This document provides an introduction to linguistics. It discusses what language is, how it is used, and its key characteristics. Some important points made include that language is a characteristic of society, not just individuals, and that it allows for displacement and creativity. The document also outlines the main branches of linguistics, such as general linguistics, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics. It explains that linguistics is the scientific study of language and how it can be analyzed on different levels.

1. UNIVERSIDAD DEL ISTMO
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT:
GENERAL LINGUISTIC
TUTOR:
ANA J. DEL CID G.
MODULE #2
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
JULY, 2021

2. What is language?
 ¨Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual, or written
symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social
group and participants in its culture, express themselves. The
functions of language include communication, the expression of
identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release.¨
 Robert Henry Robins /David Crystal
https://www.britannica.com/topic/language/media/1/329791/204789
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3. DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING QUESTION 3
IS IT TRUE THAT EVERY HUMAN
BEING HAS A LANGUAGE?

4. WE USE
LANGUAGE…
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 TO COMMUNICATE IDEAS
 TO THINK
 TO SHOW WHO WE ARE WITHIN A
GROUP WE BELONG
 ***LANGUAGE IS A CHARACTERISTIC
OF A SOCIETY, RATHER THAN AN
INDIVIDUAL FEATURE***

5. WHAT IS
IMPORTANT
FOR HUMAN
LANGUAGE
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NATIVE SPEAKERS SINCE
CHILDHOOD
ONE CAN SPEAK ABOUT
EVERYTHING
RECOGNIZED BY A GROUP
AS THEIR LANGUAGE

6. HUMAN AND
ANIMAL
COMMUNICATION
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THERE ARE THREE MAIN
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
HUMAN AND ANIMAL
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
1. DISCRETE INFINITY:
LANGUAGE IS INFINITE. WE
CAN GIVE INFINITE
MESSAGES WITH FINITE
MEANS.
2. DISPLACEMENT: WE CAN
SPEAK FREELY ABOUT TIME,
SPACE, OR EVEN ABSTRACT
NOTIONS. WE CAN SPEAK
ABOUT THINGS NOT
HAPPENING HERE AND
NOW.
3. JOINT ATTENTION: HUMAN
LANGUAGE EXPRESSES A
SHARED GOAL. IT IS A
FUNDAMENTALLY
COOPERATIVE TOOL.

7. WHAT ABOUT SIGN
LANGUAGE?
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 SIGN LANGUAGE AND HUMAN
LANGUAGE SHARE SIMILAR ASPECTS
 1. BOTH ARE SYSTEMS
 2. THEY HAVE VARIATIONS
 3. THEY HAVE A FUNCTIONALITY IN
SOCIETY
 4. THERE ARE NATIVE SPEAKERS OF SIGN
LANGUAGE

8. 8
ARE THERE
PEOPLE
WITHOUT
LANGUAGE?
 WOLFCHILDREN:
Children growing up without parents or
language.
 Physical and psychological abuse. The
case of Genie Wiley
 Aphasia:
The partial loss of language abilities as a result
of brain damage

9. Features Common to All
Languages
 a) all languages have vowels and consonants
 b) all languages have words
 c) all languages can create new words when required and modify their
meanings;
 d) all languages are open-ended in the sense that they can produce
totally new utterances which are understood by the users of the
language
 e) all languages can form questions
 f) in all languages it is possible to talk about things and situations that are
removed from the immediate situation of the speaker, also called
displacement
 g) in all languages we can use hypothetical, unreal, and fictional
utterances.
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10. PROPERTIES OF THE LANGUAGE
 Displacement.
 Productivity or Creativeness.
 Discreteness.
 Arbitrariness.
 Duality.
 Cultural transmission.
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11. DISPLACEMENT 11

12. CREATIVITY / PRODUCTIVTY 12

13. DISCREETNESS 13

14. ARBITRARINESS 14

15. DUALITY 15

16. 16

17. CULTURAL TRANSMISSION 17

18. 18

19. LINGUISTICS
 Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
 Human language, understood as a systematic use of
speech sounds, signs, and written symbols for
communication among people, is a very complicated
system, which can be analyzed on different levels and
from various points of view.
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20. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
 General or theoretical linguistics tries to determine universal principles for studying
languages and to describe the general features of language
 Contrastive linguistics concentrates upon the differences between languages. Its
findings are often applied in the context of language teaching.
 Comparative linguistics studies different languages looking for similar characteristics.
These languages may have common historical origin though the main emphasis of the
analysis is usually placed on the structural correspondences between languages under
investigation.
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21. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
 General or theoretical linguistics tries to determine universal principles for
studying languages and to describe the general features of language
 Contrastive linguistics concentrates upon the differences between languages.
Its findings are often applied in the context of language teaching.
 Comparative linguistics studies different languages looking for similar
characteristics. These languages may have common historical origin though
the main emphasis of the analysis is usually placed on the structural
correspondences between languages under investigation.
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22. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
 Historical linguistics analyses the development of language in time, registering the
changes that have taken place in it.
 Applied linguistics is concerned with the application of linguistic theories and their
findings in solving various language problem, mostly in the teaching of foreign
languages, studying language disorders, in translation, lexicography, and stylistics
 Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society, taking into
consideration standard and non-standard forms of language, regional and social
varieties with reference to such concepts as ethnicity, social status, sex, age, etc.
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23. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
 Psycholinguistics is a branch of linguistics which studies the relationship
between linguistic behavior and the mental processes. It is interested in how
mental processes influence the production and perception of speech.
 Computational linguistics uses computer techniques and applies them in
automatic translation and speech analysis using corpora for large-scale
statistical investigation and computational processing of spoken and written
texts.
 Developmental linguistics is concerned with the study of the acquisition of
language by children, describing the stages and patterns of development
and explaining the typical features and variations.
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