Language... a brief introduction

In the following main-map we are going to explain the topic applied linguistics and linguistics, the rapid growth of it has led to a general observation that applied linguistics must be viewed as an interdisciplinary field.

Modern linguistics begins with Ferdinand de Saussure, his central point was that the language is a closed system of structural relations, meanings and grammatical uses of linguistic elements depend on the sets of oppositions created among all the elements within the system.

There are sources of linguistic research, the Prague School and the London School, the Prague School provided the foundations for most later phonological theory and created the now commonplace notion of distinctive features in their analyses.

The growth of American linguistics began when European anthropological linguists arrived; the leading figure of this was Franz Boaz. He established American descriptivist linguistics and trained the leading American structural linguists.

Chomsky’s goal of explaining linguistic competence was to capture the generative capacity of human language, how we can generate all and only the grammatical sentences of a language, and what explicitly defined rule systems combine to create such grammar.

Chomsky argued for a theory of grammar that was known as the extended standard theory, and later as the revised extended standard theory. The descriptivist approach initiated by de Saussure and developed in the United States.

The most consistent proponent of a functional grammar is Halliday’s system functional theory. For Halliday each language element chosen plays a meaningful role in furthering communication in its choice represents a binary decision not to say something else.

The four major approaches highlighted in this chapter provide the theoretical basis for most applied –linguistics research. Phonetics and Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics. Each approach has made a contribution of which applied linguists make use.

The most important are of research for applied linguistics is the field of discourse analysis, there are come important concepts here, oral discourse analysis, the system of cohesion and contrastive rhetoric. 

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