Introduction To Linguistics

A.      Definition

a.    In the definiton of language as “sound” organized into units of “form” ang “function’ with “meaning”, contextualized in “reality”, the key words pointed out are “sound”, “form’, “function”, “meaning” and “reality”. Taking these key words as “cue” words, let us look at them individually and see how they are actually the building-blocks to a solid building, called linguistics- the science of language. To do this we will trace a paraller in the individual human being from the time of birth to the stage of complete mastery of the language- that is, the complete language acquisition process in it’s various stages.

b.   Unless a human being has a physical or mental disability, he or she will be
born with the capacity for language: the innate ability to speak a language,
or in the case of someone who is deaf, to sign a language (i.e. use gestures
to communicate). This capacity does not involve any kind of learning – a
young child, for instance, does not need to be taught to speak or sign – and
occurs in predictable stages, beginning with the babbling cries of an infant
and culminating in the full speaking abilities of an adult.

c.    Linguistics deals with human language. This includes deaf sign-languages, but
usually excludes what is often termed BODY-LANGUAGE (a term which itself
covers a number of different aspects of the conscious and unconscious ways in
which physiological actions and reactions display emotions and attitudes).
Human language is just one way in which people communicate with each other,
or gather information about the world around them. The wider study of
informative signs is called SEMIOTICS, and many linguists have made contributions to this wider field.

I get some point between 3 definitons in Introduction to Linguistics:

NO	A Linguistics Primer for Malaysians	Introducing English Linguistics Charles F. Meyer	The Linguistics Student’s Handbook Laurie Baure
1.	In the definiton of language as “sound” the key words pointed out are “sound”, “form’, “function”, “meaning” and “reality”. To do this we will trace a paraller in the individual human being from the time of birth to the stage of complete mastery of the language- that is, the complete language acquisition process in it’s various stages.	Unless a human being has a physical or mental disability, he or she will be born with the capacity for language: the innate ability to speak a language, or in the case of someone who is deaf, to sign a language (i.e. use gestures to communicate).	Linguistics deals with human language. This includes deaf sign-languages, but usually excludes what is often termed BODY-LANGUAGE. Human language is just one way in which people communicate with each other, or gather information about the world around them.

Language where it is seen as "sound organized into units of form and function with meaning, contextualized in reality", we have seen how sound, form, function and meaning have been covered in pure linguistics. Relates to the applied linguistics fields.

The pure linguistics field of language acquisition: phonetics/phonology, morphology/syntax, lexis/ semantics.

The applied linguistics field, ranging from pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, pedalogical linguistics and the rest. The applied linguistics is unlimited.

References

Baskaran, Loga Mahesan. 2005. A Linguistics For Malaysians. University Malaya Press.

Meyer, Charles F. Introducing English Linguistics Cambridge.

Baurer, Laurie. The Linguistics Student Handbook.