1.8 Macrolinguistics
Macrolinguistics is the study of language in all aspects, distinct from microlinguistics, which dealt solely with the formal aspect of language system. 1.8.1 Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example. 1.8.2 Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is a term which covers a variety of different interests in language and society, including the language and the social characteristics of its users. 1.8.3 Anthropological linguistics,
Anthropological linguistics studies the relationship between language and culture in a community. 1.8.4 Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language.
1.9 Important distinctions in linguistics 1.9.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptive
To say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that
the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness.
Prescriptive linguistics aims to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all.
For example, “Don’t say X.” is a prescriptive command; “People don’t say X.” is a descriptive statement. The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. In the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. However, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because the nature of linguistics as a science determines its preoccupation with description instead of prescription. 1.9.2 Synchronic vs. diachronic
A synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussure’s diachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E.g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time would be synchronic, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic
study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. 1.9.3 Langue & parole
Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics. 1.9.4 Competence and performance
According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance. Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence
is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to, Saussure’s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions of a community, while competence is deemed as a property of mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.
Chapter 2 Speech Sounds
2.1 Speech production and perception
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. It includes three main areas:
1. Articulatory phonetics – the study of the production of speech sounds
2. Acoustic phonetics – the study of the physical properties of the sounds produced in speech
3. Auditory phonetics – the study of perception of speech sounds
Most phoneticians are interested in articulatory phonetics.
2.2 Speech organs
Speech organs are those parts of the human body involved in the production of speech. The speech organs can be considered as consisting of three parts: the initiator of the air stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities. 2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2.3.1 Segments and divergences
As there are more sounds in English than its letters, each letter must represent more than one sound. 2.3.2 Phonetic transcription
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): the system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in any language according to the principles of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols consists of letters and diacritics. Some letters are taken from the Roman alphabet, some are special symbols. 2.4.2 Consonants
The categories of consonant are established on the basis of