Introduction

• What is lingustics?


  The scientific investigation of language and its structure.
• typological approach: comparison of many languages in regard to one or a few characteristics

  · contrastive approach: comparison of two languages with regards to many characteristics
• diachronic: study of language over time, i. e. linguistic changes over the course of history

  Synchronic: study of language at a certain point in time
• descriptive: to describe how people speak

  prescriptive/normative: to tell people how to speak
• Language as a system of signs: Semiotics

  sign: combination of form and meaning

  Icon: form-meaning relationship is one of similarity

  Symbol: form-meaning relationship is arbitrary

  Index: form-meaning relationship is one of connection (cause-effect)
• SIGNIFIER (Signifiant) sound sequence

  SIGNIFIED (signifié) Concept

  With most linguistic signs the relation between signifiant and signifie is arbitrary.

  Linguistic signs are generally classified as symbols.