What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the study of
language - how it is put together and how it functions. Various building blocks
of various types and sizes are combined to create a language. Sounds are
brought together and sometimes when this happens, they change their shape and
do things that are interesting. The words are arranged in a specific order, and
sometimes the beginning and end of words are changed to adjust the meaning.
Then the meaning itself can be affected by the wording and with the knowledge
of the speaker about what the listener will understand. Linguistics is the
study of all of this.
Historical Linguistics
is the study of how languages have changed over time. Some changes happen
because of slow (maybe incremental) changes within the language, such as in
pronunciation or in the meaning of a word. Other changes happen because of
contact with speakers of other languages. The most well know example of this is
"borrowing," but language contact can cause other types of change as
well. It can be interesting to compare phonology, syntax and word lists
of similar or geographically close languages to see how similar they
are. Some linguists then use this information to figure out the past of the
languages, such as when two languages split from each other. Combined with
other known facts about the speakers of the language, it can lead to important
discoveries about their history.
Each human language is a complex of knowledge and
abilities enabling speakers of the language to communicate with each other, to
express ideas, hypotheses, emotions, desires, and all the other things that
need expressing. Linguistics is the study of these knowledge systems in all
their aspects: how is such a knowledge system structured, how is it acquired,
how is it used in the production and comprehension of messages, how does it
change over time? Linguists consequently are concerned with a number of
particular questions about the nature of language. What properties do all human
languages have in common? How do languages differ, and to what extent are the
differences systematic, i.e. can we find patterns in the differences? How do
children acquire such complete knowledge of a language in such a short time?
What are the ways in which languages can change over time, and are there
limitations to how languages change? What is the nature of the cognitive
processes that come into play when we produce and understand language?
The part of linguistics that is concerned with the
structure of language is divided into a number of subfields:
- Syntax - the study of the formation
of sentences
What is the syntax?
In linguistics, the word comes from the Greek syntax which is a combination of the words syn meaning "together", and said taxis which means "circuit", "order". So syntax is one of the branch of linguistics that studies the rules that determine how the words form phrases and phrases to form sentences. Etymologically the term syntax is putting together words into sentences and groups of words or groups of words into sentences.
Reviewing how sentences are formed and the language uses a special variation which allows the forming element in the sentence. In syntax, there are some parts of the sentence structure that will be the author explained, ie subject, verb, object, complement, and adverb.
There are two parts of a sentence that is very important in analyzing the syntax, namely: phrases and clauses.
• Phrase (Phrase)
The phrase is a group of words that has a function as a unit in a sentence (a group of words that form a grammatical unit). Phrase (Phrase) is divided into several, namely;
1. The noun phrase (Noun Phrase)
Noun phrase is a phrase derived from nouns (nouns) that serves as the subject or object of the sentence. Noun phrase is a noun or pronouns are preceded by the word determinant or clothing or a noun preceded by one or more adjectives that preceded their full clothing word. example:
1) The Doctor
det noun
2) A beautiful girl
det adjective noun
2. The verb phrase (Verb Phrase)
Verb phrase is a phrase consisting of a combination of auxiliary verb (axiliary verb) with a verb (verbs). Verb phrase is a verb which berfrasa. Verb phrase consists of a single phrase which is sometimes a combination of the main verb (main verb) and the auxiliary verb (auxiliary verb), but can also be added specifiers, complements and adjuncts. example:
Twinkle has taken the job.
aux verb
He has been coming late everyday.
aux verb
3. Phrase Adjective (Adjective Phrase)
Adjective or adjective phrase is a phrase that comes from the adjective used to qualify the nouns (nouns) or pronoun (pronoun).
Tony lost his dark brown briefcase.
AdjP
4. The adverbial phrase (Adverb Phrase)
Adverbial phrase is a phrase that functions as an adverb used to describe a verb (verbs).
Mika usually gets up early.
5. The phrase prepositions (prepositional Phrase)
The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam.
• Clause (Clause)Free clause (main clause) is a free clause (independent clause) contained in a compound sentence (complex sentence).
1. Clause Free (Independent Clause)Smoking clause is a clause that has a complete structure and potentially a major sentence.
2. Tied clause (Clause Dependent)Dependent
clause is a clause which has the structure is not complete, usually
accompanied by elements of subordinating conjunctions. Clause
bound can also be defined as a clause that can not stand alone as
complete sentences, only to have potential as a sentence is not perfect.
Judging from its function, dependent clause can be distinguished, namely;• The noun clause (Noun Clause)A clause which acts as a noun marked with the wh-words, how, and that.
• Clause Adjective (Adjective Clause)A clause attached that acts as an adjective characterized by the relative pronoun, ie who, Whom, which, Whose, and that.
• The adverbial clause (adverbial clause)Klusa bound to act as a subordinate adverbial marked by the conjunction
