MODERN

LINGUISTICS
B Y : M S . K A I N AT S H A I K H
AGENDA ITEMS:
• What is Modern Linguistics?
• Emergence of Modern Linguistics – Sassure
• Structuralism / European Structuralism
• American Structuralism
• Contemporary Approaches to Linguistics –
Functional Linguistics
• The Prague School – Combination of
Structuralism & Functionalism
WHAT IS MODERN
LINGUISTICS?
• Modern Linguistics emerged when language was
started being perceived as not only a mode of
communication but as a science operating on the
levels of systems and structures to carry out its
functions.
• As a science, it draws its influences from
anthropology, political science, genetics, sociology,
psychology, gender studies, mathematics, and
other interdisciplinary fields.
 N OA M
• Avram Noam Chomsky is an CHOMSKY IS
T H E FAT H E R O F
American linguist, philosopher, MODERN
LINGUISTICS,
cognitive scientist, historian, social AND HIS
critic, and political activist. THEORIES
H O L D T H AT T H E
PRINCIPLES
U N D E R LY I N G
THE
STRUC TURE OF
L A N G UA G E A R E
B I O L O G I C A L LY
DETERMINED IN
THE HUMAN
MIND AND
HENCE
G E N E T I C A L LY
T R A N S M I T T E D.
7 LINGUISTS WHO CHANGED
THE GAME
1. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913): Linguistic signs
2. Roman Jakobson: (1896 – 1982): Distinctive features / Discreteness
3. Edward Sapir (1884 – 1939): Linguistic relativity
4. Paul Grice (1913 – 1988): Cooperative principle
5. Noam Chomsky (1928 – ): Universal grammar
6. Leonard Bloomfield (1887 – 1949): Structural linguistics
7. Stephen Krashen (1941 – ): Krashen’s Hypotheses on Second
Language Acquisition
 LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

• The linguist Leonard Bloomfield(1887-1949),one

of the pioneers of Modern linguistics, called these
levels the structure of language (Bloomfield1933).
• He recommended that language operates along
with systems - starting from phonetics
(recognition of sounds), moving towards
phonology (language patterns), morphology
(words) ,syntax (sentences) ,and semantics
(meaning).
• This kind of study would tell us a lot about the
structure of a language. Such an approach to
language -i.e. Seeing it as a structure- is called
structuralism.
LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC
ANALYSIS
• Levels of Linguistic analysis can be described as
under:
• Phonetics and Phonology ( the arrangement and
pattern of sounds in a language)
• Grammar: The study of Morphology and Syntax
• Semantics & Pragmatics – Textual & Contextual
Meaning
EMERGENCE OF
MODERN
LINGUISTICS
• In language, every STRUCTURE is a
SYSTEM in itself. If you change one part
of it, the other parts change in order to
adjust themselves.
• The first linguist to point this out was
Ferdinand de Saussure(1857-1913).
• Though Saussure did not explicitly use
the notion of ‘STRUCTURE’. For him,
the essential notion was that of
‘SYSTEM’.
• According to Sassure, Language is a
system of systems.
• Therefore, Ferdinand de Saussure is
considered the Father of Structuralism.
 Structuralism

European Structuralism American Structuralism

(1920s) (1930s and 1960s)
Ferdinand de Sassure Noam Chomsky and
Bloomfield
 MAIN TENETS OF EUROPEAN
STRUCTURALISM
• European Structuralism believes that:
1. Language has a structure: Language is a
structure in which each of the elements interact
with one another.
2. Language is a system of signs: A-P-P-L-E
3. Two systems: Abstract system (in mind) and
Actual Speech (surroundings)
4. This structure is subjected to the change &
modification.
5. Following the structuralism principle, new
languages can be formed.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
STRUCTURALISM:
According to Saussure, fundamental
elements of language are arbitrary, relational
(connected to one another) and systematic.
He gave following concepts:
Synchronic vs Diachronic Linguistics
Langue and Parole
Signifier and signified
DIACHRONIC AND
SYNCHRONIC LINGUISTICS:
• Saussure distinguished between Synchronic and
Diachronic studies of human languages.
• Chronos means ‘time’ in Latin: Syn: means ‘at the
same time’ while dia refers to ‘the passing of
time’.
• The Synchronic Linguistics is the study of the
language system at this present time while
Diachronic Linguistics is the study of this system
in history.
LANGUE & PAROLE
• Langue: The formal code of the language
(grammar) – Langue is social – shared by all the
speakers of particular language
• Parole: Use of this formal code in the actual
speech – Parole is individual – subjected to
performance of particular individual – idiolect
(individual dialect)
• Langue & Parole: Together they construct the
Language
SIGNIFIER & SIGNIFIED
• Sign and Symbol Distinction
• Semiotics: The study of signs and symbols and
their use or interpretation.
• Signifier: a sign's physical form (such as a sound,
printed word, or image) as distinct from its
meaning.
• Signified: The meaning or idea expressed by a sign
 AMERICAN
STRUCTURALISM
MAIN TENETS OF AMERICAN
STRUCTURALISM
• Linguistics is a descriptive science.
• The primary form of language is the spoken one.
• Every language is a system on its own right.
• Language is a system in which smaller units arrange systematically to
form larger ones.
• Meaning should not be part of linguistic analysis.
• Language is observable speech, not knowledge.
WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS?

• This term is used to indicate linguistic approaches that are

centrally concerned with the function of language – that is
what language does, and how it does it in a given context.
This approach contrasts with more formal approaches
that are primarily concerned with formal structures
(structuralism), such as phonemes or sentence. Functional
linguistics is focused on deriving grammatical, syntactic and
textual structures from the ways in which language is used.
• Functional Linguistics, notably the work of Michael
Halliday that builds on the work of Firth. Systemic-
Functional Linguistics is a theory of language centered on
the notion of language function and which accounts for
the syntactic structure of language.
E.g: Old Men and Women are invited to the party.
TWO FUNCTIONS OF
LANGUAGE
• Use of language to interact with one
another, socially or emotionally – to
Interaction
indicate friendliness, co-operation,
hostility, annoyance, pain, pleasure.
• Transfer of knowledge, skills,
information from one generation to
Transaction
the next– through spoken and
written language.
THE PRAGUE SCHOOL
• The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle was
an influential group of linguists, philologists and
literary critics in Prague. Its proponents
developed methods of structuralist analysis and a
theory of the standard language and of language
cultivation during the years 1928–1939. The
linguistic circle was founded in the Café Derby in
Prague, which is also where meetings took place
during its first years.
• The Prague School has had a significant continuing
influence on linguistics and semiotics.
THE PRAGUE SCHOOL - COMBINATION OF
STRUCTURALISM & FUNCTIONALISM
• The most characteristic feature of the Prague
school approach is its combination of
structuralism with functionalism. The latter term
(like “structuralism”) has been used in a variety of
senses in linguistics. Here it is to be understood
as implying an appreciation of the diversity of
functions fulfilled by language and a theoretical
recognition that the structure of languages is in
large part determined by their characteristic
functions. Functionalism, taken in this sense,
manifests itself in many of the more particular
tenets of Prague school doctrine.
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