د. دنحا طوبيا كوركيس
16/05/2008, 05:50 PM
Notes on Teaching Linguistics As a Science
Prof. Dr Dinha T. Gorgis
I've been teaching linguistics for over three decades at Arab universities. Most, if not all, introductory textbooks define 'linguistics' as the scientific study of language without giving convincing justifications (but see David Crystal's (1971): "Linguistics" for that matter, for example).
Well, I break down the word 'linguistics' into, let's say,
morphemes starting with 'ics' (science) as in physics, then'ist' (standing for a scientist) as in botanist, and finally [lingu] corresponding
to Sussure's 'langue', i.e. system of language).
So three things are involved in the word: (1) the discipline of study,(2) the person specializing in the field of study, and (3)the object of study.
The second question I often ask is: What makes linguistics a science like any other science? In order to answer such a question, a number of criteria must be met. By introducing these criteria, e.g. systematic observation, objectivity, economy, etc., an experienced instructor can easily convince any student in the hard and/or applied sciences, that linguistics is indeed a science. Following this would be a question related to the qualifications of a person who already is/ will be involved in accounting for human language, any language(s). In this regard, something about field linguistics and its pioneers is necessary.
The third obvious question would be: What is language, and how different and/or similar is human language different from other communication systems, such as the animals'? In this case, the spoken form of the languages takes precedence over the written form because not all world languages have written records. A fourth question might be: What is grammar? If my students have already covered phonetics, which is not really part of grammar (and, in my view, not part of linguistics), I normally begin with taxonomic (distributional or segmental) phonology, but remind my students of K. Pike's famous statement: "Phonetics provides raw material, phonology cooks it). If I have not provided an extensive answer to the second question above, I may, alternatively, introduce research paradigms, e.g. empiricism vs. rationalism, in which case I move to morphology next. At this stage, I take grammar to be constitutive of morphology and syntax only, viz. in the post-Bloomfieldian sense. Because English is taught as a foreign language in the Arab world, English is normally taken as the object of analysis with casual references to Arabic. Almost 75% of the course time is allotted to the introduction of English structural/functional and generative approaches to phonology, morphology and syntax. The rest of the course is devoted to semantics and, partly, to pragmatics, in particular speech acts. The content of the course, however, varies from one university to another depending on what allied courses each university offers during the B.A. programme. For example, if a university offers courses in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, etc., then there is no need to introduce your students to detailed issues within such fields in an introductory course to linguistics; you may only briefly sketch the concerns of each sub-discipline to prepare them for the next stage(s).
The Hashemite University, Jordan; 31 August, 2004.
Prof. Dr Dinha T. Gorgis
I've been teaching linguistics for over three decades at Arab universities. Most, if not all, introductory textbooks define 'linguistics' as the scientific study of language without giving convincing justifications (but see David Crystal's (1971): "Linguistics" for that matter, for example).
Well, I break down the word 'linguistics' into, let's say,
morphemes starting with 'ics' (science) as in physics, then'ist' (standing for a scientist) as in botanist, and finally [lingu] corresponding
to Sussure's 'langue', i.e. system of language).
So three things are involved in the word: (1) the discipline of study,(2) the person specializing in the field of study, and (3)the object of study.
The second question I often ask is: What makes linguistics a science like any other science? In order to answer such a question, a number of criteria must be met. By introducing these criteria, e.g. systematic observation, objectivity, economy, etc., an experienced instructor can easily convince any student in the hard and/or applied sciences, that linguistics is indeed a science. Following this would be a question related to the qualifications of a person who already is/ will be involved in accounting for human language, any language(s). In this regard, something about field linguistics and its pioneers is necessary.
The third obvious question would be: What is language, and how different and/or similar is human language different from other communication systems, such as the animals'? In this case, the spoken form of the languages takes precedence over the written form because not all world languages have written records. A fourth question might be: What is grammar? If my students have already covered phonetics, which is not really part of grammar (and, in my view, not part of linguistics), I normally begin with taxonomic (distributional or segmental) phonology, but remind my students of K. Pike's famous statement: "Phonetics provides raw material, phonology cooks it). If I have not provided an extensive answer to the second question above, I may, alternatively, introduce research paradigms, e.g. empiricism vs. rationalism, in which case I move to morphology next. At this stage, I take grammar to be constitutive of morphology and syntax only, viz. in the post-Bloomfieldian sense. Because English is taught as a foreign language in the Arab world, English is normally taken as the object of analysis with casual references to Arabic. Almost 75% of the course time is allotted to the introduction of English structural/functional and generative approaches to phonology, morphology and syntax. The rest of the course is devoted to semantics and, partly, to pragmatics, in particular speech acts. The content of the course, however, varies from one university to another depending on what allied courses each university offers during the B.A. programme. For example, if a university offers courses in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, etc., then there is no need to introduce your students to detailed issues within such fields in an introductory course to linguistics; you may only briefly sketch the concerns of each sub-discipline to prepare them for the next stage(s).
The Hashemite University, Jordan; 31 August, 2004.