linguistic analysis - Professor Binkert's Webpage - Oakland University

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every human language, whether Old English or Modern Japanese, shares universal features which
are directly related to human biology.
The goal of courses in linguistics is to formulate a theory of language that explains what language
is and how it is acquired and used. In particular, a theory of language must explain how all normal
children can master any of the world’s languages as a native language and can do so without any
specific instruction from parents or care-givers, whereas learning a language as an adult requires
intense study and training. In fact, this problem is huge since it is ultimately concerned with the
biological characteristics of human beings, specifically, with the characteristics of the human
language apparatus which includes the brain and the organs of speech and hearing. Linguistics
courses break down that huge problem into manageable subparts to find satisfactory explanations.
Since many linguistic courses deal with English, which students already know, linguistics is an
excellent discipline for practicing the skills needed for success in the workplace. Students learn how
to collect, organize, and analyze data in English and other languages, make hypotheses to account
for the data, alter hypotheses to accommodate newly discovered data, and evaluate competing
proposals to choose the most viable and robust analysis.
Because language is so pervasive and so peculiarly human, students of linguistics find careers in
many different areas. Some, such as teachers, computer scientists, and speech therapists, use
linguistics directly; others such as market analysts, editors, and advertising executives, use it
indirectly. Still others use their undergraduate major in linguistics as a springboard to careers in law,
education, business, artificial intelligence, medicine, and international relations, as well as graduate
study in linguistics and other fields. A list of career opportunities posted by the Linguistic Society
of America is included as an Addendum to this Introduction. That list and other useful information
can be found at lsadc.org. More job opportunities are available at linguistlist.org/jobs.
Quite naturally, linguistics courses are of direct benefit to language teachers, especially teachers of
ESL (English as a Second Language). A typical ESL class has students who speak different native
languages with varying levels of proficiency in both English and their native language. It is
impossible for ESL teachers to know ahead of time what kinds of questions about English grammar
the students in such mixed classes will ask. The best preparation for ESL teachers is a solid
understanding of English linguistics, that is, a linguistic description of English grammar such as the
description given in this book. This does not mean that ESL teachers should memorize the various
analyses given here. Quite the opposite is the case: a formal linguistic description is not going to be
very helpful to students learning English. What is important is that ESL teachers develop skill in
linguistic analysis, that they learn how to look at languages properly, not as chaotic and whimsical
collections of rules, but as systems rooted in human biology. In this way, ESL teachers can
understand the facts and issues behind their students’ questions and know that there is a real
explanation for those facts. As a result, they will be able to teach English and to answer students’
questions in a way that is truly meaningful.
Many linguistics courses satisfy the general education requirement in formal reasoning because they
emphasize objective methods of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. They are specifically designed