TOPIC 2.

LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TEACHING
Halliday, M. A. K., A. McIntosh and P. Strevens (1964). The Linguistic Sciences and
Language Teaching. London: Longman.
Fromkin, V. R. Rodman, P. Collins & D. Blair (2006). An Introduction to Language.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Wilkins, D. A. (2008). Linguistics and Language Teaching. Melbourne, Victoria: Edward
Arnold.
Books, book chapters and articles on introduction to language or introduction to
linguistics.

2. Language & linguistics and foreign language teaching

a. Definition of language and linguistics
b. Phonetics & phonology
c. Morphology
d. Syntax
e. Semantics & pragmatics, and other related issues
f. The relationships between linguistics and foreign language teaching (FLT)

a. Definition of language and linguistics

WHAT IS LANGUAGE
- Cambridge Dictionary: Language is a system of communication consisting of sounds,
words, and grammar:
- Oxford Dictionary: defines language as “the method of human communication, either
spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way; a
system of communication used by a particular country or community.”
- Sapir (1921:7) in Language: Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method
of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced
symbols.
- Mario Pei and Frank Gaynor (1954) in A Dictionary of Linguistics: Language is a
system of communication by sound, i.e., through the organs of speech and hearing,
among human beings of a certain group or community, using vocal symbols possessing
arbitrary conventional meanings.
- Jack et al.(1985) in Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: Language is the
system of human communication by means of a structured arrangement of sounds (or
their written representation) to form larger units, e.g. morphemes, words, sentences.
- Hadumod Bussmann (1996) in Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics:
Language is a vehicle for the expression or exchange of thoughts, concepts, knowledge,
and information as well as the fixing and transmission of experience and knowledge. It is
based on cognitive processes, subject to societal factors and subject to historical change
and development.
- Language is a means of communication. It is a means of conveying our thoughts ,ideas,
feelings, and emotions to other people. Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt define the
language :"the system of human communication which consists of the structured
arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes,
words, sentences, utterances. In common usage it can also refer to non-human systems of
communication such as the “language” of bees, the “language” of dolphins.

Đọc thêm:
Samuel Johnson, in the preface to his dictionary, asserts that language is “the instrument
of science [knowledge]” and words are “the signs of ideas.” In his Life of Cowley,
Johnson called language “the dress of thought.” Yet, while language can obviously be
used to express thoughts, it can do more than that. Merriam-Webster defines language as
“a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized
signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.” Oxford
Dictionary defines language as “the method of human communication, either spoken or
written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way; a system of
communication used by a particular country or community.”
Language is a means of communication. It is a means of conveying our thoughts ,ideas,
feelings, and emotions to other people. Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt define the
language :"the system of human communication which consists of the structured
arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes,
words, sentences, utterances. In common usage it can also refer to non-human systems of
communication such as the “language” of bees, the “language” of dolphins.
 1
To define language is not an easy task. Different linguists tried to define language
variously. However, if we analyse the definitions closely, we will find that each of these
definitions is incomplete in some respect or the other. These definitions will raise a large
number of questions.
Some of the most commonly approved definitions of language given by the experts in the
field of linguistics are given below:
Edward Sapir says: “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols”
This definition is rather incomplete because ‘ideas, emotions and desires’ are not the only
things communicated by language. The term language covers a wide range of implication
such as body language, sign language and animal language.
According to Hall, language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and
interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”
Hall’s definition is narrow because it regards language purely as a human institution.
We know that animals do communicate. Animals have their own language .In the words
of Noam Chomsky, language is “a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite in
length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”
Chomsky focuses on the structural features of language. He showed how language can be
investigated by analyzing it into its constituent elements.
Each of these linguists focuses on certain aspects of language and ignores some others.
However what they have said of language is true, though not comprehensive.
As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings: an abstract
concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French". The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de
Saussure, who defined the modern discipline of linguistics, first explicitly formulated the
distinction using the French word langage for language as a concept, langue(competence
by Chomsky) as a specific instance of a language system, and parole(Chomsky’s
performance) for the concrete usage of speech in a particular language(Trask, 1999:92).
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?
- Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics defines linguistics
as the study of language as a system of human communication.
- Chomsky defines linguistics as principally concerned with the universals of the human
mind. He considers linguistics as a branch of cognitive psychology.
- The study of language in the western world goes back many centuries to Greek and
Roman antiquity and biblical times.
- In the twentieth century, speech sounds (phonetics and phonology) grammar
(morphology and syntax) → meaning (semantics) → the study of texts (discourse
analysis).
- Linguists have of course always been aware of the fact that in language all aspects are
involved, namely, psychology, society, cognition.
- Linguistic is the scientific study of
the structure and development of language in general or of particular languages
Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of language .It is the systematic study of the
elements of language and the principles governing their combination and organization.
Linguistics provides for a rigorous experimentation with the elements or aspects of
language that are actually in use by the speech community. It is based on observation and
the data collected thereby from the users of the language, a scientific analysis is made by
the investigator and at the end of it he comes out with a satisfactory explanation relating
to his field of study. This sort of systematic study of language has rendered the traditional
method language study outmoded or unfit for any theorization. (Sreekumar, 2011 :20)

