An Overview of the Discipline

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure. There are many subdisciplines within linguistics. The research at Penn includes research in the following subfields: computational linguistics, historical linguistics, morphology, phonetics, phonology, psycholinguistics, semantics, sociolinguisticss, and syntax. Linguistics has evolved over time; in the 18th century, the focus was on historical linguistics and looking for an original language. Language was viewed as the product, but the "Chomskian Revolution" in the mid 20th Century shifted the focus to language processes of the mind and how language is used. Linguistics has seen great change in the last 10-15 years. Linguistics is developing towards a more traditional science and new technology has allowed for easier communication and exchange of data.

Writing in the Discipline

Reasoning

Linguistics is characterized by explanatory writing; persuasion is never the main aim, but should come secondarily from strong explanation or description. Linguists focus on explaining their findings objectively and backing these up with strong evidence. As Penn linguistics professor Dr. Beatrice Santorini puts it, "The goal is that if you explain in clear enough terms and have substantial evidence, persuasion will happen naturally."

Evidence

Although data is becoming increasingly important in the field with new technologies - so a trend of qualitative to quantitative evidence can be witnessed - the field can be considered text-based in the sense that texts are the source of all linguistics data. In general, evidence varies from subdiscipline-to-subdiscipline. Some fields rely more heavily on quantitative data versus qualitative evidence, but the trend is towards more quantitative data as computational linguistics methods improve. An example of using quantitative evidence in the field of sociolinguistics is by recording the number of times ta people use a negative concord versus a standard negation and correlating the resulting percentages with social variables like sex, ethnicity, and class using statistical methods. Quantitative evidence comes into play because many aspects of language are controlled by a grammar which divides possible forms into grammatical and ungrammatical and the resulting distinction between the two categories is a qualitative difference. Depending on the research question, the same text can be used as both data- and text-based evidence. For example, a text from the 1600s that is describing how words are pronounced can be used as text-based evidence if it is referenced as an authority on 17th century pronunciation, or it can be used as data-based evidence if the syntax of the text is examined.

Authorship

Linguistics has become more collaborative as it has become more scientific; while most papers are authored by a single person, databases are shared between linguists. Linguists build on what their colleagues have done and what new questions arise based on current literature. In addition, linguists will collectively revisit unanswered questions after the emergence of new data.

Goal

The focus in linguistics is similar to problem definition and solution. First, a question is asked and then a hypothesis is formed before data is gathered to answer the question. An example of a solved problem in linguistics is that it has been found where the grammars of human language fall on the Chomsky hierarchy – they are mildly context-sensitive, a result found through computational methods in linguistics. An example of an unsolved problem, on the other hand, is the origin of change in languages. In some cases, it has been found that language change has been related to contact with other languages and bilingualism in language speakers. In other cases, however, languages seem to simply change without any apparent reason. Conclusions are drawn from this data and range in the level of confidence that can be drawn from the conclusions, given the accuracy and precision of the data.

Writing Tips

Important Criteria for Student Writing

In student writing, conceptual elements are more important than physical elements. Clarity and strength of reasoning and evidence are most important; other important elements include synthesis, demonstrating mastery of others' ideas, and having original ideas. Grammar only becomes a problem if the errors are so severe that they distract the reader.

Common Errors

One common error students make is not understanding their audience. They do not grasp how much background information they need to provide, or how they should go about determining this. Other common errors include errors in interpreting data or supporting hypotheses. Students may assume too much from their evidence. Evidence may be consistent with a hypothesis, but it is not necessarily conclusive. An alternative hypothesis may fit with the data. Furthermore, students often assume that languages simply look like one thing following another (e.g. one sound after another and one word after another). Instead, linguistic research consistently finds that linguistic items have a structural that is independent of temporal order. Moreover, the association of words that share rhymes and onsets is another common error that students make in linguistics.

Claims

What claims are acceptable varies from sub-discipline to sub-discipline. In syntax, judgments and interpretations play a large role, but, in general, linguistics is seeing a trend towards moving away from qualitative evidence and relying more heavily on quantitative evidence. Thus, in terms of broad overarching assumptions, one that is now commonly accepted is that language can be studied with the methods familiar to the natural sciences. Moreover, it is now a common assumption that the study of language can generally be mathematized and studied more thoroughly as a result of this quantification of the field.

Style Preferences

Positions should rarely be explicitly stated; papers should focus on explaining. Linguists are allowed more freedom with their structure, but certain journals have specific citation forms. The APA (American Psycholgical Association) style is used by most linguists, but linguists who are collaborating with other fields such as engineering may find themselves using citations that are used in these other fields. The literature review, results, discussion, conclusion, etc. depend a lot on the subfield. A recommended style manual for advanced undergraduates is the Abbreviated Linguistics Inquiry Style Sheet

Genre

Student Assignments

Students are often asked to dissect sentences using what they have learned. These assignments require problem solving and have many answers. An analogous assignment would be to analyze the number five. 5 = 2 + 3, but it also equals -1 + 6, as well as infinitely many other sums and products. Other examples of student assignments include editing a Wikipedia page, final research papers, and shorter written assignments.

Professional Writing

Some examples of professional writing include scholarly articles, textbooks, grant proposals, and blogs.

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Meet the Professors

Dr. Gene Buckley
"The writing itself is probably the shortest part of the process..." More...

Dr. Beatrice Santorini
"The superficial corrections are irrelevant..." More...