Linguistics

[il_bilge]

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It endeavours to answer the question--what is language and how is represented in the mind? Linguists focus on describing and explaining language and are not concerned with the prescriptive rules of the language (ie., do not split infinitives). Linguists are not required to know many languages and linguists are not interpreters.

The underlying goal of the linguist is to try to discover the universals concerning language. That is, what are the common elements of all languages. The linguist then tries to place these elements in a theoretical framework that will describe all languages and also predict what can not occur in a language.

Linguistics is a social science that shares common ground with other social sciences such as psychology, anthropology, sociology and archaeology. It also may influence other disciplines such as English, communication studies and computer science.

Linguistics for the most part though can be considered a cognitive science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer science (AI), linguistics is ultimately concerned with how the human brain functions.

Read more: Introduction to Linguistics

[il_bilge]

As I am a linguist I'd really like to learn your ideas, opinions, contributions to this subject. How much do you know about linguistics or subsystems of linguistics?

Most important thing is linguistics: We have two types.

1. Theoretical Linguistics
2. Applied Linguistics

My field is Applied Linguistics. While Theoretical (or General) Linguistics tries to systematically describe language by exploring its structure, or grammar, and its meanings, or semantics, we put linguistic theories into practice in areas such as foreign language teaching, speech teraphy, translation and speech pathology.

My main interest is in Neurolinguistics.

I do not want to give complex and sophisticated descriptions or definitions so I'll make a quotation instead:

Neurolinguistics is the science concerned with the human brain mechanisms underlying the comprehension, production, and abstract knowledge of language, be it spoken, signed or written.

By its nature an interdisciplinary endeavor, this field straddles the borders between linguistics, neurobiology and computer science, among others. Researchers are drawn to it from a variety of backgrounds, bringing along a variety of experimental techniques as well as widely differing theoretical perspectives.

Historically, the term neurolinguistics has been most closely associated with aphasiology, the study of linguistics deficits, and spared abilities, resulting from specific forms of brain damage.

Note: The quotation is from Wikipedia.

[Godfather]

Thanks for sharing.

[lalla]

Do you will have more information about a cognitive science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer science and sociaty is how the human brain functions working read mor in these link http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Paper/Enges...anding/toc.htm

[Avsaroglu]

Linguistics is the study of language as a cognitive ability. The main questions linguists are interested in are- How do people understand speech sounds? How is language processed in the brain? How do children learn language? How and why does language change over time?

All linguists are exposed to data from a number of languages, but may only be able to speak their own native language proficiently. In the real world, linguists speak about 2-4 languages proficiently and are well-acquainted data from about 5-15 languages depending on experience and interests.

Linguists specialize in different components of language. Altough some linguists perform psychological studies, many study texts or ask for native speaker judgments to collect their data. Some subgroups include:

1- Phonology/Phonetics-The study of speech sounds
2- Morphology-The study of word structure
3- Syntax-The study of how words are put together to create sentences and phrases
4- Semantics/Pragmatics-How meaning is structured and communicated via language
5- Historical Linguists-How language changes over
6- Language Acquisition-How childreng instictively acquire the ability to use language
7- Applied Linguists-How to effectively teach adults and teens a second language
8- Computational- Studying artificial intelligence & cognitive models of language
9- Sign Language Studies-How sing language has similar and distinct properties from spoken language
10- Sociolinguistics- How languages & dialects from different socio-economic groups interact and change

This is a quotation from a book.

It seems that I and Il_Bilge used the same sorce for this subject. If you (Il_Bilge) have such a useful sorces, could you please share them with me. I am studying at enlgish teaching class and have the Linguistics class. From now on, I thank for your help. If the other users have some useful materials about this subject, I am waiting for your help. See you!

[silef]

Along with how humans acquiere language, linguistics also tries to understand the natureof language. Today, the latest theory in the field of linguistics is "Chomsky" theory. He says that there are some rules which are shared by all human languages spoken all over the world from the commonest ones to the ones who are now dead or spoken by only a few number of people such as those spoken by African tribes. Furthermore, Chomsky states that, the shared features of languages constitute "universal grammar". And according to universal grammar theory, we are all born with an innate capacity to acquire the language of whose input we get.

I know I have many insufficient points but if you are interested, you can visit those pages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_grammar

See you!