Schools of Linguistics

Linguistics as the science of language

Linguistics as a scientific Study of Language
1- It may not be very difficult to define what linguistics exactly means, but definitely, the task of
specifying/identifying what it is briefly is not an easy task. Actually, we run into the same problem
whenever we are in a situation of defining some science or even a course of action such as to kill[1]
. The same problem is encountered in all scientific fields.
2- Linguists have agreed that language assumes three basic functions. A cognitive function in
communicating ideas, an affective one in conveying emotions, and an affective one in conveying
desires
4- The basic units of grammatical study are those sounds or sound sequences that are meaningful in
the language.
Some characteristics of the linguistic study of language
Ever since the advent of structuralism with De Saussure, linguistic study of language has been
characterized by two properties.
a-

Linguistics is a scientific study

This stands for the most bold and important claim made by linguists. Linguists claim that they are
using means and methods that qualify their study of language to being referred to as scientific. They
see their approach as being empirical, methodical, exact and, consequently, objective. These
characteristics are what distinguish scientific study of language from unscientific and / or
nonscientific ones.
An unscientific study would be defined as the one which does not use a method in a consistent way.
This inconsistency makes of its results / findings unpredictable and as such not verifiable by others
working in the same field. The nonscientific study would be one with a method but where empirical
evidence is not required. In addition, its findings may be verified by others since the study would be
using a method.
b-

Linguistics is descriptive

Modern study of language (read post-Saussurian study) qualifies as being different from the
traditional ways of studying language in that it is a scientific study, primarily a descriptivist analysis
of language. Traditional studies have been in their large part prescriptivist. Prescriptivist studies
focus on differentiating correct usage from the incorrect one. Descriptivist studies, on the opposite,
focus on reporting what native speakers of language say, just as they hear it. The scientific study of
language claims that there is nothing in the sounds themselves that would qualify them as right or
wrong.
Characteristics of language:

To be able to carry out an accurate description of language, linguists have found it useful to delimit a
set of basic characteristics that distinguish language. In what follows, we introduce ten of these
characteristics that have gathered the consent of many linguists.
Language is sound: speech has primacy over writing which tries to represent speech. Taking
language to be primarily speech, the linguist makes room for taking advantage of the fact that all
human beings produce speech sounds with essentially the same equipment if we can say so. Once
this is accepted, then an accurate description of the speech sounds produced by humans is made
possible through accounting for the movement of the articulatory organs that produce them.
Language is linear: It is a linear succession of sounds which are produced through successive
movements of the speech organs. Our representation of these sounds should, through the use of
appropriate symbols, be linear to parallel the order in which those sounds are produced.
Language is systematic: In part, language is systematic because it is possible to describe it using a
finite number of symbols that can combine only in a limited number of ways. The possible
combinations of linearity and systematic restrictions of combinations provide us with a convenient
tool to describe and compare languages be it at the sound system level or the syntactic system level.
Language is a system of systems: languages have different systems (phonological, morphological,
syntactic, semantic) which are independent of each other but which have this ability of operating
simultaneously. Each of these systems has its own units and combinatory rules and restrictions.
Language is meaningful: the fact that sounds are connected with every facet of human life and
communication is the reason that gives rise to the interest in its study by linguists, scholars and
others.
Language is arbitrary: only one language would exit if there were to be a direct relation between
the nature of the thing being referred to and the linguistic unit used to express it. Arbitrariness is the
cause for the existence of more than one language. Onomatopoeic words are not to be considered as
counterexamples of the above claim.
Language is conventional: people use language according to fixed analogical rules. One
consequence of this characteristic is that linguists are confident that description of one representative
speaker is applicable to the speech habits of others in the same speech community.
Language is a system of contrasts: Linguists find it interesting to subject language to study
because of the variety of differences that this system offers at the various levels of linguistic analysis.
Just how these differences are made is not considered to be of importance to the linguist.
Language is creative: Speakers of a language are credited with the ability to produce novel
sentence and to understand sentences they are hearing for the first time ever. The creativity of
language can also be seen in the imaginative manipulations of the various linguistic systems by poets
and creative writers and how these extend our awareness about the relations holding among things.
Languages are unique Any two languages may differ in a lot of things, the possible combinations
of sounds that they accept in different positions, the number of parts of speech that they have, etc.
And this is what makes languages unique and we learn new things whenever we embark on learning
a foreign language.

Languages are similar Even though, learning a foreign language could be acknowledged as a
difficult task, it is made easier by those similarities that languages are claimed to have. Similarity is
also apparent when we talk of language families, the Romance group, the Germanic group, the
Semitic group, etc,.
Some Characteristics of Linguistic analysis
1
A basic characteristic of language study / analysis is that all the units of language are stated in
terms of sounds or sound differences. Since all language is meaningful, all the units are established
according to the meanings or meaning differences that they point to/express. Another property is that
given the arbitrary nature of language, the relation holding between sound and meaning will be
indirect.
2
Language study focuses on the study of the patterns of sounds and the sequences of sounds in
any given language. Such a focus makes of this study a formal one. It is also a study that is referred
to as a structural study. This is so since it makes of the contrasts among units and patterns of units
another of its primary focuses. Thus, each linguistic unit is definable in terms of three
characteristics: composition, distribution and function.
3
The composition of linguistic units. This will help us define the unit through listing its
component parts in such a way that we can distinguish it from others that may have fewer or more
components. Hence, sounds are defined in terms of the place and manner of their articulation. Larger
units are described in terms of the morphemes/words making them up, etc.
4
The distribution of linguistic units: linguistic units are defined in terms of their distribution
in relation to each other (Syntagmatic relations, i.e., what occurs with what, when and how, to be
contrasted with Paradigmatic relations holding between items of the class). Under this heading, we
talk about the linguistic environment where a linguistic unit in a given shape occurs.
5
The function of linguistic units: Here reference is made to the use of the units. That is what
they do. Every linguistic unit will have at least a differential function. It will provide us with a clue
to differentiate one message from another: e.g. the sound /p/ in /pit/ as opposed to the sound /b/ in
/bit/. In addition to this differential function, linguistic units will have a referential function. By this
is meant that there will be among users of the language an agreement over a conventional connection
between the units and some aspect of the non-linguistic environment. E.g. naming.
6
Linguists analyse both the sounds and the sounds sequences that make up language. They also
study the messages about the non-linguistic environment being conveyed by these sounds. Any
linguist focusing on the formal properties cannot ignore the content side of language.