Subfields of Linguistics I. Sociolinguistics—definition: the study of【T1】_____

Subfields of Linguistics
    Good morning, we’ll continue our talk on linguistics. Last time we have got a general concept about linguistics. The scientific study of language is concerned with two main branches of linguistics: descriptive linguistics and comparative linguistics. And today we will focus on the subfields of linguistics.
    As we know, the field of linguistics both borrows from and lends its own theories and methods to other disciplines. Many subfields of linguistics have expanded our understanding of languages. Linguistic theories and methods are also used in other fields of study. These overlapping interests have led to the creation of several cross-disciplinary fields, namely sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, applied linguistics, anthropological linguistics, philosophical linguistics and neurolinguistics.
    Let’s start with sociolinguistics. (1) Sociolinguistics is the study of patterns and variations in language within a society or community. It focuses on the way people use language to express social class, group status, gender, or ethnicity, and it looks at how they make choices about the form of language they use. (2) It also examines the way people use language to negotiate their roles in society and to achieve positions of power. For example, sociolinguistic studies have found that the way a New Yorker pronounces the phoneme /r/ in an expression such as "fourth floor" can indicate the person’s social class. According to one study, people aspiring to move from the lower middle class to the upper middle class attach prestige to pronouncing the /r/. Sometimes they even overcorrect their speech, pronouncing a /r/ where those whom they wish to copy may not.
    (3) Some sociolinguists believe that analyzing such variables as the use of a particular phoneme can predict the direction of language change. Change, they say, moves toward the variable associated with power, prestige, or other quality having high social value. Other sociolinguists focus on what happens when speakers of different languages interact. This approach to language change emphasizes the way languages mix rather than the direction of change within a community. (4) The goal of sociolinguistics is to understand communicative competence—what people need to know to use the appropriate language for a given social setting.
    (5) Next comes psycholinguistics, (6) which merges the fields of psychology and linguistics to study how people process language and how language use is related to underlying mental processes. (7) Studies of children’s language acquisition and of second-language acquisition are psycholinguistic in nature. Psycholinguists work to develop models for how language is processed and understood, using evidence from studies of what happens when these processes go awry.
    Thirdly, computational linguistics. Computational linguistics involves the use of computers to compile linguistic data, analyze languages, translate from one language to another, and develop and test models of language processing. (8) Linguists use computers and large samples of actual language to analyze the relatedness and the structure of languages and to look for patterns and similarities. Computers also aid in stylistic studies, information retrieval, various forms of textual analysis, and the construction of dictionaries and concordances. Applying computers to language studies has resulted in machine translation systems and machines that recognize and produce speech and text. Such machines facilitate communication with humans, including those who are perceptually or linguistically impaired.
    (9) The fourth subfield is called applied linguistics. Applied linguistics employs linguistic theories and methods to improve overall efficacy in teaching and learning a second language. (10) Linguists look at the errors people make as they learn another language and at their strategies for communicating in the new language at different degrees of competence. (11) In seeking to understand what happens in the mind of the learner, applied linguists recognize that motivation, attitude, learning style, and personality affect how well a person learns another language.
    The fifth is anthropological linguistics. (12) It is also known as linguistic anthropology, which uses linguistic approaches to analyze culture. Anthropological linguists examine the relationship between a culture and its language, the way cultures and languages have changed over time, and how different cultures and languages are related to one another. For example, the present English use of family and given names arose in the late 13th and early 14th centuries when the laws concerning registration, tenure, and inheritance of property were changed.
    (13) Coming up next is philosophical linguistics. Philosophical linguistics examines the philosophy of language. (14) Philosophers of language search for the grammatical principles and tendencies that all human languages share. Among the concerns of linguistic philosophers is the range of possible word order combinations throughout the world. One finding is that 95 percent of the world’s languages use a subject-verb-object (SVO) order as English does ("She pushed the table."). Only 5 percent use a subject-object-verb (SOV) order or verb-subject-object (VSO) order.
    Finally, let’s refer to the neurolinguistics. (15) Neurolinguistics is the study of how language is processed and represented in the brain. Neurolinguists seek to identify the parts of the brain involved with the production and understanding of language and to determine where the components of language (phonemes, morphemes, and structure or syntax) are stored. In doing so, they make use of techniques for analyzing the structure of the brain and the effects of brain damage on language.
    OK, now we come to the end of today’s lecture. Hopefully you have all got a clear idea of these subfields of linguistics, including their different focuses and functions. Next time we’ll specifically target applied linguistics and find out how this branch benefits SLA learners. Thank you for your attention.