Applied Linguistics
2nd Topic
Linguistics and Applied Linguistics : A difficult
Relationship
To approach the three areas (Language and
Education, Language, Work and Law, and Language,
information and Effect ) that are included in the
scope of applied linguistics, one can relate them to
Linguistics.
Linguistics, as an academic discipline which concerns
with the study of language in general, looks for
generalities underlying actual appearances of
language and represents an abstract idealization of
language rather than the way it is experienced in the
real world.
One influential type of idealization is that used in
Generative Linguistics introduced by Noam Chomsky
from the late 1950s onward.
According to Chomsky, the proper subject matter of
linguistics should be the representation of language in
the mind (competence), rather than
the way in which people actually use language in
everyday life (performance).
Competence is the perfect knowledge of an ideal
language user. It is the person’s internalized knowledge
of a language which enable him/her to create and
understand sentences even if they have not heard
before.
Competence includes many aspects:
Grammatical, communicative, pragmatic, etc.
As for performance, it is the actual use of language
in concrete situations. It is how a person uses
his/her language in producing and understanding
speech/utterances, including errors.
Performance is the real world linguistic output
May accurately reflect competence, but it also
may include errors.
Performance may be flawed because of memory
limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and
interest, and errors, etc.
An example of learning and riding a bike:
When we learn to ride a bike, we acquire the
knowledge of the overall process:
How to get on; how to balance; how to pedal and
steer, etc. That is our competence.
Most of this knowledge becomes subconscious.
When we ride a bike we do not think about these steps
along the way. But sometimes it happens that we make
a mistake while riding- we may lose our balance and
fall, or we may slip while pedaling.
Does this mean that we change our knowledge and
“forgot” how to ride a bike? Certainly not!
We just experience the difference between
competence and actual performance .
Chomsky claims that this internal language is essentially
biological rather than social and is separate from outside
experience.
This language is to be investigated not through the
study of actual language use in context but rather
through the consideration of invented sentences
intuitively felt to be acceptable instances of the
language.
In studying the relationship between the two, Applied
Linguistics questioning whether such a connection can
be made and, if so, what can then be made of the
connection.
In the same way of Chomsky’s view, Sociolinguistics
focuses much on the relation between language and
society. It attempts to find systematic relationships
between social groups/classes and contexts and the
variable ways in which languages are used.
In Functional Linguistics the concern is with
language as a means of communication, the
purposes it fulfils, and how people actually use
their language.
Recently, What is known as Corpus Linguistics
concentrates on searching and studying enormous
bodies of language stored in banks (databanks).
Using specific types of searching, Corpus
Linguistics can produce extensive information
about words and expressions and their
frequencies.
In comparison with Chomsky’s, these approaches
to linguistic study seem much closer to the reality
of experience, and therefore more relevant to the
concerns of Applied Linguistics.
However, the purpose of Chomsky’s view and
these approaches is to describe and explain and
not, as in Applied Linguistics, to engage with
decision making.
Practically, Applied Linguistics is not simply a
matter of matching up findings about language
with pre-existing problems but of using findings
to explore how the perception of problems might
be changed.
The methodology of Applied Linguistics must
therefore be complex.
It must refer to the findings and theories of
linguistics, choosing among the different schools
and approaches, and making these theories
relevant to the problem in hand.
Meanwhile, it must investigate and take into
account the experience and needs of the people
involved in the problem itself.
In doing so, Applied Linguistics establishes a
reciprocal relationship between experience and
expertise, between professional concerns with
language problems and Linguistics.
Thank You
The End