Linguistics (linguistics, linguistics) is the science of human language as a means of communication, the general laws of the structure and functioning of language, and all the languages of the world. Linguistics began to develop in the Ancient East - in Mesopotamia, Syria, M. Asia and Egypt, as well as in Ancient India (Panini, 5-4 centuries BC), Dr. Greece and Rome (Aristotle). Scientific linguistics originated at the beginning. 19th century in the form of general (W. Humboldt and others) and comparative historical (F. Bopp, J. Grimm, A. Kh. Vostokov and others) linguistics.
The principles of dividing linguistics into sections and the composition of linguistics.
Empirically formed sections of linguistics, partially intersecting and therefore not forming a logically unified system, can be represented as correlating with each other according to some different parameters.
General linguistics and private sciences of language. The most general and particular sections of linguistics are distinguished. One of the major branches of linguistics is the so-called general linguistics- deals with the properties inherent in any language, and differs from the particular linguistic disciplines used by it, which are distinguished in linguistics in their subject - either in a separate language (for example, Russian - Russian studies, Japanese - Japanese studies, etc.), or according to a group of related languages (for example, Romance, studying Romance languages, Turkology, studying Turkic languages, etc.), or according to a geographical area within which areally and / or typologically close languages are grouped (for example, Balkan studies, Caucasian studies, etc.). P.). General linguistics establishes the common (or statistically predominant) features of all languages both empirically - inductively, with the help of typology, and deductively, exploring the general (significant for all groups of people) patterns of language functioning, the features of any speech act and text, etc.
General linguistics also distinguishes sections of linguistics depending on the division of the language itself into levels and on the orientation of this section to one or another side of the linguistic sign (word) and text (statement). Those sections of linguistics that are predominantly concerned with the structure of signifiers and signifieds and, to a lesser extent, with those non-linguistic phenomena with which the signs of a language are correlated, are sometimes called the term " internal linguistics”, or “internal linguistics”, as opposed to the so-called “external linguistics”, or “external linguistics”. But since language as a social phenomenon describes some extralinguistic events, the division into “internal linguistics” and “external linguistics” is always arbitrary and is rather quantitative in nature (some sections are more internal in nature, others are more external).
The areas of linguistics are distinguished, which are primarily related to the signifying side of the units of linguistics, which is necessary for the speaker to perceive the text transmitted to him during speech communication. Phonetics focused on the sound level - the sound side directly accessible to human perception. Its subject is the sounds of speech in all their diversity. They are examined with the help of instruments that record the articulation (physiological) and acoustic characteristics of sounds. Phonology also studies the sounds of a language, but from a functional and systemic point of view, as discrete elements that distinguish between signs and texts of a language. A phoneme and/or a phonological distinctive (differential) feature is singled out as the initial unit and object of study of phonology.
Sections of linguistics that study the sounds of speech - phonetics, phonology, morphonology - do not explore the signified side of signs as such. This side of signs is explored by other (in the broad sense of the word - semantically oriented) sections of linguistics, for which meanings (i.e., signified) are of primary interest. At the same time, attention is drawn both to the signified aspects of signs (meanings), and to the coding of these latter with the help of signifiers.
Grammar- a section of linguistics that studies words, morphemes, morphs, morphological parts of words and their combinations, the meanings of which are mandatory for signs of a given type (class) in a given language system. Different languages differ in exactly which meanings in them are grammatical. Grammar stands out morphology and syntax. The separation of these two levels is necessary only in those languages where the word is divided into morphological components (morphs). In languages of a consistently isolating (purely analytic) type (as in classical Chinese), grammar can be wholly reduced to syntax. In morphology, from the point of view of meanings, usually, as special sections of linguistics, word formation, dealing with derivational values, and inflection, exploring the expression of all other (much more abstract) grammatical meanings within one word form, which is opposed in the paradigm to morphologically other word forms. In languages of the agglutinative type (for example, Turkic), where each grammatical meaning corresponds to a certain affix, a grammar of orders (or ranks) is needed to describe chains of affixes.
The dictionary of the language (as opposed to its grammar) deals with several sections of linguistics: semantics and related sections of linguistics ( phraseology, semantic syntax, intensively developing in accordance with the orientation towards the structure as such, which also characterizes related disciplines in the knowledge of the 20th century) are combined with each other in the study of the original meanings and their possible embodiments both in vocabulary and in grammar. Most of these initial meanings belong to the so-called "weak semantics", that is, they are determined mainly within the language itself, in contrast to the "strong semantics" that require correlation with the extralinguistic world.
Lexical semantics(sometimes also called linguistic semantics, in contrast to logical) is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study of such meanings of words that (at least in a given language) are not grammatical. Linguistic semantics operates both with the meanings of whole sentences (or their significant fragments) and their transformations, through which the meanings of words are determined. It also studies the combinatorially conditioned meanings of words. Phraseology explores the semantic and syntagmatic aspects of non-free lexical combinations of words.
For a long period, the main factor recognized in linguistics was time. The study of specific languages in diachronic terms, the creation of a general theory of language evolution, both in general and in relation to individual levels of the language, is engaged in historical and comparative-historical linguistics. A special area is the work on the diachronic typology of languages (also at different levels), which is sometimes associated with the theory of evolution. In linguistics, there is a growing tendency to combine synchronic description with historical description: we are talking about introducing a dynamic temporal factor into the description of language as well. Particularly important in this respect are sociolinguistic field observations undertaken only in the 1970s and 1980s. 20th century and yielded valuable results (for example, the obligatory nature of sound laws for the microevolution of language was confirmed). Sociolinguistics is the study of real living dialects in spatial (including social) and temporal plans. Each of the levels of the language and its variation in the spatial plan (in the territorial limitation) is studied in dialectology(applied to one language) and in areal linguistics(in relation to many languages, for example, those that are part of the same language union, as well as in studies of various kinds, the subject of which are the contacts of two or more languages with each other, the formation of Creole languages and, in general, the processes of language mixing).
From the above, it can be determined that object of linguistics is the language in the entire scope of its properties and functions, its structure, functioning and historical development.
Modern linguistics is divided into general and private. General linguistics studies the most general properties of the language and methods of its study, as well as the connections of linguistics with other areas of knowledge. Private linguistics studies any side of the language or a separate language (groups of languages). For example, Russian studies, Japanese studies, etc. Linguistics can be synchronic or diachronic. Synchronic linguistics describes the facts of the studied language at any particular moment in its history. Diachronic linguistics describes the development of a language over a period of time.
Tasks of linguistics:
Ø Establishing the nature and essence of language
Ø Learning the structure of the language
Ø Learning the language as a whole system
Ø Studying the issue of language development
Ø Studying the origin and development of writing
Ø Classification of languages
Ø Choice of research methods: comparative-historical, descriptive, comparative, quantitative
Ø Studying the connection of linguistics with other sciences
Linguistics closely associated with many other sciences.
