Linguistics
Linguistics can be defined as the study of language and its structure in terms of syntax, phonetics, and grammar. Linguistics, according to Aitchison (1999), linguistic can also be described as the systematic study of language. The discipline attempt to provide the answers to questions like, what is language? And How does language work? By exploring language through these questions, the discipline also attempts to understand how different languages compare and contrast and how human and animal communication differs (Aitchison, 2004). Linguistics also tries to understand how a child learns to speak and for what reasons or factors language changes over time.
Linguistics, as a discipline, covers a vast range of topics with undefined boundaries. The range of the topics covered under linguistics or the scope of linguistics can be illustrated in a diagram, the shape of a wheel consisting of six concentric circles. The innermost circle represents the phonetics which can be described as the study of the language of speech sounds. Phonetics is a fundamental element of linguistics concerned with the actual sounds, which are also the raw materials from which language stems (Aitchison, 2004). The circle surrounding phonetics is phonology, which entails speech patterning. Phonology is surrounded by syntax, a part of linguistics that links together the sound patterns and the meanings. Semantics surrounds syntax and is mainly based on meaning. Phonology, syntax, and semantics constitute the grammatical hub of language. Surrounding this grammatical hub is pragmatics, which is centered on how the speakers use the language in a fashion that cannot be defined with linguistic knowledge alone. On the outermost parts of the illustration are various disciplines that link language to the outer world. One of the disciplines is psycholinguistics: deals with the study of the mind and language. The second discipline in this circle is sociolinguistics: deals with the study of language and society. The third discipline is applied linguistics: deals with the application of linguistics in language education. Other disciplines in this circle are computational linguistics, philosophical linguistics, and anthropological linguistics, which deal with the study of language in computer technology simulation, language, and logical thought, and the study of language in cross-cultural studies, respectively.
The main difference between the descriptive and descriptive approaches to language is that prescriptive language is centered on describing how a given language is supposed to be used while descriptive language focuses on just focusing on how the language is used and not how it should be used.
Linguists regard speech as primary instead of writing because language fundamentally stems from human sound patterns produced. Linguists are more interested in how an individual’s tongue, vocal cords, and teeth are positioned and how, in doing so, analyze and record these sound waves(Aitchison, 2004). Written language on the other hand, can only be described as a form of encryption of spoken language; hence is not the actual representation of the properties of the language.
The difference between synchronic and diachronic is synchronic linguistics focuses on describing the aspects of a language at a specific time, often the present, while diachronic focuses on the description of a language through historical periods (Aitchison, 2004). An example of synchronistic linguistics is the analysis of word order in a given sentence in Old English. Diachronic linguistics, on the other hand would entail the study of how the word order in a given sentence changes from Old English to Middle English.
References
Aitchison, J. (2004). Teach yourself linguistics. McGraw-Hill, Inc..