Linguistics Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Linguistics?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, including its structure, origin and evolution. It examines how humans use language to communicate with one another and how these uses vary across cultures and contexts. Linguists investigate the role of language in our lives, from childhood development to older adults’ communication styles. They also examine topics related to social justice and power dynamics within a language-based society. By exploring the complexities of human communication, linguistics provides insight into many aspects of our lives.Linguistics can be broken down into two main fields: theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics. Theoretical linguistics focuses on understanding the nature of linguistic principles, such as phonology (sound systems), morphology (word structures) and syntax (sentence formation). Applied linguists look at how people actually use language in their daily lives in various settings, such as classroom instruction or workplace discourse.The field has helped us better understand different languages by uncovering patterns that are common among them all for example discovering that most languages have some form of subject-verb agreement or incorporating grammatical gender markers when describing nouns. It also helps us recognize universals across different societies like the importance of politeness strategies used during conversations as well as identifying which parts of speech are more likely to change over time due to external factors like technology or globalization.