1. Linguistics and social sciences. Since language is the most important means of communication in society and is closely related to thinking and consciousness, linguistics is included (as one of the central sciences) in the circle of humanitarian (social) scientific disciplines that study a person and human society. Of these sciences, linguistics is most closely associated ethnography and its various areas, developing, in particular, the general principles of the functioning of the language in societies of different types, including in archaic, or "primitive" groups (for example, the problems of taboos, euphemisms, in the theory of nomination - names associated with characteristics of archaic consciousness, etc.). Linguistics as a science of linguistic communication is increasingly associated with modern sociology. Different types of communication in society are studied by linguistics, communication theory, cultural anthropology(studying communication through any messages, not only and not so much linguistic and sign) and semiotics. Natural language is the most important (and best studied) sign system, which is why linguistics is often regarded as the most important of the semiotic disciplines. Among them, linguistics turns out to be the central science, since language serves as a means for constructing a number of texts (in particular, in fiction) and “supralinguistic” systems (semiotic models of the world) studied by semiotic disciplines. To study linguistic texts that serve as symbolic tasks of "supralinguistic" systems (mythology, ritual, religion, philosophy, etc.), the relevant scientific disciplines turn to linguistics and a number of scientific disciplines bordering on linguistics for help. hermeneutics dealing with the understanding of texts, etc. But at the same time, the solution of each of these problems should be specially studied in linguistics, since any new social function of the language significantly affects some of its levels. It turns out that the emergence of intermediate disciplines that are in contact with linguistics, such as linguistic poetics, in many respects approaching the linguistics of the text, which studies the linguistic laws of constructing texts, including literary ones.
The relationship between linguistics and other sciences can be investigated depending on the nature of the sign (or non-sign) nature of the subject matter of each of these sciences. Grammatology, the science of writing, is closest to linguistics among semiotic disciplines (since there are types of writing that are only indirectly related to language, grammar as a whole is not included in linguistics). Kinesics(see also Sign Languages) is in contact with linguistics, especially at the level of semantics (as well as the section of grammar that studies hieroglyphics).
The key role of linguistics for many related humanities makes the conclusions of linguistics important for all humanitarian knowledge in general. Historical linguistics in its methods approaches history and other sciences that study the change in time of social structures, the development of which in a number of cases determines both the paths of linguistic evolution and the development of culture, literature, art, etc. One of the most important problems is to find out to what extent the development of one of these series of evolving phenomena causally affects the evolution of another series. Historical linguistics is related to a large number of historical disciplines, on the conclusions of which it relies.
The diversity of the functions of language in society and the close nature of its connection with thinking and with the mental activity of a person makes the interaction of linguistics with the corresponding social and psychological sciences very flexible. Linguistics is closely connected with psychology, already in the 19th century. caused the invasion of psychological methods and ideas in linguistics. In the 50s. 20th century a new science bordering on linguistics was formed - psycholinguistics. The development of the ideas of generative grammar led to its organic merger with cognitive psychology and to the gradual inclusion of linguistics in the circle of fundamental cognitive sciences and their applications, united by the general term "artificial intelligence". Considered common for linguistics and psychology, the issues of correlating language and thinking are intensively studied by modern logic, philosophy of language and at the same time form the content of linguistic semantics.
2. Linguistics and natural sciences. Linguistics and maths. The connections of linguistics not only with the social sciences and human sciences, but also with the natural sciences, were outlined as early as the 19th century. Some of the analogies proposed by A. Schleicher between comparative historical linguistics and the Darwinian theory of evolution have found support in modern science. The decoding of the genetic code was largely based on the assimilation of linguistic experience by biologists and on typological analogies with the structure of natural language, which continue to be studied by both geneticists and linguists. The methods of comparative historical reconstruction of protoforms and determination of the time of divergence between the descendants of one parent language in linguistics turned out to be similar to similar procedures in the molecular theory of evolution (defining a protein - the initial source for comparable proteins in different organisms, establishing the time of separation of organisms in the course of evolution). The contact of linguistics with biology is also carried out in the study of the possible hereditary nature of the basic human language abilities, which is connected both with the problems of glottogenesis and with the development of the idea of language monogenesis. The status of neurolinguistics, which studies, on the basis of linguistic data, the functions and zones of the central nervous system associated with language in normal and pathological conditions, has been more clearly defined. On the border of linguistics and psychiatry, there is a study of the characteristics of speech in various types of mental disorders. In psychoanalysis, attention is focused on unconscious speech errors and on the unconscious content of the patient's monologue, uttered in the presence of a doctor. I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay, E. Sapir, M. M. Bakhtin, R. O. Jacobson, E. Benveniste, exploring the connection between the science of the unconscious and linguistics, noted that different levels of language are “automated” to different extent and not understood by speakers. With the development of neurolinguistics, the question is raised of correlating different parts of the theory of language with the characteristics of the work of the corresponding zones of the human central nervous system. To understand the peculiarities of human physiology, it is language that plays a particularly important role, which is gradually beginning to be taken into account both in theoretical works on psychophysiology and in medical (psychotherapeutic) applications that have analogues in folk medicine (charm texts, etc.).
Modern instrumental methods of experimental phonetics are associated with the use of various instruments, mainly electroacoustic (spectrographs, intotonographs, etc.), as well as recording the movements of the organs of speech (articulation). Phonetics is therefore particularly closely related to physics and physiology. Technical tasks associated with increasing the effective use of speech information transmission channels and with oral communication with computers and robots are practically the most important areas of applied linguistics (see Applied Linguistics), where speech is studied and its statistical characteristics are calculated using methods of mathematical information theory, developed by Academician A. N. Kolmogorov and American mathematician C. Shannon. The connection of linguistics with information theory, the stimulus for the study of which was given by the technical applications of linguistics, at the same time leads to a clear formulation of significant problems related to the nature of the act of communication and the social functions of language.
The role of language and linguistics is essential for computer revolution (especially in connection with the appearance by the mid-80s of personal and other computers capable of conducting a dialogue with the “consumer” in natural language), which leads to further stimulation of the growth of precisely those areas of linguistics that are especially important for these latest practical applications.
Language features
When we talk about the functions of language, we usually do not mean language, but speech or speech (linguistic) activity. Therefore, many linguists speak cautiously about language functions. The great American linguist, original and versatile scientist E. Sapir in 1933 wrote the following in this regard: “It is difficult to accurately establish the functions of language, since it is so deeply rooted in all human behavior that very little remains in the functional side of our activities where language would not take part.
These functions cannot manifest themselves "in their pure form", they always interact and intersect with each other, coexisting in different guises - ontological, epistemological (or cognitive), pragmatic. You can talk about functions of language in society, about how and where the language "lives", and thus - about the social, social functions language. You can talk about functions of language in relation to thinking and therefore - oh mental functions language. We can talk about the functions of the language within the framework speeches, as well as speech(more precisely, language) activities(in terms of F. de Saussure). One can speak of the function of language in terms of its systems and structures. Thus, the question of the functions of language affects both its ontological and natural aspects. In this regard, it is required not only to establish the boundaries of the functional distribution of the language, but also, in fact, a clear understanding of the term “function”.
In the dictionary of linguistic terms by O.S. Akhmanova, the word “function” has the following meanings: 1) purpose, role performed by a language unit when it is reproduced in speech (subject function, case function, morphological function, etc.); 2) the purpose and characteristics of the reproduction in speech of a given language unit (function of adverbs, predicative function, etc.); 3) the generalized meaning of different aspects of the language and its elements in terms of their purpose, use (communicative function, sign function, etc.). As you can see, the dominant component of all these meanings is a sign of purpose, role, correlated with different volumes of linguistic concepts. From the point of view of purpose, the role of language is usually characterized when it is spoken of as a means of communication, i.e. in terms of speech. And in this regard, a large number of functions stand out, but above all - communicative. However, outside the concept of "language function" still remains a certain number of linguistic properties that characterize the ontological aspects of the language and which cannot be represented as its purpose or role. Therefore, we interpret the term "function" more broadly, in accordance with its original Latin meaning - execution, performance, display. Then we can talk about all the "manifestations" of the language both from the point of view of its essence, ontology, and from the point of view of its nature, existence.
