Comparative linguistics

Examples of Comparative linguistics in the following topics:

• Migration to North America

  • Due to the vastness and variety of the climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna, and landforms, ancient peoples migrated and coalesced separately into numerous peoples of distinct linguistic and cultural groups.
  • Comparative linguistics shows fascinating diversity, with similarities between tribes hundreds of miles apart, yet startling differences with neighboring groups.

• The Origins of Language

  • Some theories are based on the idea that language is so complex that one cannot imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have evolved from earlier pre-linguistic systems among our pre-human ancestors.
  • The opposite viewpoint is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared to anything found among non-humans and that it must therefore have appeared fairly suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man.
  • Because the emergence of language is located in the early prehistory of man, the relevant developments have left no direct historical traces and no comparable processes can be observed today.
  • Alternatively early human fossils can be inspected to look for traces of physical adaptation to language use or for traces of pre-linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour.
  • Compare and contrast continuity-based theories and discontinuity-based theories about the origin of language

• Language

  • The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics.
  • The word language has at least two basic meanings: language as a general concept, and a specific linguistic system (e.g.
  • One definition sees language primarily as the mental faculty that allows humans to undertake linguistic behaviour--to learn languages and produce and understand utterances.
  • Human languages are usually referred to as natural languages, and the science of studying them falls under the purview of linguistics.

• Analogies

  • In public speaking, analogy can be a powerful linguistic tool to help speakers guide and influence the perception and emotions of the audience.
  • Linguistically, an analogy can be a spoken or textual comparison between two words (or sets of words) to highlight some form of semantic similarity between them.
  • Demonstrating how the relationship between one set of ideas is comparable or similar to a different set ideas helps bridge this gap in understanding for listeners unable to formulate the relationship on their own.
  • In cognitive linguistics, the notion of conceptual metaphor may be equivalent to that of analogy.
  • Define analogies and how they can be used as a linguistic tool in public speaking

• The Eight Intelligences

  • Verbal/Linguistic intelligence refers to an individual's ability to understand and manipulate words and languages.
  • Teachers can enhance their students' verbal/linguistic intelligence by having them keep journals, play word games, and by encouraging discussion.
  • People with strong rhetorical and oratory skills such as poets, authors, and attorneys exhibit strong Linguistic intelligence.
  • Traditionally, Linguistic intelligence and Logical/Mathematical intelligence have been highly valued in education and learning environments.
  • Encourage the study of relationships such as patterns and order, and compare-and-contrast sets of groups or look at connections to real life and science issues.

• The Bantu Migration

  • The primary evidence for this expansion has been linguistic, namely that the languages spoken in Sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to each other.
  • The linguistic core of the Bantu family of languages, a branch of the Niger–Congo language family, was located in the adjoining region of Cameroon and Nigeria.
  • The western branch, not necessarily linguistically distinct, according to Christopher Ehret, followed the coast and the major rivers of the Congo system southward, reaching central Angola by around 500 BCE.
  • Movements by small groups to the southeast from the Great Lakes region were more rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers, due to comparatively harsh farming conditions in areas further from water.
  • Archaeological, linguistic, genetic, and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that the Bantu expansion was a long process of multiple human migrations.

• Language and Perception

  • One example is the principle of linguistic relativity.
  • The strong version states that language determines thought and emotions/feelings, and linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories
  • The weak version argues that linguistic categories and usage influence thought and certain kinds of non-linguistic behavior .
  • A main point of debate in the discussion of linguistic relativity is the strength of correlation between language and thought and emotion/feelings.
  • The centrality of the question of the relation between thought or emotions/feelings and language has brought attention to the issue of linguistic relativity, not only from linguists and psychologists, but also from anthropologists, philosophers, literary theorists, and political scientists.

• Linguistic Relativity

  • Language and thought (or "cognition") tend to interact in a dual and cyclical relationship, a theory known overall as linguistic relativity.
  • The hypothesis has been largely abandoned by linguists as it has found at best very limited experimental support, and it does not hold much merit in psychology.
  • The canonical example of studying linguistic relativity is in the area of color naming.
  • Sapir and Whorf, as believers in linguistic relativity, would believe that people whose languages partition the color spectrum along different lines actually perceive colors in a different way.
  • However, recent research has supported the idea that human color perception is governed more by biological and physical rather than linguistic constraints, regardless of how many color words a language has.

• Franchising

  • With legal, cultural, linguistics, and logistical barriers to entry in various global markets, the franchising model offers and simpler, cleaner solution that can be implemented relatively quickly.
  • This high level of integration into the new location can create significant advantages compared to other entry models, with much lower risk.

• Introduction to Language

  • Language is the ability to produce and comprehend spoken and written words; linguistics is the study of language.
  • Language is such a special topic that there is an entire field, linguistics, devoted to its study.
  • Linguistics views language in an objective way, using the scientific method and rigorous research to form theories about how humans acquire, use, and sometimes abuse language.
  • There are a few major branches of linguistics, which it is useful to understand in order to learn about language from a psychological perspective.
  • This diagram outlines the various subfields of linguistics, the study of language.