Linguistics is actually the scientific study of language which means that Linguists look
language differently from how people, say in literature or in writing, look at language
we privilege spoken language over writing
and we look at the ways that people interact with one another
in different kinds of social situations.
We look at how language is structured
from its really basic elements like the sounds of language
all the way to the way that the language is used
and through there, through words and phrases and clauses and structure
and then to what linguistics are really interested in is how language works in interaction
and how we negotiate our identities and how we define who we are through our language.
That's right and one of the common, consistent things about all language used everywhere
is that it changes and these changes in language are dependent upon many things
but they're dependent upon the development of, for instance, technology in a society
or the development of religious beliefs in a society, or the development of social pressures
and changes that happen in politics or in education or entertainment
and all of these things affect the way that we use language.
So one of the benefits of looking at language from a scientific perspective
is that we can observe how language changes
as a result of these other pressures on society.
Absolutely, another important facet of linguistics
is this idea of cross cultural or intercultural communication
What happens when we get speakers together
who have different language backgrounds and different cultural backgrounds
and taking a linguistic perspective toward language
helps to look at different ways to engage in those kinds of interactions;
Looking at how to build your skills as an intercultural communicator,
and how to then make those transactions between people of diverse backgrounds
useful and productive, that we can capitalize on diversity and use it as a way to
improve whatever situation it is that we're working on
but having those skills that we can fall back on in order to make that communication successful.
That's right, and one of the benefits of looking at language from a scientific perspective
is that we can separate our examination into a prescriptive
approach to language and a descriptive approach to language
the prescriptive approach to language is the approach that tells us
we have to use language in a certain way, we have to follow certain rules
we have to use commas here and there
the way that our grammar teachers told us about
but descriptive approach to language allows us to
simply observe the way that language is working
and it frees us up from a lot of the sense of responsibility that we may
to get language right, so to speak and just look at how it works.
I've taken two linguistics courses here on campus.
I've taken Linguistic Study of Modern English and also Language in Society.
For me, as an engineer
I'm going to be working in an industry that's increasingly becoming more global.
People who come from different linguistic backgrounds
and different upbringings so they're going to be speaking differently and
it's important to have good communication so that things don't go wrong
and things are more efficient and safer, really.
I think that everyone should consider taking linguistics courses and I really enjoyed them
English 3301 is titled "A Linguistic Study of Modern English"
You might think of this as the Intro to Linguistics course.
Essentially what we do in this course is we go through the levels of analysis in linguistics
from phonology with speech sounds through to words and phrases with morphology and syntax
and then on through to pragmatics, which is language use in context.
As we proceed through those different levels we use a couple of particular dialects
as our sources for language data, African American English and Chicano English.
So this course gives you a good glimpse at what is the field of linguistics
but then applying it to some really specific speech communities
that create a lot of interest for us in discussing how language works in the world.
English 3302, "The History And Structure Of The English Language"
is a course that looks at the development of the English language from its beginnings
and actually its prehistory up through and including
the versions of modern English that are spoken today.
And this is a great class because it brings alive
language change in its long development so that we really get to understand
not just the morphology and the linguistic aspects of things
but we understand the people who are speaking this language
both in the past and today.
English 3303 is "The Grammatical Structure of English"
and what we do in this course is look at English from its structural components
words, phrases and clauses
and the primary way we do this is through creating
form function tree diagram, they're called
where we take individual sentences in the language and we practice different structures
by diagramming them out into this sort of tree like image.
A lot of students find this really fun and engaging almost like a language puzzle.
And then along the way we also talk about how these linguistic structures apply
to our speaking and to our writing.
English 3304 is usually the last course students take in the sequence of courses
Its called "Language in Society"
and we look at how language intersects with other kinds of social factors
like race and gender and cultural background and religion for example.
So we look at how we use language to shape
those features about ourselves and about who we are
This course also has an intentional focus on research methods in sociolinguistics
so students get the chance to choose their own research topic
on any language phenomenon in the world
and to write a paper that discusses how that language works in society.
You know, language is something that we all use of course
so we have this inherent understanding of doing it
but we don't have a vocabulary for explaining what that is.
So, a linguistic minor gives us that vocabulary and it gives us a mode of
parsing out and analysing and describing the way that
that innate thing that we do, language use, works in society.
This is beneficial beyond just our own understanding
This is something that potential employers find very attractive as well.
So you set yourself apart from other people looking for a job
when you bring with it the ability to
to parse and understand the way that language works in a society,
the way that different cultures and subcultures might use language,
and the ability to interact with those different cultures and subcultures
is very attractive to potential employers.
Absolutely.  So, we hope we've encouraged you to consider taking some linguistics courses
or enrolling in the linguistics minor,
if you have any questions about linguistics or about the courses
please feel free to contact either of us and we look forward to hopefully seeing you in class.