Research attention to language functions really only emerged in the last century. An interesting and productive for linguistics interpretation of the functions of language in the process of speech on a semiotic basis was proposed by the German scientist Karl Buhler. Since speech presupposes the presence of a speaker, a listener and the subject of the statement, insofar as “every language expression has three aspects: it is both an expression (expression), or a characteristic of the speaker, an appeal (or appeal) to the listener (or listeners) and a message (or explication ) about the subject of speech. In one of his main works, Buhler stated the following: “The function of human language is threefold: expression, motivation and representation. Today I prefer the terms: expression, appeal and representation. Thus, “against the background” of the already known communicative function within the framework of speech, three more functions were distinguished: expressive, appellative and representative.
The work of R. O. Yakobson, in which the doctrine of the functions of language is developed, is widely known. He builds his theory on the basis of the following already known functional components that make up a communicative act: addresser, message, addressee. But then he singles out new components that lead to the spheres of linguistic activity. Thus, the message successfully performs its functions in the presence of a certain context. The message is also carried out with the appropriate contact and code (a system of signs that matter)
Context
Message
Destination ----------Destination
Each of these components has its own function. So, communicative function related to context. associated with the addressee emotive(expressive) function, the purpose of which is to express the attitude of the speaker to the content of what is being said. The recipient determines the presence appellative(conative, influencing) function ( Hello! Get up!). phatic(contact-establishing) function is due to the entry into contact or its termination with the help of language. Based on the code is built metalanguage function, which is the main one, for example, when interpreting the facts of a language. Within the message is highlighted poetic (aesthetic) function. This function, according to R. Jacobson, is the central, although not the only, function of verbal art: closely interacting with other functions, it determines the essence of "poetic language". Unlike “practical language” as a means of ordinary, everyday communication, “poetic language” also has a meaning “in itself” as an aesthetic phenomenon: it is characterized by sound organization (rhythm, rhyme ...), imagery ... Thus, when considering the functions, determined by the nature of speech and language activity, the following hierarchy is formed:
Communicative function;
The functions that make up the communicative act;
Other functions.
The question of the functions of language in modern research
The essential, ontological function of the language, which is the component and subject side of linguistics, is its iconic(semiological or semiotic) function that represents a linguistic sign based on its three sides - semantic (the meaning of the sign), syntactic (relationships and connections of the sign) and pragmatic (the use of the sign and, thereby, "bringing" it into the sphere of speech and linguistic activity).
Its varieties include functions that characterize the units of individual levels of the language: distinctive and constitutive function phonemes, nominative function of the word, predicative function of a sentence etc.
One of the most important varieties of the sign function of a language is metalanguage function. With its help, a person uses language as a tool, an object of his own mental activity. In other words, we can “transfer” to any world using our own language - to the world of linguistics, mathematics, physics, fairy tales, science fiction, political or diplomatic discussions, to the world of fiction and lies, etc. etc. We are constantly creating millions and billions of new worlds based on our language.
And another function of the ontological plan is represented by cognitive function, which is formed within the framework of the pragmatics of a linguistic sign. A linguistic sign would lose the meaning of its existence if it did not reflect human cognitive practice which forms the basis of its activities. Actually, the linguistic sign itself functions thanks to the intelligent work of a person.
The communicative function of language usually associated with dialogic speech activity, implies the presence of two participants in the speech act - the speaker (addresser) and the listener (addressee).
In fact, one of the addressees is always the speaker himself. The process of speech is under the control of the addresser, who, in the course of communication, listens to himself, controls and corrects his speech and speech behavior, depending on the reaction of the addressee and the situation. However, this part of the communicative function of the language cannot be called communicative, since there is only one participant, the speaker himself. Therefore, we characterize it as a function self-detection and auto-correction.
The next function of speech is emotive(emotional, expressive, affective) function expressing feelings and emotions. With the help of it, the subject spontaneously or consciously conveys his mental attitude to what is happening.
appellative function- the function of calling, addressing the addressee and inducing the perception of the addressee's speech. Zhbankov suddenly lost his mind. “Kyik,” he yelled in Estonian, “everything!”(emotive function. - V.I.) - Forward, comrades! To new frontiers! To new achievements!(appellative function. - V.I.) (S. Dovlatov. Compromise).
Voluntary function expresses the will of the speaker. Lucretius wrote about it as one of the main functions of speech in his famous poem “On the Nature of Things”: “If others, moreover, did not know how to use words in relations with each other, then where would the knowledge of this come from? / And from what would the ability arise in one person / to express his will, so that others understand him? Example:- Dragging dragging, - said the comrade. - Drag down, not up.(V. Shalamov. Kolyma stories).
Deictic function(orientation in the communicative space with the help of deictic signs: demonstrative and personal pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person, categories of tense of the verb, etc., demonstrative gestures) is carried out on-line and has the widest range of linguistic expression, for example: - Run here. Per me run, - the woman whispered, turned and ran along the narrow brick path. Turbin very slowly ran after her.. (M. Bulgakov. White Guard).
Erotematic, interrogative function: - How long are you going alone? - For a long time. Don't you have a drink? - There will be. (V. Shukshin. The desire to live).
A function that is actively manifested in language activity is phatic(contact-establishing and contact-supporting). She accompanies us constantly, from morning to evening, starting with "Good morning!" and ending with "Good night!". When we talk about the weather, about fashion, about transport, about the problems of life, without delving into their essence, but just to “keep the conversation going”, just like that, for “chatter”, then we use the phatic function of the language: - Hello! - Hi! How are you? - Thanks, everything is fine! It happens that the phatic function completely replaces the communicative one. Imagine Eliza Doolittle talking about the weather with society ladies: Mrs. Higgins (breaks the silence in a casual tone): - Curious if it will rain today? Elisa: - Slight cloudiness observed in the western part of the British Isles, possibly spreading to the eastern area. The barometer gives no reason to assume any significant changes in the state of the atmosphere.(B. Shaw. Pygmalion).
Axiological function of language acts, on the one hand, as a measure of the assessment of natural, social and psychological facts, and on the other, as a subject for assessing one's own qualities.
hermeneutic function- the function of interpretation and explanation. With its help, a person can not only explain, interpret any problem, any texts, but also interpret the same facts in different ways, as well as decipher secret letters and signs.
Heuristic language function, the function of dispute and polemic, allows a person to achieve his goal with the help of language, and not through the mediation of fists.
The most important thing for humanity is cumulative language function, the function of accumulation and fixation of knowledge. This is reflected in various manuscripts, annals, calendars, glossaries and dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.
And the last function in a series of speech is represented by representative function orienting the participants of communication to the subject of the statement, and not to themselves. For example: - Not otherwise, the old one, I was hit by a paralysis, ulcerate him! Something, I notice, I have not become what I was recently, - said Shchukar, looking with surprise at the hand that did not obey him.. (M. Sholokhov. Upturned virgin soil).
