Linguistics by George Hernandez

Linguistics is a very broad topic and may be divided up as follows [paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics]:

Theoretical v Applied
- Theoretical or general linguistics describes individual languages and universal aspects of languages.
  - Phonetics, the study of the different sounds that are employed across all human languages
  - Phonology, the study of patterns of a language's basic sounds
  - Morphology, the study of the internal structure of words
  - Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences
  - Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences
  - Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used (literally, figuratively, or otherwise) in communicative acts
  - Historical linguistics, the study of languages whose historical relations are recognizable through similarities in vocabulary, word formation, and syntax.
  - Linguistic typology, the study of the grammatical features that are employed across all human languages
  - Stylistics, the study of style in languages
- Applied linguistics is linguistics in relation to other fields. EGs: Computer languages, speech synthesis.
Synchronous v Diachronous
- Synchronics studies a language at its form in a given time.
- Diachronics studies a language or language group over time.
Contextual v Independent
- Contextual linguistics studies how language fits in worldly context.
- Independent linguistics studies languages for their own sake.

Some written languages use majuscules (upper case) and miniscules (lower case) while some languages have only one case. EG: Latin used one case until miniscules were developed, so the old case became upper case.

Writing systems (scripts) use three kinds of symbols or characters (a glyph is a graphical representation of a character).

Logographic symbols represent morphemes.
- Pictograms are pictorial representations of a word or morpheme.
- Ideograms are graphical approximations of abstract ideas.
Syllabic symbols represent a syllable, i.e. a consonant and vowel pair where the symbols for similar consonants do not look alike.
Alphabetic symbols represent phonemes.
- Abjads symbols represent a consonant or vowel.
- Abugidas symbols represent a consonant and vowel pair where the symbols for similar consonants do look alike.

Linguists often use International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) a phonetic transcription system for phonetically representing spoken languages. The standard is to place IPA pronunciations either in square brackets ("[" and "]") or slashes ("/") for narrow or broad transcriptions respectively. EG: The English word "pretzel" could be annotated as [pʰɹ̥ɛʔtsɫ̩] or /prɛtsəl/. I'm not a linguist so my pronunciation transcriptions are rather crude and I will enclose them in back slashes ("\"). Phonetic alphabets (EG: NATO phonetic alphabet is Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu) are actually spelling alphabets for sending messages by sound signals instead of say by flags or flashing lights.

Various linguistic terms.

alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.
assonance: The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or line of poetry.
homonym: Two or more distinct words with the same pronunciation and spelling but with different meanings.
homophone: two or more words with the same pronunciation but with different meanings and spellings.
hyperbole: an exaggeration of the truth.
metaphor: an association of two completely different objects as being the same thing.
Onomatopoeia is the formation of words or use of words that imitate the sounds of things they represent. Onomatopoeias are also the words that sound like things they represent. Just for the fun of it, I'm starting to collect onomatopoeias here. More words are like onomatopoeias than we think.
- Animals
  - Cats: purr. meow. mew.
  - Chickens: cluck cluck.
  - Cows: moo.
  - Dogs: arf. bow wow. growl. ruff.
  - Ducks: quack quack.
  - Horses: neigh.
  - Owls: Who. hoo.
  - Roosters: crow. cock-a-doodle-doo.
  - Snakes: hiss.
- Masturbation
  - Male: fap fap fap.
  - Female: shlick shlick shlick.
- Roughly by volume
  - Quiet: buzz. chime. chiming. click. groan. hush. moan. mumble. murmur. tinkle.
  - Medium: bop. crackle. crunch. kaching (cash register). rumble. snap. swoop. twitter. whirr.
  - Loud: bam. boom. clang. clatter. crash. ka-boom. ka-pow. pow. smash. tolling.
  - Variable: gong. ow. ouch.
portmanteau: a word formed by combining two words. EG: brunch = breakfast + lunch.
simile: A figure of speech invoking a comparison between unlike things using "like," "as," or "as though."
synonym: One of two or more words that have the same or nearly the same meanings.

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-10-23 03:52:22Z) (Auto noted: 2007-11-17 06:24:36Z)