There are 3 core areas in linguistics - Syntax, Phonetics and Phonology (Sounds), Semantics and Pragmatics (Meanings). I will briefly talk about each area below:
One important thing to note is linguistics studies the phenomena of languages. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' grammar in a linguist's perspective. We are interested in what makes a sentence more acceptable to some and why. We try to look for a universal pattern across languages in terms of linguistic units.
In Syntax, we follow a binary branching rule instead of analysing a sentence linearly. That being said, each sentence can be broken down into a binary tree structure which we call syntax trees. It looks like a tree diagram that you will draw for your statistic class. See below a poster I made showing a Syntax tree!
Do you remember finding odd symbols beside a word in a dictionary? Well, we learn all those symbols! They are called IPA (International Phonetic Alphabets) which is a system that represents every sound in spoken languages. SO technically you can write every language in the world with IPA! We also analyse sound waves using a program called Praat in order to transcribe speech.
While Phonetics look at the sounds itself, Phonology looks at the rules that govern these sounds in human language. We study the relationship between different sounds and how they combine to form words. This includes investigating stress patterns and tones.
For example, you might realise some combination of consonants are disallowed in English, for example, you cannot start a word with /tn/ or /lk/ or /bp/. This is called phonotactic constraints. It might seem obvious to you that we cannot start a word with /bp/ because we cannot pronounce it but there are actually explanations behind what is happening.
Imagine mathematics and language combined, can't imagine that? Well, that is Semantics. In Semantics, we try to encoded the meaning in each word by using symbols and formulas.
We are also concerned with logic and truth values of each word and sentence.
Here is an example of semantic derivation for the sentence 'Every man loves a woman.' from a research paper (Don't ask me why they chose this sentence)
Can't understand? It's ok me too.
Semantics focuses on truth values while Pragmatics focuses on the underlying meaning i.e. What is the speaker actually trying to communicate?
A classic example given below:
A: Do you wanna go for a movie tonight?
B: I have many work to do.
B did not explicitly rejected the offer but she is implying it. How do A know that B is saying no when B did not say it? Pragmatics aim to answer these questions.
It also looks at rhetorical devices such as metaphor, irony, hyperbole and metonymy and study how humans are able to work out the meaning behind what is said.
Linguistics are also often combined with other fields such as sociolinguistics (how sociology factors affects a person's speech), neurolinguistics (which parts of the brain are responsible for language), psycholinguistics (how do we acquire language), computational linguistics (speech-to-text, auto translation etc.) and clinical linguistics (speech therapy). After all, language is everywhere in our lives.
Hopefully this article helps explain that linguistics is not about learning a language...
I actually think that linguistics is a very interesting subject and hopefully more people can learn about it. Thank you for reading and till next time!
by the way... check out this album by UCL LingSoc that provides a mini introduction to each linguistic area: Introduction to Linguistics
1. Syntax
Syntax concerns about the structures of sentences. It breaks down a sentence into several parts which we call phrases, e.g. noun phrase (NP), verb phrase(VP) etc. Each phrase has a head, e.g. the head of a noun phrase is a noun. With these phrases we are able to build sentences.One important thing to note is linguistics studies the phenomena of languages. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' grammar in a linguist's perspective. We are interested in what makes a sentence more acceptable to some and why. We try to look for a universal pattern across languages in terms of linguistic units.
In Syntax, we follow a binary branching rule instead of analysing a sentence linearly. That being said, each sentence can be broken down into a binary tree structure which we call syntax trees. It looks like a tree diagram that you will draw for your statistic class. See below a poster I made showing a Syntax tree!
2. Sounds
Phonetics and Phonology are the linguistic areas that concerned about sounds. In Phonetics, we learn about the different sounds of languages in the world. |
| One of my favourite linguist llama meme |
While Phonetics look at the sounds itself, Phonology looks at the rules that govern these sounds in human language. We study the relationship between different sounds and how they combine to form words. This includes investigating stress patterns and tones.
For example, you might realise some combination of consonants are disallowed in English, for example, you cannot start a word with /tn/ or /lk/ or /bp/. This is called phonotactic constraints. It might seem obvious to you that we cannot start a word with /bp/ because we cannot pronounce it but there are actually explanations behind what is happening.
 |
| A very good meme by Grice's Maxmemes |
3. Meanings
The linguistic areas that are associated with meanings are Semantics and Pragmatics.Imagine mathematics and language combined, can't imagine that? Well, that is Semantics. In Semantics, we try to encoded the meaning in each word by using symbols and formulas.
We are also concerned with logic and truth values of each word and sentence.
Here is an example of semantic derivation for the sentence 'Every man loves a woman.' from a research paper (Don't ask me why they chose this sentence)
 |
| Taken from Koller, A. (2012). Semantic research in computational linguistics. |
Can't understand? It's ok me too.
Semantics focuses on truth values while Pragmatics focuses on the underlying meaning i.e. What is the speaker actually trying to communicate?
A classic example given below:
A: Do you wanna go for a movie tonight?
B: I have many work to do.
B did not explicitly rejected the offer but she is implying it. How do A know that B is saying no when B did not say it? Pragmatics aim to answer these questions.
It also looks at rhetorical devices such as metaphor, irony, hyperbole and metonymy and study how humans are able to work out the meaning behind what is said.
 |
| A comic found on the web which shows the use of pragmatics |
Linguistics are also often combined with other fields such as sociolinguistics (how sociology factors affects a person's speech), neurolinguistics (which parts of the brain are responsible for language), psycholinguistics (how do we acquire language), computational linguistics (speech-to-text, auto translation etc.) and clinical linguistics (speech therapy). After all, language is everywhere in our lives.
Hopefully this article helps explain that linguistics is not about learning a language...
I actually think that linguistics is a very interesting subject and hopefully more people can learn about it. Thank you for reading and till next time!
by the way... check out this album by UCL LingSoc that provides a mini introduction to each linguistic area: Introduction to Linguistics
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