1. Linguistics is the study of the way in which language works. (Collins COBUILD English dictionary.

HarperCOLLINS, 1995) Linguistics can be defined as the scientific inquiry into human language into its structures and uses and the relationship between them, as well as into the development and acquisition of language. (Finegan, 1989, Language: its structure and use. p13) Linguistics is the name given to the discipline which studies human language. (Widdowson, Linguistics. 1996:3) Linguistics tries to answer the basic questions What is language? and How does language work? . It probes into various aspects of these problems, such as What do all languages have in common? , What range of variation is found among languages? , How does human language differ from animal communication? , How does a child learn to speak? , How does one write down and analyse an unwritten language? , Why do languages change? , To what extent are social class differences reflected in language? and so on. (Aitchison, 1992, Teach Yourself Linguistics. p3/4) linguistics linguistics linguistics linguistics is is is is a a a a study scientific inquiry name discipline

LINGUISTICS AND ITS STRUCTURE Linguistics is a science about natural languages. To be more precise, it covers a whole set of different related sciences (see Figure I.1). General linguistics is a nucleus [18, 36]. It studies the general structure of various natural languages and discovers the universal laws of functioning of natural languages. Many concepts from general linguistics prove to be necessary for any researcher who deals with natural languages. General linguistics is a fundamental science that was developed by many researchers during the last two centuries, and it is largely based on the methods and results of grammarians of older times, beginning from the classical antiquity. As far as general linguistics is concerned, its most important parts are the following: Phonology deals with sounds composing speech, with all their similarities and differences permitting to form and distinguish words.