b. Phonetics & phonology

- Phonetics: The Sounds of Language
- Phonetics is the study of sounds. To understand the mechanics of human languages one has to
understand the physiology of the human body. Letters represent sounds in a rather intricate way.
This has advantages and disadvantages. To represent sounds by letters in an accurate and uniform
way the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was created.
- We begin with phonology and phonetics. It is important to understand the difference between
phonetics and phonology. Phonetics is the study of actual sounds of
human languages, their production and their perception. It is relevant to linguistics for the simple
reason that the sounds are the primary physical manifestation of
language
- Phonology on the other hand is the study of sound systems. The difference is roughly speaking
this. There are countless different sounds we can make,
but only some count as sounds of a language, say English. Moreover, as far as
English is concerned, many perceptibly distinct sounds are not considered ‘different’. The letter
/p/, for example, can be pronounced in many different ways, with
more emphasis, with more loudness, with different voice onset time, and so on.
From a phonetic point of view, these are all different sounds; from a phonological
point of view there is only one (English) sound, or phoneme: [p]

Ngôn ngữ và Ngôn ngữ học

Ngôn ngữ và Ngôn ngữ học là hai từ khác nhau phải được sử dụng khác nhau. Một ngôn ngữ là một
phương thức biểu hiện tư tưởng bằng các âm thanh rõ. Suy nghĩ một mình không đủ để diễn tả bản
thân. Bạn cần phải làm điều đó bằng âm thanh rõ. Sự kết nối mang lại sự sống cho một ngôn ngữ.

Mặt khác, ngôn ngữ học là một nhánh nghiên cứu về ngôn ngữ. Đây là một nghiên cứu so sánh về
ngôn ngữ. Ngôn ngữ học là một ngành nghiên cứu mà bạn thực hiện một nghiên cứu lịch sử về ngôn
ngữ. Nó còn được gọi là ngữ văn học so sánh. Ngôn ngữ học có bốn nhánh mà nghiên cứu được xây
dựng.

Bốn nhánh ngôn ngữ học là âm vị học, hình thái học, cú pháp và ngữ nghĩa. Phonology đề cập đến
nghiên cứu về âm thanh. Hình thái học đề cập đến cách mà các từ được hình thành bằng sự kết hợp
của âm thanh. Cú pháp liên quan đến cách mà các từ được sắp xếp trong một câu và cuối cùng
Semantics đề cập đến nghiên cứu về ý nghĩa và phương pháp mà theo đó ý nghĩa được gắn liền với
những từ cụ thể.

Do đó phải hiểu rằng ngôn ngữ học là một chủ đề nghiên cứu được xây dựng trên ngôn ngữ. Do đó
có thể nói rằng ngôn ngữ là đơn vị cơ bản của ngành ngôn ngữ học. Không có ngôn ngữ, chủ đề ngôn
ngữ học không thể có ở đó. Nói cách khác, ngôn ngữ mở đường cho sự phát triển của lĩnh vực ngôn
ngữ học.

Ngôn ngữ học nghiên cứu bản chất của ngôn ngữ, những thay đổi ngữ âm khác nhau diễn ra trong
các ngôn ngữ, sự thay đổi ý nghĩa của các từ đặc biệt theo thời gian và tương tự. Một số luật cũng đã
được các nhà ngôn ngữ học ủng hộ các ngôn ngữ. Mặt khác, mỗi ngôn ngữ có đặc điểm đặc biệt và
đặc thù. Vì các ngôn ngữ mang tính cá nhân và riêng biệt, nhu cầu nghiên cứu so sánh của họ đã nảy
sinh.

Language and Linguistics are two different words that have to be used differently. A
language is a mode of expression of thought by means of articulate sounds. Thoughts alone
are not sufficient to express yourself. You need to do it by means of articulate sounds too.
Articulation brings life to a language.

On the other hand linguistics is a branch of study that deals with languages. It is a
comparative study of languages. Linguistics is a branch of study wherein you make a
historical study of languages. It is otherwise called as comparative philology. Linguistics has
four branches upon which the study is built.

The four branches of linguistics are phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
Phonology deals with the study of sounds. Morphology deals with the manner in which the
words are formed by the combination of sounds. Syntax deals with the manner in which the
words are arranged in a sentence and finally Semantics deals with the study of meanings
and the method by which the meanings came to be attached to particular words.
Hence it should be understood that linguistics is a subject of study that is build on
languages. Therefore it can be said that language is the fundamental unit of the branch of
linguistics. Without languages the subject of linguistics cannot be there. In other words
languages pave the way for the growth of the field of linguistics.

Linguistics studies the nature of languages, the various phonetic changes that take place in
the languages, the changes in the meanings of particular words in the course of time and
the like. A few laws have also been advocated by linguists who work on the languages. On
the other hand each language has special and inherent characteristics. Since the languages
are individual and separate in nature the need for their comparative study arose.