Linguistics
derived from the latin lingua meaning language, the French language langage-langue, Italian lingua, Spanish lengue, and English language.
While the suffix “ics” in linguistics serves to indicate the name of a
science.
Many
linguistics expert define, among other:
·
Jurji
Zaidan
Linguistics
as a science that investigates the language of the written and nonwritten.
·
Saiful
Mu’min, Imam
Linguistics
as a scince that discusses that language of the various sides.
·
King.
T. Nasr (1984)
Linguistics
deals with human language as universal and recognizable part of human behavior
nd human capabilities.
·
BLOOMFIELD
(1933:20-34)
Linguisticsis
a science (science), as well as physics and chemistry is a science.
·
MATTHEWS
Linguistics
is defined or the scientific, study of language.
The New Oxford Dictionary of English (2003)¸
linguistics is “the scientific study of language and its structure, including
the study of grammer, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics
include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational
linguistics, comparative linguistics, and strucrtural linguistics”.
Linguistics is usually defined as
‘the scienific study of language’ Such a statement, however, raises two further
questions: what do we mean by ‘scientific’ ? and what do you mean by ‘language’
? The first one can be answered
relatively easily but the second needs to be examined more fully. When we say
that a linguist aims to be scientific, we mean that the attempts to study
language in much the same way as far as possible whitout prejudice. It means
observing language use, forming hypotheses about it, testing these hypotheses
and then refining them on the basis of the evidence collected. To get simplified idea of what is meant, consider
the following axample. With regard to English, we might make a hypothesis that
adjectives always precede nouns. In support of this hypothesis, we could
procedu the folloeing acceptable uses:
a good man
a ded tree
a ded tree
But
againts our hypothesis, we would find the following aceptable sentences:
The man is good
The tree is dead
The tree is dead
Where
our adjectives do not precede the nouns modify. In additin, acareful study of
the language would produce further samples such as:
Life everlasting
Mission impossible
Mission impossible
Where,
once again, the position of the adjective contradicts our original hypothesis.
When we have carried out detailed
examination of adjectives in English, we are in a position to say that
adjectives in English are used in two main ways: (a) they can be used
attributively, that is before a noun, as in. (b) they can be used
predicatively, that is following a verb, as in:
The
man is good.
Such
rules would cover the uses of most djectives in English. It would be necessary,
however, to add a furher rule. In English a finite number of adjectives,
borrowed from other languages or used in fixed phrases, follow the nouns they
modify. Such a finite list would include:
Astronomer royal
Attorney general
Court martial
Heir apparent
Prince imperial
Princess loyal
Attorney general
Court martial
Heir apparent
Prince imperial
Princess loyal
Of the various definations of the
experts above, it can be concluded that the linguistics is basic for the
scientific study of human language from various aspecst, including sounds,
words and grammer rules, or can be defined as the language as an object of
study. What is language ?
Language is a tool to convey
information, ideas, concepts or feeling that comes to the heart, in the sense
of the words as a means of conveying somehing. There are various definition of
language according to the experts, including:
·
Plato
Language
is essentially a statement of one’s mind by means onomata (name objects or
something) and rhemata (pseech), which is a reflection of idea of someone in
the flow of air through the mouth.
·
Harimurti
Kridalaksana, 1993:21
Language
is a symbol system sounds an arbitary language that allows people to work
together, interact, and identify.
·
William
A.Haviland
Language
is a system of sounds that when combined according to certain rules pose
meanings can be captured by all the people who speak the language.
·
Wittgenstein
Language
is a form of thinking that can be understood, in touch with reality and has the
form and structure of logical.
·
According
Wibowo (2001:3)
Language
is a system of symbols that are meaningful and articulate sound (generated by
said tool) that are arbitrary and conventional, which is used as a mean of communication by a group of men go give
birth to feelings and thoughts.
In
the study of linguistcs, language is defined as a system of spoken or written
symbols that human beings s a means of communication in the form of sounds.
Function of lnguage, the main function of language is as a communication tool,
or a means to convey information, thoughts. Language also serves to:
1. Interaction
in daily life
2. Aesthetically
satisfying their people through beautiful words
3. The
tool expands other knowledge
There are a number of other general
points that are worth making about language, First, human language is not only
a vocal system of communication. It can be expressed in writing, with the
result that it is not limited in time or space. Secondly, each language is both
arbitrary and systematic. By this we mean that no two languages behave in
exactly the same way yet each language has its own set f rules. Again, a number
of examples will clarify this point. The
word for ‘water’ is ‘can’ in French ‘uisce’ in Gaelic. There is no intrinsic
relationship between any of three words and the chemical componend H2O
which we know as water. The choice of word is arbitrary, that is nonpredictable,
but speakers of French and Gaelic regularly and habitually use the word from
their language to refer to H2O. The same is true with regard to
sentences.
The diagram indicates that, although
speech and writing are in theory distinct, they can and do influence each
other. A simple example of this is that pronunciation is often affected by
spelling. A word like ‘often’for example, is now frequently pronounced with a
‘t’ because of nfluence from the written medium.
As far as speech is concerned, the
process involves associating sounds with meaning and meaning with sounds. With
writing, on the other hand, language competence involves the associoation of a
meaning (and sometimes sounds) with a sign, a visual symbol. Thus, our study of
language will involve us in an appraisal of all of the following levels
language:
•language
•phonology
•morphology
•lexis
•syntax
•semantics
When
we have examined these levels and the way they interact, we will have acruired
the necassary tools to study languages in general (linguistics), the variety in
language and the uses to which people
put language (sociolinguistics) and the value of the study of language
in understanding the human mind (psycholinguistics)
