. It is not so much that we have missing links in a chain from
simple communication system to complex human language. It is the chain that is missing and all
we have are a few intriguing links. What we can say with confidence is that even if human
languages do not differ in essence from animal communication, they certainly differ in degree.
Nothing in the animal kingdom even approximates to human language for flexibility,
complexity, precision, productivity and sheer quantity. Humans have learnt to make infinite use
of finite means.

There are a number of other general points that are worth making about language. First,
human language is not only a vocal system of communication. It can be expressed in writing,
with the result that it is not limited in time or space. Secondly, each language is both arbitrary
and systematic. By this we mean that no two languages behave in exactly the same way yet
each language has its own set of rules. Again, a number of examples will clarify this point. The
word for 'water' is 'eau' in French, 'uisce' in Gaelic. There is no intrinsic relationship between any
of these words and the chemical compound H2O which we know as water. The choice of word is
arbitrary, that is non-predictable, but speakers of French and Gaelic regularly and habitually use the
word from their language to refer to H2O. The same is true with regard to sentences. In English, we
say:
 I am hungry,
in French:
 J'ai faim. (literally, I have hunger)

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There is no way in which we could say that one is more 'natural' or more 'appropriate' than either
of the others. Languages are arbitrary in their selection and combination of hems but systematic
in that similar ideas are expressed in similar ways, thus:
English: I am thirsty.
French: J'ai soif. (literally, I have thirst)

And finally, there are no primitive or inferior languages. People may live in the most primitive
conditions but all languages appear to be equally complex and all are absolutely adequate to the
needs of their users. It used to be believed that somewhere in the world would be found a simple
language, a sort of linguistic missing link between animal communication and the language of
technologically advanced societies.

1.2 LANGUAGE AND MEDIUM

A language is an abstraction based on the linguistic behaviour of its users. It is not to be equated
precisely with speech because no speaker has total mastery of the entire system and every speaker is
capable of using the language inadequately through tiredness, illness or inattention. All normal
children of all races learn to speak the language of their community, so speech has often been
seen as the primary medium of language. The abstract system which is language can also be
realised as writing, and although speech and writing have much in common, they are not to be
equated or hierarchically ordered. Many books will claim that speech is 'primary' and this is
true in a number of ways:
a) writing is a relatively recent development in human societies
b) thousands of speech communities rely solely on speech
c) all of us speak a great deal more than we write
d) although we acquire speech without conscious effort, learning to read and write is
usually less spontaneous and less automatic

It is not, however, 'primary* if we interpret 'primary' to mean 'more important*. Speech and
writing are not in competition. They are complementary and both are necessary in a
technologically advanced society. We can sum up the relationship between language and its
mediums in a diagram as shown in Fig. 1:

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FIGURE 1: The relationship between language and its mediums

The diagram indicates that, although speech and writing are in theory distinct, they can and
do influence each other. A simple example of this is that pronunciation is often affected by
spelling. A word like 'often*, for example, is now frequently pronounced with a *t* because of
influence from the written medium.

Consider briefly the main differences between speech and writing, the two main mediums in
which language is realised:
Speech Writing
Composed of sounds Composed of letters/signs
Makes use of intonation, pitch, rhythm, Makes use of punctuation and other
tempo graphological devices like italics Produced
effortlessly – no tools required Produced with effort – tools required
Transitory Relatively permanent
Perceived by the ear Perceived by the eye
Addressee present Addressee absent
Immediate feedback Feedback delayed
Meaning helped by context, body Meaning must be made clear within the context
movement,
Spontaneous Not spontaneous
Associative Logical

Such a list is sufficient to indicate that speech and writing are very different mediums.
Furthermore, they can function independently of each other. We do not have to speak a
language in order to read and write it. Nor does an ability to speak a language give a person
automatic access to writing. Yet there are links between the mediums. Most writing systems are
based on speech. As far as English is concerned, there is a rough equivalence between sounds
and letters. Thus, most people can distinguish three sounds in the composition of the word
that is written 'bat* and a different three in the word that is written 'pen'. The equivalence

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between sounds and letters is not, however, very close in English. We find, for example,
only three sounds in the following words of five letters:
 knead
 rough
In addition, the sounds of these words can be represented in more than one way, so that ‘need’
is pronounced in exactly the same way as 'knead' and 'ruff* sounds exactly the same as
'rough*. Nor are these the only mismatches that occur between English sounds and letters.
The 'ee' sound can be represented in at least six different ways:
 beef
 chief
 deceive
 even
 machine
 meat
and the ‘s’ sound of 'sand' can be represented by both ‘s’ and ‘c’:
 ceiling
 sealing

Most European languages are 'alphabetic', that is, there is a link between sounds and letters, but other
links are possible. In Chinese the link is between a unit of meaning and a character;
down
up
man
word

'Man' and 'word', however, can be combined to make 'honest':

Chinese speakers from different parts of China may pronounce these characters differently but the
written character always has the same meaning. A comparison with European languages may be
helpful here. Although English, French and Gaelic are all alphabetic languages, they have all borrowed
the numerical symbols 1,2,3 ... from Arabic. The English write them ‘one, two, three’, the French ‘un,

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deux, trois' and the Irish 'aon, da, tri’ and each group pronounces them differently. Yet all users
interpret the symbols 1,2,3 ... in the same way.

1.3 THE COMPONENT OF LANGUAGE

When a parrot otters words or phrases in our language, we understand them although it is reasonably
safe to assume that the parrot does not. The parrot may be able to reproduce intelligible units from the
spoken medium but has no awareness of the abstract system behind the medium. Similarly, if we hear
a stream of sounds in a language we do not know, we may recognise by the tone of voice whether the
person is angry or annoyed but the exact meaning eludes as. To have mastery of a language, therefore,
means being able to produce aa infinite number of language patterns which are comprehensible to
other users of the language, and in addition, being able to decipher the infinity of language patterns
produced by other users of the language. It is thus a two-way process involving both production and
reception. As far as speech is concerned, the process involves associating sounds with meaning
and meaning with sounds. With writing, on the other hand, language competence involves
the association of a meaning (and sometimes sounds) with a sign, a visual symbol. Thus, our
study of language will involve us in an appraisal of all of the following levels of language:

When we have examined these levels and the way they interact, we wiil have acquired the
necessary tools to study languages in general (linguistics), the variety in language and the uses
to which people put languages (sociolinguistics), the ways in which people teach and learn
languages (applied linguistics) and the value of the study of language in understanding the
human mind (psycholiaguistics).

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1. Imagine if you wanted to study the use of English by Malaysians. What elements
of obtaining linguistic data would you be concerned with and how?

2. What are the sub-fields of linguistics? Do you think knowledge of these sub-
fields is important especially to your job situation? Why or why not?

SUMMARY

This chapter explains to you about language and linguistics. Apart from that, various
theories of communication and purposes of using language among humankind, is also
discussed. Attempts are made to analyse linguistic competence and language performance,
espoused by Chomsky and his other theories of language.