What is Linguistics?

This post is the first of a series of posts that examines the linguistics of the Tamil language. 


Humans are social beings. Our need to be in groups and collaborate with others is part of our genetic make up. And language is the link that allows us to communicate with each other. It is the orderly arrangement of sounds that are created consciously  to express an idea, opinion or emotion. There are many sounds that humans create subconsciously; expressions to display happiness, astonishment, disgust, and pain and even though they may be understood they are not considered language.

Language learning happens at a very young age, subconsciously as toddlers and infants and with great revulsion (for most) in the early and late teens. We start with a system of sounds followed by a script and then a set of rules to assemble the smaller components (letters, words, phrases, sentences) into larger, more complex, and, hopefully, cohesive pieces. Learning occurs rapidly in the early years but mostly by rote without developing an understanding of the underlying structure of the language.

Linguistics is more than Language

Linguistics is the science of language. Traditional linguistic study is further divided into phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

Phonetics

Phonetics deals with how individual sounds are created (articulation), transmitted (acoustic), and received (auditory). We will only deal with articulation; how sounds are created, the organs involved, the characteristics they possess etc. An independent sound is called a phoneme.

The Tamil word for a phoneme is ஒலியன்

Phonology

Phonology deals with how phonemes combine. Every language has a set of constituent sounds. Individual sounds may not always convey meaning but a combination, conforming to the rules of the language, will produce a notation that conveys meaning.

For example, in English the sound produced by the letter 's' is never followed by the sound produced by the letter 'j'.

Morphology

A collection of phonemes that convey meaning is called a morpheme. Morphology deals with the combination of morphemes into longer strings of sounds that convey meaning. In a nutshell, morphology deals with how words are formed.

The Tamil word for a morpheme is உருபன்

An example:

கோவில் = கோ  + இல் =   க் + ஓ  + இ + ல் 

The word கோவில் is formed by combining கோ (king or god) with இல் (home). According to the rules of the language when ஓ and இ combine, இ is modified to வி.

Syntax

When studying language the study of syntax is commonly called grammar. Syntax deals with the assembly of letters into words, words into phrases and phrases into sentences.

She is fast
Is she fast?

In the sentences above, the order of words helps us distinguish the statement from the question.

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. In the example below, our knowledge of semantics helps us decipher that ஆடு probably means dance and not goat.

நீ ஆடு 

Uses of Linguistics 

Linguistics provides an alternative to learning by rote and can be a great aid to learning languages as an adult. By studying the underlying structure of a language, comparing and contrasting it with other languages, we will develop a toolkit that can be applied to learning any language faster and more efficiently.

Next Steps

In the posts to follow we will take a closer look at each of the topics discussed in this post. We will refer extensively to the Tholkappiyam (தொல்காப்பியம்), a literary work on the grammar of the Tamil language and Nannool (நன்னூல்), a secondary derived work. We will also look at the linguistic modifications that the language has undergone over the centuries.

References:

இக்கால தமிழ் மரபு (chapters 1-3)

How sounds alter when words combine.