Introduction to Linguistics #1

Linguistics :  Scientific study of language.
Linguistics should be empirical, exact, and objective.

Canons of Linguistics as A Scientific Study :

1. Exhaustiveness = the adequate treatment of all the relevant material.
2. Consistency = the absence of contradiction between different parts of the total statement.
3. Economy = a shorter statement or analysis employing fewer terms is to be preferred to one that is longer or more involved.

Branches of Linguistics :

1. General Linguistics
2. Descriptive Linguistics
3. Historical Linguistics
4. Comparative Linguistics

Approaches to Linguistics

It's I     - prescriptive - what people should say (grammatically)
It's me - descriptive   - what people really say

The Range of General Linguistics

1. Level of Analysis : phonology, morphology, syntax.
2. Language and Communication : definition and origin of language.
3. Phonetics, Phonology, Grammar, and Semantics.

Example :

Phonological level : #p  → p^h   ~ vowel -- #

Morphological level : practical = practice + al 

Syntactical level : 1. The man I often went fishing with died last night.

                                2. The man whom I often went fishing with died last night.

                                3. The man with whom I often went fishing died last night.