The study of language

1. Why   were 19th   century linguists so interested in historical linguistics?

The 19th century concern with reconstructing Proto-Indo-European, and making hypotheses about the way it split into the various modern languages.   was encouraged by the general intellectual climate of the times. Darwin published his famous “Origin of Species “ theory of the evolution , natural attempt the evolution of language.

 2. Why is  de  Saussure  an  important figure in linguistics?

 Ferdinand de Saussure  “the father of modern linguistics“ “Course in  General Linguistics “. His contribution  “all  language items are essentially interlinked“

3.    What  are  discovery  procedures?

Ultimate goal of linguistics  was the perfection of discovery procedures

A set of principles which would enable a linguist to “ discover “  in a foolproof

way the linguist  units of an unwritten language. Linguistics called

“structuralists “. 

4. What  is  a  generative  grammar,  and  how  does it  differ from a  descriptive  grammar ?

  

Generative grammar = set of statements or rules which specify which sequences  of a language are  possible and which are imposible.

Descriptive  grammar =  linguistics concentrated on writing descriptive grammars of unwritten  languages.