All these functions are closely intertwined in the process of communication. - Progressive young authors gather there. Do you want me to show the stories to Igoryu Efimov? - Who is Igor Efimov? - Progressive young author...(S.Dovlatov. Craft) - the interrogative, representative and voluntative functions of the language are updated here. Or: - Where to go?! Where to go?! - blocking the howl of the wind, the supplier yelled. - Are you small or something?(V. Shukshin. Kapron Christmas tree) - interrogative, emotive and deictic (in the sense of its demand) functions.
Linguistics is the science of language, its origin, properties and functions, as well as the general laws of the structure and development of all languages of the world. “Language in itself and for itself is the most important and generally useful subject of research,” wrote the greatest German philosopher, philologist, one of the most profound and original thinkers of the 19th century. Wilhelm von Humboldt. “Language is not just an external means of communication between people ... but is embedded in the very nature of man and is necessary for the development of his spiritual powers and the formation of a worldview.”
There are from 2.5 to 6 thousand languages in the world, although according to the data of 1983 there are about 1 thousand peoples. At the same time, the distribution of languages around the globe is very uneven: in the vast territory of China, for example, they mainly speak Mandarin, and on about. New Guinea and the small islands adjacent to it speak 1,000 different languages. With all the huge differences between the languages, they have a lot in common. Such features that unite all the languages of the world include, for example, the following:
- 1) each language is the property of a separate collective (people, nation), in connection with which any language (even the most raw) performs different functions in the life of this collective, among which two are the most important - to be a means of human communication and to be a means of knowing the world around;
- 2) each language consists of sounds pronounced by a person, with the help of which words are formed and thoughts are expressed, therefore any language has at least two correlative classes of formations - a word and a sentence;
- 3) any statement in a particular language is divided into elements that are repeated in other statements;
- 4) each language has a set of such repeating elements and rules for their combination into statements.
The subject of linguistics is such complex issues as the essence of language, its origin and main functions, the relationship between language and thinking, language and objective reality, types of languages, organization of their linguistic structure, functioning and historical development, classification of languages, etc.
Within linguistics, it is conditionally possible to distinguish between general and particular linguistics. The subject of study of general linguistics is the general laws of organization, development and functioning of languages. Within the framework of general linguistics, there is typological linguistics, which studies languages in a comparative aspect in order to identify the general patterns of their development and functioning. Typological linguistics establishes linguistic universals, i.e. provisions that are valid for all languages of the world (the so-called absolute universals) or for their significant majority (the so-called statistical universals).
To absolute universals include, for example, the following:
1) in all languages of the world there are vowels and stop consonants (although their ratio may be different); 2) in each language, the speech stream is divided into syllables, among which the structure “consonant + vowel” is sure to be found; 3) in all languages of the world there are proper names and pronouns; 4) in the grammatical system of any language, a name and a verb are distinguished; 5) in every language there are words that convey emotions or commands of a person; 6) if a language has a category of case or gender, then it also has a category of number; 7) if the language has a gender opposition for nouns, then it also exists for pronouns; 8) if in the language the definition comes before the name (as in the phrase new house), then the numeral will also come before the name ( one house, first house); 9) people speak in sentences in all languages of the world, while all languages distinguish between interrogative and affirmative sentences; 10) in all languages of the world in a sentence, as a rule, there is a subject of action and its object, an object and its sign, certain temporal and spatial relations, etc.
From the number statistical universals we can cite, for example, the following: 1) in most languages of the world there are at least two distinct vowels (the only exception is the Aranta language in Australia, which has only one vowel); 2) in most languages of the world, the system of pronouns has at least two numbers (an exception is one of the Austronesian languages - Javanese, in which singular and plural do not differ in pronouns).
Private Linguistics is directed to the study of individual languages (for example, Russian, English, Chinese, etc.) or a group of related languages (for example, Slavic, Romance, etc.). Particular linguistics can be descriptive (synchronous syn ‘together’ and chronos‘time’, i.e. referring to the same time), describing the facts of the language at some point in its history (and not only modern, but also taken in some other time period) or historical (diachroic (On ‘through, through’ and chronos‘time’, i.e. related to movement in time), tracing the development of the language over a longer or shorter period of time (for example, the Old Russian language during the XII-XIII centuries). Diachronic linguistics also includes comparative historical linguistics, which is directed to the study of the historical past of languages.
Linguistics as a science includes many disciplines, including:
- 1) disciplines related to the study of the internal organization of the language, the structure of its levels (for example, phonetics, lexicology, grammar);
- 2) disciplines related to the study of the historical development of the language, with the formation of its levels (for example, historical phonetics, historical grammar, historical lexicology);
- 3) disciplines that describe the functioning of the language in society (sociolinguistics, dialectology, linguogeography), studying a wide range of problems that reflect the social nature of the language, its social functions, role in society, etc.;
- 4) disciplines dealing with complex problems that arise at the intersection of sciences (psycholinguistics, mathematical and engineering linguistics, ethnolinguistics);
- 5) applied linguistic disciplines (experimental phonetics, lexicography, paleography, decoding of unknown script, etc.).
Linguistics studies phenomena belonging to different linguistic levels. Levels languages are the tiers of a common language system. Usually, the following language levels are distinguished: phonemic (or phonological), morphemic (or morphological), syntactic and lexical (or lexico-semantic).
phonemic the level of the language is represented by the following linguistic sciences:
phonetics- the science of the sound level of language. The subject of its study is the sounds of speech in all their diversity, the description of their articulatory and acoustic characteristics and the rules of use in the language;
phonology- a section of linguistics that studies the sound side of the language, but from a functional and systemic point of view. The subject of study is the phoneme, its phonological features and functions;
morphonology- a branch of linguistics that studies the phoneme as an element in the construction of a morpheme. The subject of morphonology is the phonemic structure of morphemes, the behavior of phonemes in identical morphemes (their variation, the rules of compatibility at the junctions of morphemes, and other issues).
Phonetics, phonology, morphonology, which describe the sound side of the language, are opposed by semantically oriented sections of linguistics that study the meaning of both a single word and a whole class of words united by a common grammatical or derivational meaning.
FROM lexical the following sciences are related to the level of language:
lexicology- a branch of linguistics that studies the vocabulary of the language and the word as its main unit, the structure of the lexical composition of the language, ways of its replenishment and development, the nature of systemic relations within or between groups of vocabulary;
semasiology, exploring lexical semantics, the correlation of a word with the concept it expresses and the designated object of reality;
onomasiology, studying issues related to the technique of naming in the language, with the lexical division of the world in the course of human cognition. Morphological the level of the language is described by the following sciences: morphology, studying the structure of the word, its morphemic composition and forms of inflection (classification of systems of forms of inflection), parts of speech and the principles of their selection;
word formation, describing the structure of the word, the means and methods of its formation, the conditions for the appearance and functioning in the language.
Syntactic language level represents syntax- a section of linguistics that describes the processes of speech generation: ways of combining words (and forms of words) into phrases and sentences, types of syntactic links of words and sentences, i.e. those mechanisms of language that contribute to the formation of speech.
- Humboldt von V. Selected Works on Linguistics. M., 1984. S. 51.
- This disproportion between the number of languages and the number of peoples who speak them is gradually increasing, in addition, the discrepancy between the total number of languages is caused by the difficulty of distinguishing between language and dialect, especially when it comes to unwritten languages. The total number of languages and dialects on Earth reaches 30 thousand.
Linguistics as a science. Object and subject. Milestones of development
Linguistics as the science of language
Linguistics is the science that studies languages. Like many sciences, linguistics arose in connection with practical needs. Gradually, linguistics turned into a complex and branched system of disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Theoretical linguistics is divided into particular and general.
