Faculty of Arts
Applications of linguistics
From: Halliday, M.A.K. 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd ed.), pp. xxix-xxx. London: Arnold.
Applications of linguistics range from research applications of a theoretical nature to quite practical tasks where problems have to be solved. Some of the purposes for which linguistics is likely to be useful could be enumerated as follows:
to understand the nature and functions of language;
to understand what all languages have in common (i.e. what are the properties of language as such), and what may differ from one language to another;
to understand how languages evolve through time;
to understand how a child develops language, and how language may have evolved in the human species;
to understand the quality of texts; why a text means what it does, and why it is valued as it is;
to understand how language varies, according to the user, and according to the functions for which it is being used;
to understand literary and poetic texts, and the nature of verbal art;
to understand the relation between language and culture, and language and situation;
to understand many aspects of the role of language in the community and the individual: multilingualism, socialization, ideology, propaganda, etc.,
to help people learn their mother tongue: reading and writing, language in school subjects, etc.;
to help people learn foreign languages;
to help train translators and interpreters;
to write reference works (dictionaries, grammars, etc.) for any language;
to understand the relationship between language and the brain;
to help in the diagnosis and treatment of language pathologies arising from brain insults (tumours, accidents) or from congenital disorders such as autism and Down’s syndrome;
to understand the language of the deaf (sign);
to design appliances that will aid the hard of hearing;
to design computer software that will produce and understand text, and translate between languages;
to design systems for producing and understanding speech, and converting between written and spoken text;
to assist in legal adjudications by matching samples of sound or wording;
to design more economical and efficient means for the transmission of spoken and written text;
and so on.
Chapter 1: What is language?
(Read pages 2-17 and 21-24.)
(1) English eat
Czech 
(2) The child is hungry.
*Hungry child is the
(3) 'four' English four
French quatre
Manam (Papua New Guinea) wati
Turkish dört
(4) Onomatopoeic words:
English hiss
Toqabaqita (Solomon Islands) kiokio 'sp. of kingfisher'
German zischen (approximately 
) 'hiss'
French siffler (aproximately 
) 'hiss'
English cock-a-doodle-doo
German kikeriki
(5) Harry likes Sally.
Sally likes Harry.
Harry hates Sally.
(6) This is the house.
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
And:
Jane believes that this is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.I think that Jane believes that this is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
(7) the child in the picture in the book on the table in the bedroom of the house in Main Street in a town in the North Island of New Zealand ...
(8) I saw the rat that the cat killed.
the cat that the dog chased
I saw the rat that the cat that the dog chased killed.
(9) He was wrong to suddenly leave the country.
He was wrong suddenly to leave the country.
I didn't see nobody.
I didn't see anybody.
(10) The girl ate an apple.
[[The girl] [ate [an apple]]].
