The Scope of Linguistics

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The Scope of Linguistics

• linguistics is abstract
• explanation depends on some dissociation from the
  immediacy of experience

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The Scope of Linguistics

• linguistics uses the abstracting potential of
  language
• to categorize and
• to explain language itself

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to abstract

• dictionary 1
• to separate (as an idea) by the operation of the
  mind, esp.
• consider (as a quality or attribute) apart from
  any application to a particular object or
  instance
• abstract the notion of dimension from that of
  space

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to abstract

• dictionary 2
• conceptualize something to develop a line of
  thought from a concrete reality to a general
  principle or an intellectual idea
• derivatives
• abstraction
• abstracting

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to idealize

• ignore any imperfections that exist or may exist
  in reality

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context

• The things one sees and touches, Socrates
  maintained, are imperfect realizations of the
  pure (ideal) forms studied in mathematics and
  philosophy.
• Accordingly, only the abstract reasoning of these
  disciplines yields genuine knowledge, whereas
  reliance on sense perception produces vague and
  inconsistent opinions.

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two languages

• there is a language
• and its description
• in the same language
• these are two languages
• the language1 that is described
• the language2 that is used to describe language1

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two languages

• instead of talking
• about language1 and language2
• it is more conveniant to say
• object language
• meta-language
• where do we find meta-language?
• in grammars
• in dictionaries

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Objects and maps
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Objects and their descriptions

• Models and maps
• a model
• an idealized version of reality
• models may not be similar to the described
  objects
• model construction
• abstraction involves the idealization of actual
  data

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Linguistics and models

• Purpose of linguistics
• to provide models of language

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Maps and linguistic models

• Maps can be drawn in many styles, each showing
  different faces of the same subject
• there are different grammars and dictionaries
• No map is perfect
• no grammar is exhaustive
• Maps become outdated
• so do grammars
• Maps are biased
• maps do not show every single feature of a chosen
  geographic area
• so are grammars

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Dimensions of idealization

• why linguists idealize their data?
• everybodys language is different and variable
• how then is it possible to study it?
• they have to assume that certain things are the
  same
• certain things have to be the same if people are
  to communicate successfully

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idealization

• it is important to realize that
• the closer the linguist is to reality (in his/her
  idealization)
• the more varied language appears
• the more generally language is considered
• the more abstract it is
• the more specifically it is considered
• the more specific it is

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abstract language

• language
• is a shared and stable body of knowledge of
  linguistic forms
• which is established by convention in a community

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specific language

• everybodys language their unique possession

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types of general abstractionsde Saussure

• langue and parole
• a social approach
• both are parts of le langage
• the general language ability

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de Saussure langue/parole

• langue
• the shared social code
• a collective body of knowledge (a book)
• a theoretical construct
• parole
• individual utterance(s)
• copies of the book

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Ferdinand de Saussure

• (1857-1913)
• Swiss linguist, born in Geneva
• Cours de Linguistique Générale (1916)
• translated into English 1959
• into Polish 1961
• the founder of modern linguistics

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Ferdinand de Saussure
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other types of general abstractions

• synchronic vs diachronic linguistics

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synchronic and diachronic linguistics

• synchronic
• the study of language at a given point in time
• diachronic
• the study of language through time, through
  successive points in time

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diachronic linguistics
language1 January 1, 2004
language2 December 31, 2004
change

• synchronic1 synchronic2
• diachronic

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other abstractions

• language as a sign system
• the signs as elements of a rule-governed system
• Chomsky
• a systematic inventory of items

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general abstractions Chomsky

• competence and performance
• a psychological approach
• competence
• performance actual linguistic behaviour

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Chomsky

• competence
• the psychological knowledge native speakers have
  of their language
• a system of abstract formal relations
• inaccessible to consciousness
• performance
• object of description

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Noam Chomsky (1928-)
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Noam Chomsky (1928-)

• American linguist
• Syntactic Structures (1957)
• Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965)
• The Sound Pattern of English (1968 with Morris
  Halle)
• he revolutionized linguistics

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