DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS

In the 20th century, linguists concentrated on the description of single languages at one particular point in time. They were influenced most strongly by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss professor of Indo-European and general linguistics. He believed that all historical research and philosophical generalizations dealing with language had to proceed from descriptive studies.

Ferdinand, labelled as “the father of modern linguistics”, made an important contribution: “all language items are essentially interlinked”. His insistence that language is carefully built structure of interwoven elements initiated the era of structural linguistics.

Meanwhile, in America, Leonard Bloomfield and his influential textbook Language, published in 1933, focused on the description of Austronesian languages, and description of languages of the Algonquian family. His approach was characterized by its emphasis on the scientific basis of linguistics, adherence to behaviorism, and emphasis on formal procedures for the analysis of linguistic data such as the discovery procedures-a set of principles which would enable a linguist to 'discover' in a foolproof way the linguistic units of an unwritten language.

Ferdinand de Saussure, for many years professor of linguistics at the university of Geneva in Switzerland, believed that all historical research and philosophical generalizations dealing with language had to proceed from descriptive studies. He maintained that the first task of linguistics was to find out the facts of language. Two of these facts stood out in bold relief; meaning changes and sound change. Saussure set about trying to arrive at empirical system by which these two types of change could be described he was not wholly successful. Unfortunately, he never wrote a book giving us in detail the results of his life's work. After his death, however, several of his most prominent students published his university lectures from the notes they had taken in class.