Private linguistics studies the features of the structure, functioning, properties of one particular language or a group of related languages. Private linguistics can be synchronic or diachronic.
General linguistics is the science of language, its origin, properties, functions, as well as the general laws of the structure and development of all signs of the world. General and, in particular, typological linguistics reveals and formulates linguistic universals.
Applied linguistics solves both particular tasks related to one language and tasks applied to the material of any language: the creation and improvement of writing; teaching writing, reading, culture of speech, foreign language; creation of systems for automatic translation, automatic search, annotation and abstracting of information.
Subject, object and tasks of linguistics
Linguistics is the science of human language as a means of communication, the general laws of the structure and functioning of language, and all the languages of the world. From the point of view of aspects of language learning, internal and external linguistics are conventionally distinguished. Internal linguistics includes: general linguistics, comparative historical and comparative linguistics, areas of linguistics that study different levels of the language system: phonetics, phonology, grammar, lexicology, phraseology. External linguistics studies aspects of language that are directly related to the functioning of the speaker in society. It also includes dialectology and linguistic geography, which study the territorial variation of a language. A special area of linguistics is interlinguistics, which studies international languages as a means of interlingual communication.
The object of linguistics is the language in the entire scope of its properties and functions, its structure, functioning and historical development.
Modern linguistics is divided into general and particular. General linguistics studies the most general properties of the language and methods of its study, as well as the connections of linguistics with other areas of knowledge. Private linguistics studies any side of the language or a separate language (groups of languages). For example, Russian studies, Japanese studies, etc. Linguistics can be synchronic or diachronic.
Tasks of linguistics:
Ø Establishing the nature and essence of language
Ø Learning the structure of the language
Ø Learning the language as a whole system
Ø Studying the issue of language development
Ø Studying the origin and development of writing
Ø Classification of languages
Ø Choice of research methods: comparative-historical, descriptive, comparative, quantitative
Ø Studying the connection of linguistics with other sciences
History of linguistics
Linguistics began to develop in the Ancient East - in Mesopotamia, Syria, M. Asia and Egypt, as well as in Ancient India (Panini, 5-4 centuries BC), Dr. Greece and Rome (Aristotle). Scientific linguistics originated at the beginning. 19th century in the form of general (W. Humboldt and others) and comparative historical (F. Bopp, J. Grimm, A. Kh. Vostokov and others) linguistics. The main trends in the history of linguistics are: logical (mid-19th century), psychological, neo-grammatical (second half of the 19th century), sociological (end of the 19th - early 20th centuries), structural linguistics (1st half of the 19th century). 20th century).
LOGICAL DIRECTION in linguistics - a set of currents and individual concepts that study the language in its relation to thinking and knowledge and focused on certain schools in logic and philosophy.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DIRECTION (linguistic psychologism) in linguistics is a set of currents, schools and individual concepts that consider language as a phenomenon of the psychological state and activity of a person or people. In different periods of the history of linguistics, representatives of P. n. interpreted the initial concepts, the subject and tasks of the study in different ways. Significantly changed the system of views on psychology. the nature of the language. Therefore, we can talk about a number of psychological. directions, schools and concepts, united by characteristic features: 1) a common opposition to the logical (see Logical direction) and formal schools in yaz-enania; 2) orientation to psychology as methodological. base; 3) the desire to explore the language in its actual functioning and use.
structural linguistics, a set of views on the language and methods of its study, which are based on the understanding of the language as a sign system with clearly distinguishable structural elements (language units, their classes, etc.) and the desire for a strict (approaching exact sciences) description of the language.
Linguistics (or linguistics) is a science that studies languages, a science about natural human language in general and about all the languages of the world as its individual representatives.
It belongs to the social sciences.
Language is an abstract system, expression. in speech
There are (according to various sources) 3-5 thousand languages in the world. Language is the most important means of human communication; there is not and cannot be a human society and people that would not have a language.
Linguistics is connected with different sciences:
social:
- Since language is a social phenomenon, the science of language is associated with a number of social sciences, primarily with sociology. The doctrine of the structure of society, its functioning, evolution and development can give linguistics a lot in connection with how a particular language is used by various social associations. (professional groups, classes, representatives of various social strata), how is the division and unification of social communities reflected in the language, the resettlement of tribes and peoples (migration) or the formation of territorial social groups within the same language (dialects) or between different languages (linguistic unions).
- With history because the history of the language is part of the history of the people. History data provide a concrete historical consideration of language changes, linguistic data are one of the sources in the study of such historical problems as the origin of the people, the development of the culture of the people and their society at different stages of history, contacts between peoples.
- Linguistics with archeology, which studies history from material sources - tools, weapons, jewelry, utensils, etc.
- Linguistics is closely related to ethnography when studying the dialect dictionary - the names of peasant buildings, utensils and clothing, agricultural items and tools, crafts.
The connection of linguistics with ethnography is also manifested in the classification of languages and peoples, in the study of the reflection in the language of national consciousness. This line of research is called ethnolinguistics. Language in this case is considered as an expression of people's ideas about the world.
- Linguistics is closely related to literary criticism. The Union of Linguistics and Literary Studies gave rise to philology. (I love the word) Poetics is at the junction of linguistics and Litved
- Linguistics is also associated with psychology. The psychological direction in linguistics studies mental and other psychological processes and their reflection in speech, in the categories of language. In the middle of the 20th century arose psycholinguistics.
Natural Sciences:
- most closely associated with physiology. Particularly important for linguistics is Pavlov's theory of the first and second signal systems. Impressions, sensations, and ideas from the external environment as a general natural one are "the first signal system of reality that we have in common with animals." The second signaling system is associated with abstract thinking, the formation of general concepts. "The word constituted the second, especially our, signal system of reality, being the signal of the first signals."
- anthropology. Anthropology is the science of the origin of man and human races, of the variability of the structure of man in time and space. The interests of linguists and anthropologists coincide in two cases: firstly, in classifying races, and secondly, in studying the question of the origin of speech.
- On the connection of linguistics with philosophy. Philosophy equips the language. as well as other sciences, methodology, contributes to the development of principles and methods of analysis.
Linguistics is divided into general, particular and applied.
Private linguistics engaged in the study of individual languages. studies the properties inherent
1. individual languages (for example, Russian studies, Polish studies, English studies);
2. groups of related languages (eg Slavic studies, Turkic studies, German studies, Roman studies);
3. certain geographical areas (areas), where there are a number of different and often common in type, but not necessarily related languages (Caucasian studies, Balkan studies).
It may be descriptive (exploring the facts of the language at some period of its history) and historical ( studying the development of a language over a period of time).
General linguistics- explores the essence and nature of the language, the problem of its origin and the general laws of its development, its functioning, and also develops methods for analyzing languages. Its task is to define the concepts used by linguistics. It brings out features that are common to languages and establishes a theory that applies to all (or most) languages.
General linguistics includes comparative historical, which studies the historical past of related and unrelated languages, in order to identify the general patterns of the language. Within the framework of general linguistics, typological linguistics, whose task is to compare unrelated languages. Typological linguistics conducts comparisons of both related and unrelated languages in order to identify common language patterns. For example, the identification of language universals (static universals for the vast majority of languages and absolute universals for all languages of the world). Absolute universals, for example: in all languages there is a division into vowels and consonants, and also in all languages there are proper names, and so on.
