Linguistics | Applied Linguistics | Definition

Applied Linguistics

Definition:

Applied Linguistics is the scientific study of language and it is generally concerned with the nature of language and communication. Linguistics deals with the study of particular languages, and the search for general properties common to all languages or large groups of languages. There are broadly three aspects to the study, including language form, language meaning, and language use in discursive and communicative contexts.

Linguists are people who study languages. They work on specific languages, and their primary goal is to understand the nature of Language in general. they try to understand and find answers to some major questions like: 

> What distinguishes human language from other animal communication systems? > What features are common to all human languages? 

> How are the modes of linguistic communication (speech, writing, sign language of the deaf) related to each other? 

> How is language related to other types of human behavior? What is language, how is it organized and analyzed?

> How are its units discovered and tested, etc.

How do languages differ from each other? 

Some typical differences between languages are the following: 

1. Different vocabularies. 

2. Different sound systems.

3. Different word structures. 

4. Different word orders.

5. Different way of expressing speech acts and speech event.

Some commonalities between languages are the following: 

1. All languages have nouns and verbs.

2. All languages have negation.

3. All languages have functional expressions.

4. All language can make sentences long and complex.

-> Assignment: Why are languages so different from each other?