HI SHIVAJI UNIVERSITY, KOLHAPUR CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION M. A. Part-I : English Semester-I : Paper C-3 Introduction to Modern Linguistics Semester-II : Paper C-5 Fiction in English : Modern and Post Modern Fiction (Academic Year 2018-19 onwards) KJ UNIT - 1 NATURE, SCOPE AND BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS 1.1 Introduction Language is the quickest tool of communication used by human beings. It comes to most of the human beings quite naturally and effortlessly though it is not instinctive. It is not instinctive because it does not come by birth. It is acquired by humans in the initial stages of their physical and mental development. It can be acquired at any stage of development but it needs special efforts on the part of the learner except in case of the language in practice around them. Languages change from place to place. If it is a continuous continental place, the changes are identifiable but if the locations are totally different, the languages may be totally disconnected. Linguists all over the world have identified more than six thousand languages. This makes the study of language more enigmatic and attracts special attention of the scholars. 1.2 Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to 1) understand the nature of human language. 2) know characteristics of human language. 3) understand the branch known as linguistics. 1 4) understand the nature of linguistic enquiry. 5) know the areas of linguistic enquiry. 6) understand the scope of linguistics. 7) know different branches of linguistics. Subject Matter I 1.3. What is Linguistics? Linguistics has been an area of interest among philosophers and logicians since antiquity. The nature of language and variety of its uses by individuals has always attracted experts from different fields such as education, sociology, anthropology, language teaching, psychology and philosophy. It is probably because all these have language as their base. This fascination led some of the interested souls to undertake the study of language which ultimately became ‘Linguistics’. Let’s begin with some definitions of linguistics. a) ‘Linguistics observes language in action as a means for determining how language has developed, how it functions today, and how it is currently evolving'. (G. Duffy) b) Linguistics is concerned with the nature of human language, how it is learned and what role it plays in the life of the individual and the community.’ (S. Pit Corder) 2 c) ‘Linguistics tries to answer two basic questions: What is Language? How does language work?’ (Jean Aitchison) d) ‘The scientific study of human language is called linguistics’. (Victoria A. Fromkin) Most of the definitions here focus on two issues: the first is language and the second is scientific study. There are two words used ‘scientific’ and ‘language’. Both the words have different contextual connotations. Any study has to be ‘scientific’ i.e. it should have certain methodology for collection and analysis of data apart from following certain procedures. Secondly, the object of study in linguistics is ‘language’. If language is the object of study, it is necessary to know some basics of language. (The word ‘language’ here is used without any article as there are many languages in the world but the science that studies them remains the same though languages changes.) Let’s try to understand the nature of language. The study of linguistics must begin with the understanding of language and its characteristics. Let’s try to understand the nature of human language. 1.3.1 Nature of Human Language There are several ways in which human beings communicate. They communicate through pictures, symbols, body movements, facial expressions, gestures, actions, etc. All these are means of communication. Language is also a way of communication. It makes use of words. Hence, it is a verbal communication system. It is a memory-based phenomenon as the speakers of language have to remember words and use them as and when required. 3 Language is a common human phenomenon. Hence, literary critics, linguists, philosophers, psychologists and many others have been interested in language. A few of them have tried to define language in their own ways. Following are some definitions of language. ‘Speech is the representation of the experience of the mind.’- Aristotle ‘Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotion and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.’- Edward Sapir: Language. ‘Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech sounds combined into words.’- Henry Sweet ‘A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols, by means of which a social group co-operates.’- Bloch and Trager: Outline of Linguistic Analysis. ‘The totality of the utterances that can be made in a speech community is the language of that speech community.’- Edward Bloom: Language. ‘Language is human… a verbal systematic symbolism… a means of transmitting information… a form of social behaviour… [with a] high degree of convention.’ J. Whatmough: Language. ‘A language [is a] symbol system… based on pure or arbitrary convention…infinitely extendable and modifiable according to the changing needs and conditions of the speakers.’ R. H. Robins: General Linguistics 4 ‘Human languages are unlimited… and unlimited set of discrete signals… have great structural complexity… structure on at least two levels… are open-ended… allow for the transmission of information.’ R. W. Langacker: Language and its Structure. ‘When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call “human essence”, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.’ Noam Chomsky: Language and Mind. (This list of definitions of language is reproduced. Source: Verma, S.K. & N. Krishnaswamy, Modern Linguistics: an Introduction, OUP, New Delhi. 27th impression, 2015. Print.) 1.3.2 General Features of Human Language Each definition provides us one or more features of human language. Following is a list of general features of human language extracted from the above definitions. a) Language is a means of communication. Speakers of a particular language express their ideas, opinions and feelings in the language. they express themselves precisely in that language. b) Basically language is vocal. It makes use of sounds. c) It is a non-instinctive phenomenon. It comes to us through conventions. It is transmitted from one generation to the next and to the next. Thus, some conventions are added to it and some are removed from it as per the needs of communication. 5 d) It is symbolic as it makes use of symbols that are potentially meaningful. However, it is further realised that meanings are assigned to these symbols by human mind. e) It is a social phenomenon. We learn and use language in society. f) Language is specially a human phenomenon. Other animals have different systems of communication. g) It is arbitrary in the sense that we cannot logically answer questions ‘why’ and ‘how’ for every aspect of language. h) Language is structurally complex. The length of the sentence may be short or long as per requirement of data to be communicated. i) Language is an open-ended communicative system. Words can be added or removed from the language. It is modifiable as we see differences in spellings of the same words in different historical period. 1.3.3 Languages in Contact At present more than six thousand languages are spoken all over the world. Each language differs from all other languages in some linguistic aspect. In a very conventional expression in India, it is said that a language changes at a distance of around fifty kilometres. It can be easily noticed that there is change sometimes in tone, sometimes in intonation pattern, some words are added, some words are different, and so on. Some type of change is noticed. All languages show some noticeable difference when they come in contact with other languages. 6 a) Bilingualism/ Multilingualism: In the limited geographical boundaries, generally people are monolingual i.e. they speak only one language. When speakers of two or more languages come in contact with each other, people try to learn languages of other people. People become bilingual if they learn two languages i.e. they learn one more language other than their first language or mother tongue. If they come in contact with more than two language, they become multilingual. b) New Language Formation: When two languages come in contact with each other, the speakers come at unconscious consensus of using certain words and structures for effective communication. These structures and words are easy and are used repeatedly. This is a new marginal language called ‘pidgin’. When pidgin acquires a community of speakers, it becomes a ‘creole’. c) Diglossia: It is a result of two forms of the same language. For example formal and informal Marathi spoken in different parts of Maharashtra. Formal Marathi that we learnt in schools and colleges differs from the Marathi we speak at home. The differences are both at the level of structures and vocabulary. Many a times we notice that some members of our family do not understand some formal terms and sometimes we do not understand some used by some elderly person. However, we are able to cope up with both the situations and we do not mix them. d) Code Switching/ Code Mixing: While speaking, we use words or sentences from other language which is very common these days. When we switch between two languages, it is called code switching. 7 Here, we use one language for a while and suddenly start using other language. After some time again we use the first language and so on. This is called code switching. On the other hand, while speaking in Marathi, we use several English and Hindi words.