Microlinguistics

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Microlinguistics is a branch of

meaning or national content of linguistic expressions. In micro-linguistics, language is reduced to the abstract mental elements of syntax and phonology. It contrasts with macro-linguistics, which includes meanings, and especially with sociolinguistics, which studies how language and meaning function within human social systems.[1] The term micro-linguistics was first used in print by George L. Trager, in an article published in 1949, in Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Papers.[2] The field of microlinguistics has been birthed by and subsequently dominated by Euro-American linguists and sociologists. The heart of microlinguistics is often summed up by Sausurre's claim that “The fundamental idea of this course: linguistics has for unique and true object the language considered in itself and for itself.” [3]

References

  1. ^ Matthews, P.H. (2002), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Oxford: Oxford UP.
  2. ^ "Microlinguistics", The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.), Oxford UP, 1989.
  3. .