LANGUAGE AS AN OBJECT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS RESEARCH

LANGUAGE AS AN OBJECT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS’ RESEARCH LECTURE 2.

What is language? • To the philosopher, language may be an instrument of thought; • to the sociologist – a form of behaviour; • to the psychologist – a cloudy window through which he glimpses the workings of the mind; •

What is language? • to the logician – it may be a calculus; • to the engineer – a series of physical events; • to the statistician – a selection by choice and chance; • to the linguist – a system of arbitrary signs.

‘Psychic distance’ • All people possess an ‘informal theory of language’. • ‘informal’ means it is not explicit and formalized, not expressed in a strictly logical form. • A linguist has to achieve an objective point of view on language by means of achieving ‘psychic distance’ from language (N. Chomsky). • ‘Psychic distance’ means making statements and assumptions based on objective study, not on intuitive private knowledge.

Language and Linguistics The linguistic approach to language is concerned with : • language as a system, • it aims to elucidate the structure of language; • It classifies linguistic entities • It establishes relations between entities; • It is concerned with the relations between meanings and sounds; • It sets up various levels of linguistic description

Modern Theories of Language • Modern theories of language, unlike those of ancient and medieval times, are more concerned with how language works than with why it exists. • They therefore tend to base their principles on the observation of language and languages.

Modern Theories of Language • The theory will therefore depend on what is observed and how it is observed. • In each field of knowledge concerned with language, there are different and often contrary ways of observing linguistic facts.

Language and Philosophy • In the field of philosophy, some writers regard language as an external expression of universal thought. • Others would reduce all differences in philosophy to differences in the use of language.

Language and Psychology • In the field of psychology, theories of language tend to differ according to both the school of psychology and the branch of psychology practiced – social, educational, or child psychology. • For some psychologists, language is a type of symbolism with many functions; • for others, it is a man-made instrument of communication.

Language and Linguistics • Linguists, whose special field is the study of language, maintain an even greater divergence of theories. • To the linguist, language may be form and not matter. • It may be a system of arbitrary vocal symbols. • It may be a system of systems, a system of hierarchies, or even a hierarchy of systems.

Language and Linguistics • If there are differences within each field, there also points of similarity between theories in different fields, e. g. : • the agreement, for example, of certain linguists, psychologists and philosophers on the non-material nature of language, • admitting the necessity of the implementation of technology into linguistic research.

Two approaches to studying language “Dividing language into words and rules is exclusively the result of the ‘dead’ scientific analysis” (W. Humboldt) • 1) Language as the result of the action (static approach) - Philology • 2) Language as the action itself (dynamic approach) - Linguistics

Language as the result of the action (static approach) • Philology deals with the study of language fixations (language “monuments”). • Philology is closely related to Historical Linguistics. • Philology concentrates on the written fixations of language. • Philology establishes the ‘normativity approach ‘ to language study.

Language as the action itself (dynamic approach) • Language activity is studied by Psychology (Speech Activity, Verbal Behaviour). • Dynamic approach to Linguistics defines it as the study of human communicative behaviour, treating language as the primary means of communication. • New perspective: MAN – LANGUAGE – MACHINE

Language and Applied Linguistics An applied theory may consider language from three different points of view. It may be interested in (1)how the language sounds or looks (language as a state), (2)how it works (language as an activity), (3) how it develops (language as change).

Language as a state • If it is interested in how the language sounds or looks, theory will include something on language considered as a fixed state—either (1) as a state dependent on what people think and do, or (2) as one which is independent of this. • 1. Dependently, language may be considered as: • a)human thought • b) human behaviour. • 2. Independently language may be viewed as: • a) structure, • b) a system of communication.

Language as activity • It is concerned with the way language operates or is operated by man. • From this point of view, language may be considered as • (1) an activity of the mind, • (2) an activity of the brain.

Language as change • Language is regarded as something which is continually changing • (1) in time, when a theory may cover variations in language over a period of time, either (a) in the individual, or (b) in the society in which the language has been used. • (2) in space, studying the variations in space of a single language in the present or of a group of languages traceable to a common ancestor. The first of these disciplines is known as area linguistics, the second as comparative linguistics.