Introduction to the study of

English

Winter semester 2012/2013

 Introduction to the study of English

CLUSTERS

1 LANGUAGE AND THE WORLD: Language families

2 ABOUT LANGUAGE
3 LINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINES
4 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM – Linguistic disciplines: Sub-sentential level
5 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM – Linguistic disciplines: Sentential level
6 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM - Linguistic disciplines: Supra-sentential level
7 HISTORY OF ENGLISH
8 ENGLISH AND CULTURE

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

3.1. What is linguistics?

• Linguistics as “the scientific study of language” (Lyons, 1968: 1) was

founded at the end of the 19th century.

• Linguistics is often defined as “a system of human communication”

(Richards, 2002: 312).

• The first subfield of linguistics is the study of language structure, or

grammar. Grammar focuses on the system of rules followed by the
users of language, and includes:

- Phonetics
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Semantics (Pragmatics)
State University of Novi Pazar
 Introduction to the study of English

3.2. What is synchronic linguistics?

• Linguistics can be synchronic and diachronic (historical linguistics).

This was introduced by Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in Course
in General Linguistics (1916).

• Synchronic linguistics is the study of a language system at one

particular point in time. For example, if we deal with the sound system
of modern British English, that would be within the scope of synchronic
linguistics (see Bugarski, 1986).

• The time studied may be either the present or a particular point in the
past; synchronic analyses can also be made of dead languages, such as
Latin.

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

3.3. What is diachronic linguistics?

• Diachronic linguistics (historical linguistics) is an approach to

linguistics which studies how a language changes over time.

• It is concerned with the study of phonological, grammatical, and

semantic changes, the reconstruction of earlier stages of languages, and
the discovery and application of the methods by which genetic
relationships among languages can be demonstrated.

• For example, we could deal with the change in the sound system of
English from Old English to Modern British English, and that would be
within this discipline.

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

3.4. What is philology?

• Philology is “a branch of linguistics which studies language change

and language relationships. By comparing earlier or later forms of a
language and by comparing different languages, it has been possible to
show that certain languages are related, e.g. the Indo-European
languages” (Richards, 2002: 93).

Activity:

a) What do you know about the Indo-European languages?

b) Does this family include all the European languages?

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

3.4. What is philology?

Activity:

a) The Indo-European languages represent the most widely spoken

family of languages in the world, about 1.6 billion of people speak them.
The oldest language within this family is Proto Indo-European.

• The next one on the historical line is Sanskrit, then Ancient Greek
followed by Latin, etc.

b) Most European languages belong to this family, including English and

Serbian, but Finnish and Hungarian do not. They belong to the Ugric
branch of the Finno-Ugric languages.

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

3.5. What is comparative philology or historical linguistics or

comparative, historical linguistics?

• Historical linguistics is the study of linguistic change over time in

language or in a particular language or language family, sometimes
including the reconstruction of unattested forms of earlier stages of a
language. It is also called philology.

State University of Novi Pazar

 Introduction to the study of English

CLUSTERS

1 LANGUAGE AND THE WORLD: Language families

2 ABOUT LANGUAGE
3 LINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINES
4 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM – Linguistic disciplines: Sub-sentential level
5 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM – Linguistic disciplines: Sentential level
6 LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM - Linguistic disciplines: Supra-sentential level
7 HISTORY OF ENGLISH
8 ENGLISH AND CULTURE

State University of Novi Pazar

Introduction to the study of
English
Winter semester 2012/2013

Dr Admir Gorčević
Dr Slobodanka Kitić