I am interested in the overarching influence of language in human culture. My Individually Designed Major in linguistics reflects this interest and prepares me for the application of linguistics in the field.
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. According to the Linguistics Society of America, such a study includes the structure of languages and the variance in language systems among other topics (Macaulay and Syrett). My core courses emphasize the history of language, its development, its perception, and my skills in foreign languages.
For example, by studying the history and development of a certain language in The English Language (ENGL 346), the course prepares me for discussion and investigation of my first language. Since English is such a popular second language, a thorough understanding of my first language is essential to success in linguistics and in my future career path. The development of language is the classroom was a common topic in Bilingual Education (EDUC 345), and the course discussed the application of linguistic theories in the field of education.
For the development of my foreign language skills, I focus on two languages during my years at Denison, so I have a diverse but comprehensive knowledge of language. German and Arabic are the primary choices for my in-depth study of language, and these two languages incorporate a knowledge of distinct language families, i.e. Germanic and Seminitic. To support my knowledge in at least one of
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.
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.
The film Linguists is a very unique exploration into the indigenous cultures and the prevalence of their languages. Researchers Gregory and David examine endangered languages in several regions to further understand the different ways the human mind can make sense of the world around it. Linguists covers a diverse range of topics regarding the importance of language to culture, the number of languages that are
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
English syntax makes it a more analytic as opposed to Japanese where word order is not so important as the affixes of words so reordering of a sentence can still have the same meaning even if they sound funny unlike in English where word order is the de facto method of easy communication (Freeman & Freeman, 2014, p. 194). In Finnegan (2015), the sentence: “The farmer saw the wolf” is used to show how word order can explain why syntax is so important in English; English is an SVO language or a language that predetermines where words go in a sentence for the purpose of clear meaning, SVO stands for Subject-Verb-Object, whereas many languages can be SVO or even VOS or VSO, with the knowledge that S, V, and O always stand for Subject, Verb, and Object (Language: its structure and use, p. 57). Latin in the sentence mentioned in the prior sentence would be able to switch the SVO around to almost any order; Spanish is in the language family of Latin and so “The farmer saw the wolf” can be said as “El granjero vio al lobo”, SVO, or “Al lobo el granjero vio”, OSV, or “Vio al lobo, el granjero”, VOS (Finegan, 2015, p. 57).
With his guidance, I discovered that studying a language and its roots is key to understanding how the structure and beliefs of a society change. How we think is expressed through our use of language, and thus to truly connect with other nations we must be able to communicate effectively with people in their own mother tongue. I am confident that this program
It was such a pleasure taking this class. I was always interested in linguistics and wanted to dive deeper into the subject. Linguistics is a very broad topic with a lot of information to cover. While taking this class, the information provided refreshed my mind about many concepts and situations that I experience on a daily basis. It’s easy to wake up and take advantage of the day without acknowledging different uses of language. It’s imperative for everyone to become more aware of how everyone communicates; families, friends, employees, public figures, and even companies. Language is apart of who we are as a human race and it’s beautiful to break down the barriers and learn more about it.
Linguistics: it is the study of language, its structure scientifically with study of phonetics, syntax and semantics all together
The website introduces linguistic terminology such as grammar, morphology, phonology, semantics, and syntax. If this does not sound like much fun, keep going! There are also pages and pages of wordplays, games, puzzles, dictionaries, and even a fun poem about the orthography
Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a
Linguistics has impacted cognitive psychology as the quest to understand language acquisition and the structure of language itself is undertaken. Linguistics is a complex and multifaceted; it includes language structural patterns and language development (Barsalou, 2005). The process of language development is complicated and dense, as the study of language is examined; the role of cognition is inherently examined and analyzed. Sternberg (2006) also explores language as an innate process and presents the idea that humans are born ready for language as a biological and cognitive process.
Starting learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, I was aware of the importance of acquiring and applying a new language in modern lives. When mastering a new language, especially a popular one, we can gradually narrow the gaps between people from many nations. However, how to maximize the effectiveness of language teaching and learning is a simple task. Accordingly, I wish to learn linguistics, the major that has made me understand learners can successfully acquire a new language using scientific and social methods.
language to achieve the best outcomes of learning. Applied linguistics is one of the most
Originally, linguistics was my intended major. Recently, I decided to switch my major to anthropology, and more specifically, the field of linguistic anthropology. For the linguistics major, one of my requirements for transferring to a university was to take a language and culture class. Several of the first lectures focused on the history of linguistics and anthropology. I was introduced to the idea that language, thought, and culture all influence each other. This meant that studying language, when divorced from the concept of culture, creates a myopic view of linguistics. It had never occurred to me that linguistic does not occur in a vacuum and needs to be examined alongside the culture it is associated with. Seeds of change were then sown in my mind. As the class progressed, I found myself growing more interested in the subject as a whole, and so anthropology became my major.