LINGUIST 1A03 Lecture 1: Introduction to Linguistics week 1 notes
13 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Science: the way we ask questions to learn about language uses scientific approach. Empirical: observe data to find evidence for theories. O(cid:271)ser(cid:448)atio(cid:374)s (cid:449)e (cid:373)ake are not (cid:448)alue judge(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts: (cid:449)e do(cid:374)"t judge ho(cid:449) people use. Linguists observe how people use their language language (they take a descriptive approach to language, not prescriptive) (describe how its used, not prescribe how they should do it) Descriptive: observe what and how things are said and develop theories of why people say certain things/sounds. Science of human language: species communicate too but linguists focus on system only humans use. Linguistics is the science that studies this unique ability. One member of field of cognitive science: interested in what goes on in mind. Linguistics specifically interested in how our language knowledge is represented and organized in human mind. Human minds must have something in common o understand communication (shared system to allow understanding of ideas)