Applied Linguistics– specializes in solving practical problems related to language learning, as well as in the practical use of linguistic theory in other areas; application of linguistic knowledge in practice. (for example, teaching linguistics).
Translation from one language to another
Terminology development
Improvement of the alphabet
Language learning approaches:
Diachronic (involves the study of the facts of the language in their development.)
Synchronic (research involves the study of the facts of the language relating to the same time.)
Language sections:
Language as a system consists of language units, which are grouped into levels.
The structure of each level, the relationship of units among themselves are the subject of study of sections of linguistics:
Phonetics
Morphology
Syntax
Lexicology
Phonetics- a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech and the sound structure of the language (syllables, sound combinations, patterns of connecting sounds in a speech chain).
Morphology- one of the sections of grammar that studies the morphemic composition of the language, types of morphemes, the nature of their interaction and functioning.
Syntax- a section of grammar that studies the patterns of constructing sentences and combining words in a phrase. Syntax includes two main parts: the doctrine of the phrase and the doctrine of the sentence.
Morphology + syntax (+ derivation) = grammar. (two relatively independent sections are combined into a more general linguistic science) Grammar- a section of linguistics containing the doctrine of the forms of inflection, the structure of words, types of phrases and types of sentences.
Lexicology- studies the word and vocabulary of the language as a whole.
Onomasiology is a science that studies the process of naming
Semasiology - the meanings of words and phrases
Phraseology - studies the stable turns of speech of the language
Onomastics - studies proper names in the broad sense of the word (geographical names, names and surnames)
Lexicography - compiling dictionaries
Synonymy - identity and proximity of meanings
Antonymy - the opposite of the meanings of language units
Phraseology is the science of linguistic units that are complex in composition, having a stable character - phraseological units
Aspects:
External - why do we need a language, language functions (sociolinguistics (from dialects))
Internal - language device, structure
Practical -
Comparative (closely related) and comparative (different languages) language. comporativistics.
The complexity of the language device.
It is a system of systems.
1) literary language (dictionaries)
2) vernacular
3) territorial dialects
4) social dialects (slang, professional)
In conclusion, we would like to outline the range of tasks that linguistics should solve:
1. Establish the nature and essence of language.
2. Consider the structure of the language.
3. To understand language as a system, that is, language is not disparate facts, not a set of words, it is an integral system, all members of which are interconnected and interdependent.
4. To study the development of the language in connection with the development of society;
How and when did both arise;
5. To study the issue of the origin and development of writing;
6. Classify languages, that is, combine them according to the principle of their similarity
7. Consider the relationship of linguistics with other sciences (history, psychology, logic, literary criticism, mathematics).
Linguistics (linguistics) is the science of language, the scientific study of language [Lyons 1978]. The object of the science of language is natural human language. As J Lyons notes, the main difficulty for those who begin to study linguistics is that one must form an unbiased view of the language. Language is familiar, natural, we do not think about it. Each person speaks the mother's language, has an intuitive understanding of the language, studies grammar at school. The difficulty lies in the fact that words such as sentence, letter, word etc. are used by both linguists and non-linguists. Linguists use these words as linguistic terms. In addition, linguistics also has special terminology, like any other science ( seme, sememe, concept, isomorphism, polysemy and etc.).
The French linguist Emile Benveniste emphasized that there is not and cannot be a society, a people that would not have a language. There is no man himself without language. Society is possible only through language, and only through language is the individual possible [Benveniste 1974]. The essence of man rests in language. A man would not be a man if he were denied the opportunity to speak - incessantly, all-encompassing, about everything, in various varieties. We exist primarily in and with language. These thoughts about language belong to the German philosopher M. Heideger.
The great German scientist W. von Humboldt emphasized that a person is a person only thanks to language [Humboldt 1984].
No power can be compared with the power of the tongue, which achieves so much with so little. There is no higher power, and, in fact, all human power stems from it [Benveniste 1974]. What is the source of this mysterious power, which is contained in the language? Why is the existence of society and the individual based on language? The science of language tries to answer this question - linguistics (linguistics).
The American scientist Edward Sapir noted that we do not know a single people who would not have a fully developed language. The most culturally backward South African Bushman speaks with a rich symbolic system, which, in essence, is quite comparable to the speech of an educated Frenchman. In the language of savages, according to Sapir, there is no rich terminology, no subtle distinction of shades that reflect the highest cultural level, more abstract meanings are not fully represented, but the true foundation of the language is a complete phonetic system, the association of speech elements with meanings, a complex apparatus for the formal expression of relations - we find all this in all languages in a completely developed and systematized form. Many primitive languages, according to Sapir, have a wealth of forms and an abundance of expressive means, far exceeding the formal and expressive possibilities of the languages of modern civilization [Sapir 1993].
Language is an immensely ancient heritage of the human race. The emergence of language probably precedes even the very initial development of material culture. The very development of culture could not take place until language, an instrument for expressing meaning, took shape [Sapir 1993]. Sapir defined language as “a purely human, non-instinctive way of conveying thoughts, emotions and desires through specially produced symbols” [Sapir 1993].
The French linguist Joseph Vandries emphasized that language as a social phenomenon could arise only when the human brain was sufficiently developed to use the language [Vandries 1937].
Language is defined as a sign system for the formation and verbal expression of thought, which serves for communication in human society. This is a system of articulate signs that spontaneously arose in human society and is developing, designed for human cognitive activity and communication purposes and capable of expressing the totality of human knowledge and ideas about the world. Language serves to convey messages, information, knowledge about the external and internal world. With the help of language, people organize their joint activities. Language participates in the ordering of information received from outside, in the mental activity of understanding the world.
Language is an extremely complex socio-psychological phenomenon. Language is always the language of some people, and at the same time it is the language of each individual. Language is associated with all manifestations of human life - with the labor, cognitive activity of people.
The greatest asset of people (language) is constantly unrelenting interest. Language is the subject of attention of many sciences - philosophy, logic, psychology, sociology and many others. For linguistics, language is the only object of study. Linguistics studies language in all its manifestations.
A linguist is interested in all languages. Any language, no matter how “backward” the people speaking it, turns out to be a complex and highly organized system. There is absolutely no connection between the various stages of the cultural development of a society and the types of language used at the respective stages. The study of all languages should be approached from the same positions [Lyons 1978]. The number of oppositions possible when dividing the surrounding reality is, in principle, infinite. Therefore, only those oppositions that play an important role in the life of a given society receive expression in the dictionary of the language. J. Lyons believes that no language can be said to be internally "richer" than any other. Each language is adapted to meet the communicative needs of its speakers.
The linguist's interest in all languages is determined by the general task of linguistics - the creation of a scientific theory that explains the structure of natural language. Any linguistic fact must find a place and an explanation within the framework of the general theory of language.
Cited Literature:
Benveniste E. General linguistics. Per. from fr. M., 1974.
Vandries J. Language. Linguistic introduction to history. Per. from fr. M., 1937.
Humboldt W. background. Selected works on linguistics. Per. with him. M., 1984.
Lyons J. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Per. from English. M., 1978.
Sapir E. Selected Works on Linguistics and Cultural Studies. Per. from English. M., 1993.
