II.   Mind (PSY)

Linguistics is the scientific study of language through its form, meaning and usage. Language is a formal complex system of communication and a specific instance of its use.

The word Linguistics comes from the Latin word Lingua meaning “speech, tongue of the land, language”.

In a formal sense the structure of Linguistics as form, meaning and usage may be defined as grammar, syntax, semantics, phonetics, phonology, morphology, pragmatics and discourse:

(i) Grammar is the formal set of rules that governs the composition of words, clauses and phrases using signs and symbols

(ii) Syntax is how words combine to form grammatical sentences; and

(iii) Semantics is the meaning of words, fixed word combinations and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences; and

(iv) Phonetics is the physical properties of speech production ; and

(v) Phonology is sounds as discrete, abstract elements and their meaning in the mind of the speaker; and

(vi) Morphology is the internal structures of words and how they can be modified; and

(vii) Pragmatics is how utterances are used in communicative acts and the role played by context and nonlinguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning; and

(viii) Discourse analysis is the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed).