Importance And Importance Of Linguistics

Language is an object that is central to human lives as it is perhaps the most significant cultural tool that separates humans from any other species (Evans, 2014). As language is multimodal, it is often described as a combination of words, sounds, gestures and images created by the mind, used in context with the assistance of objects, actions and interactions (Gee & Hayes, p. 7, 2011). The topics discussed in this essay will demonstrate the importance of language as both an object and as a social process, as a teacher’s approach to diversity in the classroom can be either damaging to a student’s educational experience or uplifting and positive.

Firstly, historical linguistics deals with the arrival of language and how languages have altered and diverged overtime (Nzozo, 2013). Secondly, descriptive linguistic studies the sounds (phones) sound systems, grammar, syntax, and the meaning that are attached to words in specific languages (Nzozo, 2013). One might also describe it as an analytic and descriptive branch of how language was used in the past by a collective of people. Thirdly, ethno linguistic inspects the relationship between culture and language and how the two interact and influence each other (Nzozo, 2013). In addition, one could say it is the way different ethnic groups view the world and it is the mixture of ethnology and linguistics. Lastly, Sociolinguistics search relationships between language and social relations for example, a social linguist might want to study how one’s social standing affects his or her language usage (Nzozo,

Human beings and non-human beings communicate with each other with a code like system known as language. Language has 4 macro-functions to perform, i.e. ideational, interpersonal, textual and poetic. The systematic study of these functions and the understanding of the way the language is acquired and used in spoken and written text is known as Linguistics. Linguistics focuses mainly on the sound, syntactic and meaning level of a language under the names of Phonetics, Syntax and semantics/ Pragmatics as the core of Linguistics. Further, it is related to every field of life. Linguist started working on these fields of Linguistics and tried to implement them in the life. This became to be known as Applied Linguistics but in the beginning, it was more like Linguistics Applied, i.e. application of Linguistics.

Linguistic: the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics.

Linguistics has been broken down into several sub-categories including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Phonology – use of sounds and how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.

Vowels and Consonants are two special qualities of sounds, which are present in every languages of world (Ladefoged, 2001). If one needs to speak English with proper pronunciation so one needs to learn phonetics.

At the beginning of the semester, I thought that linguistics was more so limited to the pronunciations of words and how they were constructed. Throughout the class I learned that linguistics is the students of language as a whole. Linguistics is also about how we perceive and detect

Context is also significant in determining what type of language is appropriate in a specific setting. Consider how an individual’s language changes according to the social environment. An example of this is the difference between how someone might speak to a friend over coffee and how they speak during a job interview. To put this in an educational setting, how an early childhood educator would speak to their students, opposed to the language used by a high school educator. Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff and Pollock (2010) noted that there are multiple versions of language within the English language (p. 50). Each profession develops a jargon specific to their field. This is known as ‘discourse’, described by Flowerdew (2012) as “language in its context of use.” (p. 1). Understanding the discourse specific to a field of interest enables an individual to interact and participate within that setting (Flowerdew, 2012, p. 1). For example, the education profession uses a discourse which includes terms such as pedagogy, curriculum, and syllabus. When interacting professionally within an education Discourse, it is expected that these terms are understood in context.

Phonics is a branch of linguistics where the sounds and physical properties of human speech

For this assessment I have been required to compare English with another language. I have decided to choose Mandarin as my language of choice. A major elements of languages will be compared in this essay. That being phonology. Phonology is defined as being “the study of the way speech sounds form patterns”.(Victoria Fromkin 2009). As (Hammond 1999) describes, every spoken language has a unique system whereby sounds are organised. This unique pattern of pattern can be termed phonology and varies widely in geographical and social differences.

Linguistics is the scientific study of the language and semantics is a branch of linguistics that deals with meanings, meaning of words alone and words in phrases. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotation. The word semantics came from the Greek word Semantikos which means to show or give sign. Semantics refers to the meaning and interpretation of words, signs in language without context, it may refer to the whole text or one single word. For example, “residence” and “house” “destination” and last stop basically mean the same things, but the study of semantics distinguishes the refined difference between the two.

Linguists study language because they are concerned about the amount of languages disappearing. In the video it states, “One language is lost per two weeks.” When a language dies, some kind of unique world could be lost. Gregory and David are visiting places that are most in need. These places tend to be smaller in population. Younger children are typically the ones to stop speaking the indigenous language. I believe since they’re language is not as popular and most these languages don’t have a written form, it would be easier to learn a different language for learning purposes. Maybe schools are the ones who don’t teach these indigenous languages to them.

Linguistic learning “involves knowledge of language; through reading, writing, and speaking. involves understanding the order and meaning of words in both speech and writing and how to properly use the language. It also involves understanding the socio-cultural nuances of a language, including idioms, play on words, and linguistically-based humor”.

Language can be analysed as an item or material object and by doing so we can identify that language is made up of words and a series of rules to help us form sentences. However, if language is only viewed as a material object and not a social process, language becomes purely vocabulary and learning grammatical rules. In this case, language would be “fixed and finite” and wouldn’t “explore the complexities involved in using language for communication” (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009, p. 16). The main function of language is to help us communicate with one another in a clear and concise manner. Language appears on advertisements, books, online in chat rooms or social media, speeches, recordings from the past and it is always in our minds; all day, every day. Language is systematic, indicating that it is governed by a set of rules to make meaning out of words, phrases and sentences. However, language is also shaped by the social context, which is greatly influenced by the relationship of the speakers (Gardner, 2017a, s. 13). According to Chomsky (2006, pp. 99-100), we all have an innate language makeup which begins to develop language structure in utero. This is demonstrated through all of us having been exposed to various experiences and training, however, still acquiring grammar that is extremely similar. Australia is very culturally diverse and because of this, teachers may find that some students may experience difficulties with their language development due to their