What TEACHERS should know .......

LANGUAGE vs LINGUISTICS

What is language?- Language is the greatest human possession. It is the focal point of everything we do and it distinguishes man from other forms of life on earth. We need language to function. While being the principal medium for communication, it is also the bond that links people together and binds them to their culture. Without language, our needs and wishes will never get the chance to be expressed. Without language we would have to be doing a lot of actions rather than tell. And though writing and verbal communication, we able to be in contact with places and people that we have never seen. However, we cannot take language for granted as we do for breathing or sleeping because it is extremely complex and has unique characteristics.

What is linguistics?- The interest in the study of language is on-going. Throughout time scholars have made studies to solve the mysteries of language, but till the present day much of this mysteries prevail. Linguists are still at work investigating and discussing the mysteries and problems that are perceived. And they are doing it scientifically. When we say that linguist aim to be scientific in their investigation, we mean that they try to study language in much the way as a scientist studies physics or chemistry. Since empiral methods of the sciences are applied as much as possible in order to bring the precision and control of scientific investigation to study language, linguistics has been defined as the scientific study of language. Among other things the study involves the observation of language use, forming hypothese about it, testing and refining them based on the evidence collected.