Linguistics

[192]

is the scientific study of ********. It endeavours to answer the
question - what is ******** and how is represented in the mind?
Linguists focus on describing and explaining ******** and are not
concerned with the prescriptive rules of the ******** (ie., do not
split infinitives). Linguists are not required to know many ********s
and linguists are not interpreters.
The underlying
goal of the linguist is to try to discover the universals concerning
********. That is, what are the common elements of all ********s. The
linguist then tries to place these elements in a theoretical framework
that will describe all ********s and also predict what can not occur in
a ********.
Linguistics is a social science that
shares common ground with other social sciences such as psychology,
anthropology, sociology and archaeology. It also may influence other
disciplines such as english, communication studies and computer
science. Linguistics for the most part though can be considered a
cognitive science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer
science (AI), linguistics is ultimately concerned with how the human
brain functions.
Below are several different
disciplines within linguistics. The fields of phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics and ******** acquisition are considered
the core fields of study and a firm knowledge of each is necessary in
order to tackle more advanced subjects
The History of Linguistics


Frederick J. Newmeyer


Historical Linguistics