Most of the chapter detailed interesting aspects of linguistics and language, including arbitrary and representational signs, discreteness, duality, displacement, and productivity, the modes of linguistic communication, dialects, and even the capacity of chimpanzees to learn and produce language. Linguists apply linguistics to many areas: pragmatics, language variation, education, clinical (i.e. the field of medicine), forensics, and language policy and politics, among others. I myself am especially interested in the application of linguistics to policy planning in education and political issues. :)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Finegan Ch. 1
Well, this was quite a comprehensive chapter. Much of it I have heard in other classes, much was new (or forgotten!) to me. I found the discussions of dialect and grammaticality fascinating. I prefer a descriptivist philosophy of linguistics and don't believe that some forms of English are "wrong" or bad simply because they are of a less-standard variety. Languages are constantly changing and evolving, and variations are all part of the natural process. Having an awareness of standard forms is useful, but those forms are not a path that we must follow rigidly. WE decide where the path will go, and what it should be like!
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Hi Carly, I agree with you on that being aware of the Standard form is useful but it's not the only way we must go strictly. I think a good pronunciation does not mean that a speaker must be perfect or precisely imitate sounds but at least being understood is more important.
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