Applied Linguistics

1. Applied Linguistics Lecture # 7

2. Review of Lecture # 6 Language variation • language varies in geographical and social space. • Causes behind language variation • Roles of participants, function of speech event, nature of medium, roles of a person, professions • Language varieties: Code, register, pidgin, creole, dialect etc.

3. Applied Linguistics Definition:The use of language –related research in a wide variety of fields, including language acquisition, language teaching, literacy, literary studies, gender studies, speech therapy, discourse analysis, censorship, workplace communication, media studies, translation studies, lexicography, and forensic linguistics.

4. Applied Linguistics Introduction: Applied Linguistics is the collective term for the various applications of linguistic (and phonetic) scholarship to related practical fields – foreign language, teaching, lexicography, translation, speech pathology and therapy, error analysis etc.

5. Applied Linguistics (Intro..) • In the widest sense, Applied Linguistics borders on other disciplines e.g. sociology, anthropology, psychology, biology, stylistics etc. • Speech therapists, literary critics, translators, communication engineers, language teachers, syllabus formers, educational planners, text book writers, dictionary makers have found linguistics useful for their work

6. Applied Linguistics (Intro..) • Applied Linguistics is a consumer, or user, not a producer of theories. • An inter-disciplinary area of study • It uses knowledge of how languages work within different applied settings.

7. Applied Linguistics (Intro..) • It examines the structure of language & its role in communication. • It explores how children acquire language. • It studies how second language learners develop skills.

8. Applied Linguistics (Intro..) • The study investigates how the social & cultural environment interacts with language. • It talks about the practical application of language

9. Applied Linguistics Use in language • Writing better text books, translating them and teaching them becomes easy if a person knows a language and its structure. • A language learner can learn a language more easily if he knows the system and sounds than through haphazard, hit or miss manner

10. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in language (contd..) • A foreign language learner can acquire accurate pronunciation with the help of phonetics. • Researchers can conduct research on language if they are aware of the rules of the language and the variations in language while moving across disciplines and geographical regions

11. Applied Linguistics (contd..) Use in Psychology & Neuro-surgery • Psychologists and neuro-surgeons interested in brains and principles of learning • A child’s attempt to learn a language, his ability to categorize, his loss of control over his linguistic skill (reading, writing, speaking and listening with understanding), his conceptual capabilities and failures – all help the specialists.

12. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in communication media • Engineers whoknow properties of speech design better telephones – that operate when you dictate rather than dial a number • Dictation typewriter instead of touch-typewriter • translation work by machines instead of humans

13. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in media (contd..) • Better radios and televisions • People associated with media can take help from speech therapists, if they need • Sound effects on microphones can be improved- helps sound engineers

14. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in law • Voice print unique like thumb- impression • Officers of law can apprehend criminals by the help of tapes of recorded conversations Use in Philosophy • Philosophers can take fresh look at controversies

15. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in Philosophy (contd..) • Philosophers, by their acquaintance with linguists can try to resolve some old controversies – rationalists’ point of view and empiricists’ point of view about the nature of learning • Can also study structure of meaning and validity of forming linguistic universals

16. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in Sociology • Sociologists can look at the interaction of social groups, role of languages and dialects in group dynamics, problems created by bilingualism, polylingualism etc. • Anthropologists can study a community better

17. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Use in Mathematics • Mathematicians interested in the formal properties of natural languages and how meaning is mapped into sound. • Such information useful in devising computer languages • Teachers of composition can diagnose students’ problems and suggest remedies

18. Applied Linguistics (contd…) study for personal satisfaction • Study of language satisfies intellectual urge • Knowledge of mysteries of language gives us satisfaction and pleasures • Language can be studied for its own sake just like literature

19. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Conclusion • Study of linguistics quenches linguistic thirst • Gives knowledge of the properties and mysteries of knowledge • Illuminates ancient and pre-historic culture • Helps in improving and reforming spellings, vocabulary, pronunciation, usage, interpretation.

20. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Conclusion (contd…) • Some day advances in linguistics may help in creation of some new international language. • Advances may help in developing new kinds of talking machines

21. Applied Linguistics (contd…) Conclusion (contd…) • Advances may help in understanding the language of any other species, if found on any other planet. • The study is also useful in the information of scripts and spellings.

22. Applied Linguistics (contd..) • The study is also useful in production of teaching materials, dictionaries, grammars and text books. Applied linguistics has extended its boundaries so much that it has entered the domains of several fields of knowledge and provided remedial measures to remove several problems