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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE STUDY

Linguistics is concerned with language use and how it is used in the society. So linguistics is
descriptive and not prescriptive. Besides linguists are interested in investigating what people do with
the language and not in scrutinizing what they should do.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES OF LANGUAGE STUDY

TRANSFORMATIONAL
STRUCTURALISM FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
GENERATIVE GRAMMAR
Advocate: Saussure Advocate: Noam Chomsky Advocate: Mark Halliday
Different models of study  Systems of rules  Functions of language and
Linguistic levels:  Grammar rules are in our its elements
 Phonemes minds
 Morphemes  Language acquisition
 Sentences types
 Lexical categories
 Noun phrases
 Verb phrases

1. LANGUAGE AS OBJECT OF STUDY: Linguistic researchers aim to understand what is being

conveyed (=communicated) and to understand the specific place of language in the process of
communication. There are two types of language samples as potential objects of study for
linguists:

a) NATURAL/AUTHENTIC: It is natural occurring language (discourse). It is language of

communication in context. What is it communicating?
b) ARTIFICIAL/IDEALIZED: It is abstracted, invented language. A sentence without a context. It
is used for purposes of grammatical analysis. What is it the structure?

Determining if the type of language is natural or artificial is difficult, but the

CONTEXT can help us. Besides, depending on the PURPOSE of the research it can be
natural or artificial.

2. WHAT IS DISCOURSE? Discourse can be defined in different ways:

⇒ Language use above the level of the sentence.

⇒ Language use in context.
⇒ According to Cook (1993) discourse may be composed of one or more well-formed
grammatical sentences –and it often is- but it does not have to be. It can have grammatical
mistakes in it, and it often does.
⇒ According to Crystal (1992) discourse can be anything from a grunt or single expletive, through
short conversations and scribbled notes, and novels or a lengthy legal case. What matters is not
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its conformity to rules, but the fact that it communicates and is recognized by its receivers as
coherent. Discourse is a continuous stretch of (specially spoken) language larger that a sentence,
often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative.

3. WHAT IS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS? Discourse Analysis can be defined in different ways:

⇒ According to Cook (1993) DA examines how stretches of language, considered in their full
textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users.
⇒ According to Douglas (2001) DA is the examination of language use by members of a speech
community. It involves looking at both language form and language function, and includes the
study of both spoken interaction and written texts. It defines linguistic features that
characterize different genres as well as social and cultural factors that aid (=contribute to) in our
interpretation and understanding of different texts and types of talk.
⇒ According to McCarthy (1991) DA is concerned with the study of the relationship between
language and the context in which it is used.
⇒ According to Tannem (1999) DA refers to attempts to study the organization of language above
the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to study larger units such as conversational
exchanges or written texts.
⇒ Discourse analysts study language in use: different types of written texts and variety of spoken
data, from simple conversations to highly institutionalized forms of talk.

 The analysis of spoken discourse is called conversational analysis.

 The analysis of written discourse is called text linguistics.

THREE APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE STUDY

Discourse analysis: Language in use  DESCRIPTIVE discourse analysis

Discourse analysis: Language beyond the sentence level DESCRIPTIVE discourse analysis
Discourse analysis: Language as a social action  CRITICAL discourse analysis

4. WHAT IS THE OBJECT OF STUDY? DA studies discourse, that is to say any form of written or
spoken language. So the main topic of interest is the underlying social structures, which may be
assumed or played out (= llevar a cabo) within the conversation or text.

5. WHAT ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE DO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STUDY? Discourse Analysts study:

⇒ Social interactions: verbal language and non-verbal language (body language)

⇒ How social and political powers are represented in speech.
⇒ How we organize speech encounters (=meetings)
⇒ Wide array (=collection) of Linguistic texts: a speech, a report, a letter, newspaper, a broadcast,
and articles, a lesson, an advertisement, a piece of gossip.
⇒ The way in which meaning is constructed throughout the text, as with the way this is achieved
at any one point in the text.
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⇒ Spoken and written language: particular patterns of pronunciation, word choice, metaphors.
⇒ Any given text, anything that communicates a message, and particularly, how that message
constructs a social reality or view of the world.

6. WHAY DO WE STUDY DISCOURSE?

a) AS A LINGUIST: To find out how language works, to improve our understanding of and
important kind of human activity.
b) AS AN EDUCATOR: To find out how good texts work, so that we can focus on teaching our
students these writing/speaking strategies.
c) AS A CRITICAL ANALYST: To discover meanings in the text which are not obvious on the
surface.

7. ORIGINS OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: A summary of the origins of DA is provided by McCarthy

(1995):

⇒ Zelling Harries (1952) published an article called “Discourse analysis”. He was interested in
finding grammatical rules to explain why one sentence followed another and the relationship
between the text and its social situation.
⇒ Dell Hymes in the 1960s did a study of speech in its social setting. He was interested in
performance.
⇒ Austin (1962) Searle (1969) and Grice (1973): The study of language as social action from
which speech act theory aroused. These studies gave birth to pragmatics.
⇒ Halliday (19973): The functional approach to language which was influential within British
Discourse Analysis. He highlighted the social functions of language and the thematic and
informational structure of speech and writing.
⇒ Hymes (1972): Ethnomethodological tradition research method of close observation of people
communication in natural setting. The study of language in its natural setting
⇒ Van Dijk (1972), De Beaugrande (1980), Halliday and Hasan (1976): The study of cohesion
in written texts and text linguistics (the analysis of written discourse).