descriptive linguistics

descriptive linguistics

Exploring the Fundamentals of Descriptive Linguistics

1. Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics

Exploring the Fundamentals of Descriptive Linguistics A second theme can be accommodated by dividing students into groups. As an example, a Family Tree of Languages, from Modern English to Old English to the Germanic branch to Indo-European, can be quickly created on a blackboard or overhead projector. The results might look something like the diagram in Figure 1. Linguists ask “Where does a language come from?” and “What did the earlier language look like?” Our previous examples used French and Portuguese as sources, but sources can be sought farther back. English has borrowed much terminology from Old French as well as from Latin through French. The words “noble, religious, and master” through Old French are much more expensive in Modern French than in Old French.

Language is a complex subject, understood incompletely even in highly literate cultures. This is why it is likely that nonliterate ones will always have their “language mysteries,” much as nonliterate individuals in literate cultures do. Much more than a mere device for communication, language is a mark of human distinctiveness and achievement. The first doctors of philosophy were monks who studied the literature of their day—the only literature available to them. Today’s Ph.D. candidates may study the literature of a country such as Brazil, itself a creator of literature and a prominent site where Portuguese is natively spoken. They may be familiar with writings by French-speaking Africans or by Americans writing in academic French. The international character of academic life is worthy of note.

2. The Key Concepts and Principles of Descriptive Linguistics

No need to engage in lengthy discussions of what these language differences might be. The occurrence of specific affluence of word forms and meanings peculiar to invented groups is even obvious to young children, and people typically identify themselves primarily via the native languages they are using. Case by case observation confirms this autonomy principle generally valid. The antecedent that all humankind is divided into separate cultural groups, and that each of these has developed a single specific native language from what used to be only an infantile pigeon – that nope has a clear-cut word for the being to be defined – undoubtedly is the most fundamental of the principles governing descriptive linguistics, and the main distinguishing between this area of interest and all of its linguistic counterparts.

There are, of course, quite a number of several additional factors distinguishing the individual persons comprising these language groups from anyone else, but none of these factors is necessary, and neither only nor primarily, peculiar to a specific group of such persons. Only language is versatile and all-encompassing enough to pliable unequivocally this major role.

More specifically, autonomy refers to the view that humankind is essentially constituted of a large number of cultural groups, i.e. cultural groups are neither linguistic nor race nor ethnic nor political groups, etc., each of which self-defines itself as different by means of a specific native language, i.e. every one of the approximately two hundred language groups which may exist at any point in time on earth.

In fact, this is to state that the key concepts and principles characterizing only descriptive linguistics – the study of the vocabularies, common and peculiar denominations, structures of speech, variations and innovations of world languages as these are used by native speakers in natural settings – are the following: autonomy, locality, artifacts, conditional insularity, and spread particularity or ordinariness.

3. Methods and Techniques in Descriptive Linguistic Analysis

While applied Descriptive Linguistics is still in its development stage, great strides have already been made. Several linguistic schools have contributed to this development and it appears that their basic theories have matured, in part, due to the criticism they have received. This is indeed a healthy development. Yet, these theories have also become somewhat obsolete in many cases, possibly due to the limits imposed by word-by-word examination or very small samples of aural or written language data.

Our fundamental concern is to establish criteria for setting up the base for theories that deal with language as an important aspect of human behavior, thus our choice for data collection to permit verification. In this, we would by necessity verify methodologies and techniques to test them. Ultimately, we want to determine whether the theory has universality such that it may be transmitted within the educational system without violating that system’s conditions. Our task may be likened to kinesiology as a first step. We resort to examining muscles (words) which produce sounds (language) for communicational purposes, so that we may establish linguistic criteria for the effective use of our communicative tools.

4. Applications and Relevance of Descriptive Linguistics in Modern Society

The scope of descriptive linguistics is the determination of the units of analysis, for example, whether features are features of individuals words, classes of words, groups of words or entire texts. It would then involve stating the function of the feature and providing a method for testing its presence or absence. Descriptive linguistics is the study of linguistic form, meaning and use. It is usually contrasted with historical linguistics, which is concerned with understanding language change, and sociolinguistics, which focuses on the structure of the rules and norms of usage of individual languages. Descriptive linguistics is the tool of the fieldworker and matters of language teaching are secondary.

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Descriptive linguistics is an attempt to describe the nature of language. That is, it is concerned with creating a model of the structures which make up a language and with defining the rules which enable structures to be created. For many, this is the ultimate goal of linguistics. First and foremost, descriptive linguistics records and describes differences between languages and not just the differences (contrast), although contrast is the most obvious method of description.