Defining Applied Linguistics

Defining Applied linguistics (AL) is not an easy job because , as Vivian Cook
remarks : Applied linguistics means many t!ings to many people" ( Cook #$$%)& 'ne
can not say t!at my definition is t!e biggest umbrella" t!at is capable of covering all
t!e most general aspects& (n fact, t!ere !ave been many definitions and vie)points of
AL, but in t!is assignment ( )ould like to talk about one vie)point : Applied
linguistics is not a discipline, )!ic! e*ists on its o)n& (t is influenced by ot!er
disciplines and influences t!em as )ell& (t is a t)o+)ay process& ,or t!is reason,
applied linguistics e*amines t!eories from all sorts of different areas (semantics,
synta*, pragmatics, sociolinguistics,-) and from all sorts of perspectives so t!at it
!elp find out effective solutions for language +related issues suc! as teac!ing
met!odology (including foreign language and mot!er tongue teac!ing), translation,
ap!asia,-
( )ould propose reasons to prove t!at ( agree to every point of t!is vie)&
Applied linguistics is not a discipline, )!ic! e*ists on its o)n& (t is influenced by
ot!er disciplines and influences t!em as )ell& (t is a t)o+)ay process&
(t is essential t!at )e understand )!at linguistics" is before mastering t!e term
Applied linguistics"& According to Longman Dictionary of Language .eac!ing /
Applied Linguistics ne) edition" by 0ack C&1ic!ards, 0o!n 2latt and 3eidi 2latt,
linguistics is t!e study of language as a system of !uman
communication--&&Linguistics no) covers a )ide field )it! different approac!es
and different areas of investigation, for e*ample sound systems ( 23'45.(C6,
23'4'L'78), sentence structure ( 684.A9) and meaning systems
( 65:A4.(C6, 21A7:A.(C6, ,;4C.('46 ', LA47;A75)"
.!erefore, by components of language, linguistics is composed of many divisions& (n
t!e t)o+)ay process", linguistics t!eory plays a very important part in applied
linguistics as linguistics e*amines t!eories from all sorts of different areas"&
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
2!onetics is a branc! of linguistics t!at comprises t!e study of t!e sounds of
!uman speec!, or<in t!e case of sign languages<t!e e=uivalent aspects of sign& (t is
concerned )it! t!e p!ysical properties of speec! sounds or signs (p!ones): t!eir
p!ysiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and
neurop!ysiologic status& 2!onology, on t!e ot!er !and, is concerned )it! t!e abstract,
grammatical c!aracteri>ation of systems of sounds or signs&
2!onology is a branc! of linguistics concerned )it! t!e systematic organi>ation of
sounds in languages& (t !as traditionally focused largely on study of t!e systems of
p!onemes in particular languages, but it may also cover any linguistic analysis eit!er
at a level beneat! t!e )ord (including syllable, onset and r!yme, articulatory gestures,
articulatory features, etc&) or at all levels of language )!ere sound is considered to be
structured for conveying linguistic meaning& 2!onology also includes t!e study of
e=uivalent organi>ational systems in sign languages&
.!e )ord p!onology can also refer to t!e p!onological system (sound system) of a
given language& .!is is one of t!e fundamental systems )!ic! a language is
considered to comprise, like its synta* and its vocabulary&
2!onology is often distinguis!ed from p!onetics& ?!ile p!onetics concerns t!e
p!ysical production, acoustic transmission and perception of t!e sounds of
speec!, p!onology describes t!e )ay sounds function )it!in a given language or
across languages to encode meaning& (n ot!er )ords, p!onetics belongs to descriptive
linguistics, and p!onology to t!eoretical linguistics& 4ote t!at t!is distinction )as not
al)ays made, particularly before t!e development of t!e modern concept
of p!oneme in t!e mid #$t! century& 6ome subfields of modern p!onology !ave a
crossover )it! p!onetics in descriptive disciplines suc!
as psyc!olinguistics and speec! perception, resulting in specific areas like articulatory
p!onology or laboratory p!onology&
(n linguistics, synta* is defined by 4oam C!omsky as @t!e study of t!e principles and
processes by )!ic! sentences are constructed in particular languages@&