Discussion Post #3
One way I am able to combine the different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of my target language is understandment and perspective when viewing the language from a bird's eye perspective. From what appears to be at the surface isn’t enough and diving deeper into the basic components of a language is what will allow me to understand the structure of the language itself. From the diagram on page nine of “Aitchison's Linguistics” we see that phonetics is at the core of a language with components such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, etc. branching outwards. Each component is useful in its own way and contributes to the levels in which we process and understand a language in the way we do. For example, we understand that at the very core of a language, the mere utterance of a sound or the sound produced relative to a word of that corresponding language is the idea of phonetics. Branching outwards, we are able to put together these sounds and form word(s) which we analyze the structure of; this is semantics. From an even more holistic perspective, we get to pragmatics, which is the way in which context influences our perception of the implied meaning of a word. The more we branch outwards, we focus on this exhaustive concept or the building blocks of a language. I wouldn’t say I necessarily give preference to one interdisciplinary approach over the other. However, upon examination, I believe that working your way in from the outside based on the diagram on page 9 would be more efficient when it comes to learning a new language. My knowledge of the interdisciplinary approaches will shape my trajectory of learning a language by knowing that there are layers to a language and to examine each aspect of it.
One way I am able to combine the different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of my target language is understandment and perspective when viewing the language from a bird's eye perspective. From what appears to be at the surface isn’t enough and diving deeper into the basic components of a language is what will allow me to understand the structure of the language itself. From the diagram on page nine of “Aitchison's Linguistics” we see that phonetics is at the core of a language with components such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, etc. branching outwards. Each component is useful in its own way and contributes to the levels in which we process and understand a language in the way we do. For example, we understand that at the very core of a language, the mere utterance of a sound or the sound produced relative to a word of that corresponding language is the idea of phonetics. Branching outwards, we are able to put together these sounds and form word(s) which we analyze the structure of; this is semantics. From an even more holistic perspective, we get to pragmatics, which is the way in which context influences our perception of the implied meaning of a word. The more we branch outwards, we focus on this exhaustive concept or the building blocks of a language. I wouldn’t say I necessarily give preference to one interdisciplinary approach over the other. However, upon examination, I believe that working your way in from the outside based on the diagram on page 9 would be more efficient when it comes to learning a new language. My knowledge of the interdisciplinary approaches will shape my trajectory of learning a language by knowing that there are layers to a language and to examine each aspect of it.
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