Refer to the diagram on page 9 in Aitchison’s linguistics. How do you combine different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of your target language? Do you give preference to one disciplinary approach over the others? How will your knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies inform the trajectory of your learning plan?
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How do you combine different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of your target language?
It's important to combine disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of the language and its associated culture.
Do you give preference to one disciplinary approach over the others?
My preference goes to applied linguistics, as it's the most useful in everyday life, such as if I were to ever go to Israel. Other than that, most interesting to me is sociolinguistics as I really enjoy the study of people.
How will your knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies inform the trajectory of your learning plan?
This will inform the trajectory of my learning plan as it gives me a solid starting place for my learning and a path in which to direct my goals. It also opens my eyes to the many different disciplinary perspectives from which I can learn (and that it will take to achieve fluency.)
With any subject, and in all aspects of my life thus far, I find that the best approach to understanding as much as possible is to take the path of least resistance. This means pursuing the aspects of the subject I am naturally drawn to. In the case of this diagram, stylistics, sociology, and applied linguistics are the most appealing to me. Stylistics in literature, film, art, and all the rest make up a lump sum of my hobbies. Similarly, sociology and linguistics feel like the most natural categories to approach when studying a new language as interacting with others is, for me, the most important reason to learn a language.
I may be wrong but I honestly do not think I am yet in a place in my language learning where the application of these structures are overtly beneficial. Perhaps when I’ve developed a more concrete foundation, these methodologies could help me in becoming more specialized. In the meantime I will continue to pursue the path of least resistance. I suppose this path best aligns with the stylistics branch. Listening to music and binge watching television exposes me to an abundance of stylistics I can apply to my language learning. It also makes me happy.
Wow, that's actually really good advice to focus on the "path of least resistance." It sort of reminds me of the advice to go for a job you'll love doing. Looking back at some of the choices I've made. I really wish I was able to make more decisions based on this concept, although a lot is probably due to them being forced upon me by my mom.
Hi Peace,
I like your approach to learning languages or with any subject like you said. Watching TV shows can expose you to the language and culture while simultaneously letting you practice listening and reading skills (if you have subtitles on). For me, I find that I am likely to listen to a Korean learning podcast rather than reading a textbook. However, the textbook-like resource I used is called Talk to Me in Korean, and it makes Korean more interactive than a traditional textbook. They have resources for all different levels, so I highly recommend it!
How do you combine different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of your target language?
The different disciplinary perspectives will give me a more holistic understanding because it separates the language into different ideas. It will be interesting to see how these different perspectives of linguistics relate to each other but also how they are unique in their own ways. But even though they may be different, they are all grounded in the same foundations of pragmatics, semantics, syntax, phenology, and phonetics. So once there is a solid understanding of those elements, the different perspectives will be easier to understand and expand into.
Do you give preference to one disciplinary approach over the others?
I do not necessarily give preference to one approach over the others, but most likely will be more drawn towards those that are more relatable to my learning right now, such as applied linguistics. Since I am also interested in the study of people, culture, and how they live, I would also want to expand towards sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics.
How will your knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies inform the trajectory of your learning plan?
This will inform the trajectory of my learning plan because I realize that there are many things I need to improve on before I can understand other disciplinary perspectives. For example, I need to focus on syntax before I can understand semantics.
I think combining different disciplinary perspectives really is dependent on your individual skills and goals for your language learning. For example, it wouldn't make sense for a beginner to combine stylistics literature or a non-tech/math individual to combine artificial intelligence. Combining disciplinary perspectives can help you explain and learn other disciplinary perspectives and eventually complete the circle and give you a holistic understanding of your target language. My knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies will help me really provide a more focused trajectory for my learning plan. For me, my focus is really on learning applied linguistics, anthropological linguistics, and stylistics. Combining these perspectives will allow me to create this holistic approach to how language is being used in everyday life. This is important for me as I am attempting to achieve fluency and just becoming as close to a native Korean as I can get.
I agree with your point about having the skills and goals for language learning. We should all have goals in mind to what we want to learn and have a solid understanding in that before we move onto more complex ideas because that is just how we learn. For example, this means understanding pragmatics, semantics, syntax, phenology, and phonetics. So once there is a solid understanding of those elements, the different perspectives will be easier to understand and expand into.
I think it would be really interesting to learn a language through a variety of disciplinary perspectives since it would holistically shape our understanding of the language. It would also shape the way we view the world. Learning a language through the sociological perspective, for example, might open our eyes to the social interactions between people. I think all of the disciplinary approaches would be interesting but right now, I think I prefer Applied Linguistics since it is most useful and applicable to my everyday life. Growing up in a Korean household with no formal Korean language learning background, I think I am definitely stronger in areas of phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. I think I need to focus more on learning the syntax and grammar of Korean. I think this may be a weird order for language learning but I plan to try to improve in all four of my language abilities.
I also think what lens a language is learned really affects the understanding of that particular language. A sociological perspective is going to yield a different understanding than another type of interpretation. This is why I have tried to learn my language from a variety of these perspectives, to really expand my understanding.
I would say that it is very important to combine a number of different disciplinary perspectives to get a thorough understanding of any language. For instance, like the diagram shows a concept like pragmatics: context and the implications of speech really affects every branch of linguistics. In the center is phonetics: or the making of noises through speech. Phonetics are what make all the other concepts of linguistics possible. The diagram shows how phonetics and the other components of language are used in subjects like psychology for instance. I think by hitting all these different aspects of a language it is easier to understand the language as a whole. My personal preference given all these approaches would be stylistics as I am interested in literature and reading. Like the diagram says, the importance of all the concepts in the inner rings like semantics and syntax relates to this concept strongly. I think I will use this information to reinforce my initial plan of focusing on getting exposure in all the different parts of language: listening, speaking, writing, and listening. The diagram really shows how all parts of linguistics are interconnected. It shows that by focusing on one aspect in parts of my learning I will also be simultaneously delving into other aspects.