What is Linguistics?

 Linguistics is the scientific study of language

and its structure, including the study of
grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific
branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics,
dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational
linguistics, comparative linguistics, and
structural linguistics.
 What is language?

 "Language is a purely human and non-instinctive

method of communicating ideas, emotions and
desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols."
(Edward Sapir, Language: An Introduction to the Study of
Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921)

 "A language isa system of arbitrary vocal symbols

by means of which a social group cooperates."
(B. Bloch and G. Trager, Outline of Linguistic Analysis.
Waverly Press, 1942)
the origins of language

 The origin of language in the human species has been

the topic of scholarly discussions for several centuries.
 In spite of this, there is no consensus on the ultimate origin
or age of human language. The topic is difficult to study
because of the lack of direct evidence.
 Linguists tried to answer the question of origin of language
by stating some theories. The most important of which are:
 The divine source

 In the Holy Quran, Sūrah al-Baqarah: 31-33: “And He taught

Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the
angels, and said: “Tell me the names of these if you are
truthful.” 

They said: “Glory be to You! We possess no knowledge save what

You have taught us. Indeed, You alone are All-Knowing, the
Wise.” 

He said: “O Adam! Inform them of their names.” When he had

informed them, Allah said: “Did I not tell you that I know what is
unseen in the heavens and on Earth, and I know what you reveal
and what you hide?”
( 
‫فقال أنبئوني بأسماء هؤلء إن كنتم صاد‬ ‫وعلم آدم السماء كلها ثم عرضهم على الملئكة‬
 In the bible, as described in the book of Genesis, God
created Adam and
“whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was
the name thereof.”

 In most religions, there appears to be a divine source who

provides humans with language.
 In an attempt to rediscover this original divine
language, a few experiments have been carried out,
with rather conflicting results.

 The basic hypothesis seems to have been that, if human

infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any
language around them, then they would spontaneously
begin using the original God-given language.
 an Egyptian pharaoh named Psammetichus (or Psamtik) who tried
the experiment with two newborn babies more than 2,500 years
ago.

 After two years of isolation except for the company of goats and a
mute shepherd, the children were reported to have spontaneously
uttered the Phrygian word bekos, meaning “bread.”

 The pharaoh concluded that Phrygian, an older language spoken

in part of what is modern Turkey, must be the original language.
 That seems very unlikely.

 The children may not have picked up this

“word” from any human source, but as several
commentators have pointed out, they must
have heard what the goats were saying.
 King James the Fourth of Scotland carried out a similar
experiment around the year 1500 and the children were
reported to have spontaneously started speaking
Hebrew.

 That confirmed the King’s belief that Hebrew had

indeed been the original language.
 It is unfortunate that all other cases of children who have
been discovered living in isolation, without coming into
contact with human speech, tend not to confirm the results
of these types of experiments.

 Very young children living without access to human language

in their early years grow up with no language at all.