3. The connection of linguistics with other sciences
Language serves almost all spheres of human life, therefore, the study of language, the establishment of its place and role in the life of a person and society necessarily leads to broad connections between linguistics and other sciences. Linguistics studies language, taking into account its relations and connections with such manifestations of human life as society, consciousness, thinking, culture, therefore linguistics is connected with all the main sections of modern science - with social (humanitarian) and natural sciences, with medical, technical sciences .
The closest and most ancient connections exist between linguistics and philology. In fact, linguistics as a science came out of the bowels of philology, which in ancient times was a single undifferentiated science, including literary criticism, textual criticism, poetics, cultural theory and linguistics (grammar). Philology is now understood as a complex science that combines literary criticism and linguistics. Linguistics is connected with literary criticism (literary theory, literary history, literary criticism). Philology is a science that studies the culture of the people, expressed in language and literary creativity. At the intersection of linguistics and literary criticism is poetics - a section of literary theory that deals with the construction of literary texts, studying the sound, syntactic, stylistic organization of poetic speech, the system of aesthetic means. It should be noted that there are significant differences between the literary and linguistic approaches to the study of a literary text. A literary critic studies language as a component of artistic form and in connection with ideological content. A linguist studies a literary text as a manifestation of the author's speech activity, as a fact of the language norm and functional style.
Linguistics is also associated with hermeneutics. Hermeneutics and linguistics are occupied with the construction and interpretation of texts, decoding and reading of ancient texts. Hermeneutics is a science that studies the processes of text understanding. Everywhere man deals with texts. Text production and text comprehension occupy an important place in human activity. Understanding texts plays a big role in social life, individual destiny, organization of learning. Understanding regulates the development of reality through the text. And this is embodied in decision-making, the formation of views, assessments, self-assessments, in communication of all types. The purpose of philological hermeneutics is to help people communicate in a variety of situations, to overcome the misunderstanding of man by man.
Linguistics has the same ancient connections with philosophy. In ancient Greece, linguistics originated in the depths of philosophy, which followed from the worldview of ancient thinkers who considered the cosmos, nature and man as a whole. Both of these sciences are interested in such problems as “language and consciousness”, “language and thinking”, “language and society”, “language and culture”, “correlation of concept and meaning in a word”, etc. Philosophy as a science of the most general laws of development of nature, society, man, consciousness gives linguistics the general methodological principles of approach to language as a phenomenon. The dominant philosophical ideas and trends of a particular era have always influenced the theoretical concepts of the language.
From the early stages of the existence of linguistics, its connection with logic. Already Aristotle (384-322 BC) formulated the features of a logical approach to language. Logic and linguistics consider the problems of the connection between language and thinking, the correlation of logical forms of thinking and their expression in linguistic categories.
Linguistics is associated with history. History is the science of the development of human society, of the processes associated with changes in the social structures of society. The history of a language is part of the history of a people. The connection of linguistics with history is two-way: the data of history provide a concrete historical consideration of the phenomena of the language, and the data of linguistics are one of the sources in the study of the historical problems of ethnogenesis, the development of the culture of a people, contacts with other peoples, etc. Chronicles and other written monuments give us an idea of historical events, features of the life of different peoples. The study of the language of written monuments makes it possible to judge the relationship of different languages and, consequently, the common destinies of various peoples, the territory of their settlement, migration in time and space. Accounting for external historical factors clarifies the formation of certain languages, the fate of individual words and expressions. Thus, mass borrowings of words are noted, as a rule, during the period of active contacts between peoples, reflecting the influence of the people whose language serves as a source of borrowings. For example, in the Petrine era, which was characterized by extensive economic, commercial and cultural ties with Western Europe, the Russian language was significantly influenced by Western European languages.
Linguistics is associated with archeology, ethnography, anthropology. Archeology studies history using material sources found during excavations, monuments of material culture - tools, weapons, jewelry, utensils, etc. Linguistics, together with archeology, studies extinct languages and determines the migration of their speakers. Ethnography studies the life and culture of the people. Ethnographers classify and interpret the data of archaeological excavations according to the types of material culture, which is important for linguists to identify areas of distribution of certain languages. Linguistics is most closely associated with ethnography in the study of the dialect dictionary - the names of peasant buildings, utensils, clothing, agricultural items and tools, crafts. The connection of linguistics with ethnography is manifested not only in the study of material culture, but also in the study of the reflection in the language of national identity. Among the general problems of linguistics and ethnography, the problem of the functioning of language in societies of various types should be noted.
At the intersection of linguistics and anthropology arose ethnolinguistics, which explores the language in its relation to the culture of the people.
Thanks to archaeological excavations, many written monuments have been discovered: tablets with Assyrian texts, stone slabs with hieroglyphic and cuneiform signs, birch bark letters of ancient Novgorod, Torzhok, etc. from the largest birch bark documents, the length of which is 55.5 cm, the width is 9 cm. It was not a document and not a business record, but a literary text, an extract from a literary work. The Novotorzhskaya charter is a rare case of a written literary text that has come down to us from the depths of centuries. This is a sermon with which the priest addressed his flock [cf. Question. linguistic 2002. No. 2].
At the junction of linguistics with the disciplines of the historical cycle, paleography, which studies the creation of signs of writing and their development.
Linguistics (together with anthropology) attempts to answer the question of the origin of man and language and the early stages of their development. Anthropology is the science of the origin of man and his races, of the variability of man over time. The interests of linguists and anthropologists converge in the classification of races and languages.
FROM sociology linguistics is united by such problems as the social nature of the language, its social functions, the mechanisms of the influence of social factors on the language, the role of language in the life of society, etc. At the junction of linguistics and sociology, sociolinguistics devoted to the development of questions of the relationship between language and society, social structures. In sociolinguistics questions of a language situation, language policy are considered.
Linguistics is associated with psychology. Psychology and linguistics deal with the problems of speech production and speech perception (coding and decoding of speech signals by the brain system), speech organization of a person. What psychological work of consciousness is behind each step of the development of speech and what are these steps - this is one of the main questions. psycholinguistics. The inner spiritual and mental world of a person is most clearly manifested with the help of language. Reflection of spiritual, mental, emotional and mental activity by language forms is studied by psycholinguistics.
At the beginning of the twentieth century. arose linguosemiotics, the appearance of which is associated with the name of the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure (1857-1913). Semiotics is the science of signs, any sign systems - telegraph codes, flag signals, road signs, gestural signs, and so on. Language is the main, most complex sign system, therefore semiotics studies language along with other sign systems.
Linguistics is connected not only with social, but also with natural sciences: physics, biology, physiology, mathematics, cybernetics, informatics, medicine and etc.
Of the natural sciences, linguistics comes into contact mainly with human physiology. Physiology and neurophysiology study the structure of the speech apparatus, the formation of speech sounds, the perception of the speech flow by the organs of hearing, and the reflex physiological basis of the language. Particularly important for linguistics is the reflex theory of speech activity of Russian physiologists I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov. The words that a person hears and sees represent the second signal system - a specifically human form of reflection of reality. The second signal system is signal signals.
There is a close connection between linguistics and neurology- the science of the higher nervous activity of man. The junction of these two sciences formed a new discipline - neurolinguistics, which studies the linguistic behavior of a person not only in the norm, but also in pathology. The study of speech disorders (aphasias) gives linguists a lot not only for understanding speech, but also for studying the structure of the language and its functioning.
The connection of linguistics with biology Undoubtedly, since both of these sciences provide an answer to the question of the evolution of man and language, and allow us to reconstruct the most ancient states. The methods for reconstructing the Proto-Indo-European language and determining the time of its decay turned out to be similar to similar procedures in the molecular theory of evolution. Scientists have discovered a structural similarity between the genetic code and the natural language code.
Linguistics is associated with medicine, which is interested in the zones and functions of the central nervous system. They can be studied on the basis of linguistic data.
FROM psychiatry linguistics is associated with the study of unconscious speech errors, pathopsychological speech disorders associated with mental retardation, or speech deviations associated with impaired sensory systems (in the deaf and deaf-mute).
Sufficiently strong links exist between linguistics and geography. Often geographic factors serve as a prerequisite for linguistic facts: the peculiarities of the mountain landscape in the Caucasus or the Pamirs predetermine the existence of a small number of native speakers; wide open territories contribute, as a rule, to the separation of dialects, and limited ones to their convergence; seas and oceans served in antiquity as an obstacle to broad language contacts. At the intersection of linguistics and geography arose linguogeography, studying the territorial distribution of languages and dialects, as well as individual linguistic phenomena.
Toponymy is also of a linguo-geographical nature - a section of lexicology that studies various geographical names (mountains, seas, oceans, lakes, rivers, settlements, etc.). The study of such names often provides reliable historical information about the settlement of tribes, the migration of peoples, and the peculiarities of the way of life of people in different eras.
Linguistics is associated with physical, mathematical and technical sciences. The connection of linguistics with physics, primarily with acoustics, led to the creation of experimental phonetics. At the end of the twentieth century. a close union of linguistics with theoretical physics was formed, with those sections of it that are engaged in the creation of unified theories of the universe.
At the intersection of mathematics and linguistics arose mathematical linguistics, which develops a formal apparatus for describing natural languages. Mathematical linguistics uses statistics, probability theory, set theory, algebra, mathematical logic in the study of language. Mathematics allows you to develop a statistical theory of language, conduct quantitative studies of various linguistic phenomena, classify them, create frequency dictionaries, study the formal compatibility of language units, calculate the statistical characteristics of speech using the methods of mathematical information theory, model the processes of generating and perceiving speech, etc.
Among the mathematical disciplines in contact with linguistics is information theory, or Informatics, studying the language as one of the means of storing, processing and transmitting information. Informatics in alliance with linguistics ensures the creation and operation of information retrieval systems and automated control systems.
Closely related is modern linguistics and cybernetics– the science of management and the place of information in management processes. Cybernetics tries to understand language as a natural and powerful self-regulating information system that participates in control processes in almost all areas of human life. The contacts of linguistics with cybernetics led to the formation engineering linguistics, which deals with the study of language in its relation to computers, to the possibilities of machine word processing, to the possibilities of creating analyzers and synthesizers of the human voice.
Modern linguistics is a branched, multifaceted science that has broad connections with almost all areas of modern knowledge. The connection of linguistics with other sciences does not deny its independence as a special science.
The main trend of scientific progress in the modern world is the interpenetration of sciences, the rapid development of new scientific disciplines that arise at the junctions of traditional areas of research. A trend has arisen synthesizing sciences, which resulted in butt sciences, such as: physical chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, etc.
As a result of the interaction of linguistics with other sciences, complex (butt) sciences arise, such as sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, mathematical linguistics, ethnolinguistics, etc. Complex scientific disciplines that arise at the junction of two or more sciences testify to the process of synthesis of scientific knowledge.
On the other hand, there is a process differentiation scientific areas. From the object of linguistics as a holistic discipline, such areas are distinguished that fall into the sphere of psycholinguistics or sociolinguistics as independent sciences. Many modern discoveries have been made by linguists working at the intersection of sciences.
The successes of cybernetics, informatics, mathematical linguistics, and engineering linguistics have given rise to new linguistic problems, have given linguists the opportunity to explore the language with new methods that complement and improve the old ones. Machine translation, the use of computers, machine information retrieval, automatic text processing, etc. required a revision or a new look at some linguistic concepts.
A.A. Reformatsky noted that linguistics should be true to its subject and its ontology, although it can enter into any relationship with related sciences.
Linguistics has a leading place in the system of human sciences - Human Science.
4. General and private linguistics
Linguistics has two objects - language and languages. Linguistics is the science of language and languages. Human language is a unique phenomenon of reality. It actually exists in many separate, specific languages. Today, science knows about 5 thousand languages (According to some sources, the number of languages and dialects on Earth is about 30 thousand. The number of peoples on Earth is about 1 thousand). 180 languages are native to 3.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth. The remaining languages are used by a smaller part of the earth's population. Among these languages there are languages spoken by several hundred or even tens of people. But for linguistics, all languages are equal and all are important, since each of them is a unique creation of people.
Language as a human ability, as a universal and immutable characteristic of a person, is not the same as separate, constantly changing languages in which this ability is realized. Human language is actually given to us in experience in many separate concrete languages.
Each of the individual languages is somewhat different from the others, being a unique, individual phenomenon. But, at the same time, it has many common features with other languages, and in the most essential - with all the languages of the world that people speak at the present time and which have already ceased to exist, leaving a memory of themselves in written texts.
The general and essential in various languages, as well as the particular and the separate in specific languages, serve as the basis for distinguishing general and particular linguistics within linguistics. General linguistics considers the properties of human language in general, language as an invariant ,
which actually exists in the form of specific ethnic languages.
General linguistics (general linguistics) is a science that studies natural human language, its origin, properties, functioning and development. The subject of general linguistics is such complex issues as the essence of language, the relationship between language and thinking, language and objective reality, language and culture, types of languages, classification of languages, historical development of languages, etc. General linguistics should explain based on existing knowledge and checking newly put forward hypotheses, the nature and essence of human language in general, i.e. answer questions about the place of language in a number of phenomena of the world, about its relation to a person and his life, to thinking, cognition, consciousness, to the reality surrounding a person, to his biological and psychological nature. General linguistics also includes the methodology of linguistic research, i.e. a system of research principles, methods, procedures and techniques.
Private linguistics has as its subject a particular language or group of languages. It explores each individual language as a special, unique phenomenon. Those sections of linguistics that are devoted to individual languages get their name from their language, for example, Russian studies, English studies, Polonian studies, Lithuanian studies, etc. When studying a group of related languages, the name of a section of linguistics is given by the name of the group, for example, German studies, Roman studies, etc. Private linguistics can study families of languages, and then it gets a name for the family of languages being studied, for example, Indo-European studies.
Private linguistics is called upon to record, inventory and describe in detail the whole multitude of languages that exist or have existed on Earth. Private linguistics is by its nature descriptive, empirical, it is interested in how a given language works, how it functions, how it developed.
Solving the problems of particular linguistics can be effective if it is based on general linguistics, which offers its own conceptual apparatus. In relation to particular linguistics, general linguistics acts as a theoretical, explanatory discipline. It is a theory, the objects of which are universal, common to all human languages, the laws of their structure, functioning, development. These laws are obligatory for all languages, but they are implemented in each of the specific languages in their own way.
On the other hand, the general patterns of the structure and development of a language can be known only by examining individual living or dead languages.
Two sections of linguistics - general and particular linguistics complement each other. General linguistics contributes to a better understanding of the specifics of specific languages; it plays the role of a theoretical foundation for private linguistics describing specific languages. Private linguistics uses concepts, ideas, provisions of general linguistics, applying them to a specific language.