L E C T U R E # 1 2

SUBSTANCE

SUBSTANCE & FORMDIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

SUBSTANCE & FORMDIACHRONY& SYNCHRONY

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Substance and symbols such as letters of the alphabet that represent sounds in writing are the raw material of a language

• They are the phonic (sounds) and graphic (written) substance of the language.

• They have no meaning in themselves.

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• They become meaningful when they are given a particular shape or order.

• They have meaning when they have some form.

• All distinct sounds produced by human speech organs and written scripts are the substance of human language

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Cluster of sounds such as /n/, /t/, /e/ is only noise – has no meaning

• It must be suitably arranged into some form to make it meaningful

• When the same sounds arranged into some order i.e /n/ + /e/ + /t/ - We can see some meaning

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Log of wood has no particular shape, A carpenter makes chairs, tables etc. out of it

• Substance and form – two parts of the quality of language

• Substance, which is the mere sound or word is only the signifier (in Saussure’s terms)

• In order to make sense, it has to be linked with the ‘signified’ – the meaning or the concept

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Sounds when arranged in a particular order, signify something meaningful;

• words when arranged in a particular order

express some meaningful idea or action; • this means that the arrangement itself gives form

to the substance of the language

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• A further distinction is made between levels of ‘expression’ and ‘content’ in form.

• At one level, the level of expression, linguistics deals with the form or shape of linguistic elements, without considering their meaning.

• This way we might get sentences like ‘the bachelor gave birth to a baby’ – doesn’t make any sense

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Hence, we have to consider level of content as well i.e. the level of meaning, or semantics

• Form includes both grammar (arrangement of words in a sentence) & Semantics (the meaning relationships between the words)

• Summing up, we can say that substance is the elements or ‘raw materials’ of language – phonemes, morphemes, or graphemes

SUBSTANCE & FORM

• Form is the associative order in which these are brought together in a meaningful way.

• Linguists say that form is the concern of linguistic study, not substance; It is form that makes it possible to study substance.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• The distinction is between two approaches to the study of language.• The synchronic (‘chronos’ stands for time)

approach sees language as a living whole, existing as a state at one particular time.• The state is an accumulation of all linguistic

activities that a language community engages in during a specific period of time

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Linguists can collect samples of this language regardless of any historical considerations that might have influenced language at any particular time.

• Once focal point isolated, time factor is irrelevant

• Whatever changes occur during study, are considered irrelevant to the main focus.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• What is the main focus of study?

• It is the system of language as it exists; the system of inter-relationships that bind together co-existing items in the collective mind of the community

• The diachronic approach traces historical developments.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• It records the changes that have taken place between successive points in time.

• Diachronic is equivalent to ‘historial’ (Lyons, 1983, p. 35)

• It investigates language changes as they occur from time to time, the evolution of languages

• Diachronic refers to historical developments

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Saussure (1916) who made this distinction gives priority to synchronic approach.

• He says that the two approaches must be kept separate

• Saussure says that what strikes us first is that their succession in time does not exist as far as a speaker is concerned.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• For example: A speaker of English is not concerned with the language of middle ages.

• The speaker is concerned with the state of being, the language that exists for him at a given time.

• The speaker does not consider what language existed before or after him

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Saussure has given inter-relationship of diachrony and synchrony

C A x B D

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• In the above diagram, AB is the synchronic axis of simultaneities – all the facts of language as they co-exist at a particular time

• It is the static axis – doesn’t change. It refers to language as it exists at a particular time

• CD is the diachronic axis of succession – an imaginary line moving through time

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• AB can intersect CD at any point because at any given time, there will be a number of simultaneous facts about language co-existing

• X is the point on CD where a particular point in time can be isolated and language at this particular point can be described (as it exists)

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Priority of synchronic over diachronic study is explained by Saussure by analogy of the game of chess.

• The chess board constantly changes because of the different moves of the players but anybody walks in at any point, he can understand the state of the game – by the position of the pieces.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• It doesn’t matter how many moves the players have made before arriving at that stage.

• The game can be described without giving

reference to the earlier moves.

• Rules, agreed upon continue to operate with each move

• Similar rules present in language too

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Only one piece needs to be moved at a time for each move.

• In language, change affects only isolated elements, not the whole language

• No doubt, these changes ultimately do change the language – case of some words disappearing from a language and some new words entering

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Just as succession of moves changes the final results of the game.

• However, at each point in the game all the pieces exist relative to each other and their ultimate fate can not be predicted at that point of the game.

• Likewise all the sounds in words exist relative to each other.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• Likewise different words in sentences exist relative to each other and so on.

• In the process of language formation, we can not say what their exact place would be finally.

• So, language can and should be described synchronically – on its own terms without referring to its past or future shape

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• The question arises: should historical study not be done? Or should diachronic perspective not be considered?

• Saussure says that although diachronic aspect is not related to the language system, it does affect or condition the system.

• He just wants to keep them separate.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC APPROACHES

• He says that language is a complex system of values.

• We may confuse synchronic approach while thinking about the historical perspective

• In order to give historical studies a valid base, good clear synchronic study is important

SUMMARY

• Substance and symbols (letters of the alphabet) are raw material of language

• They become meaningful when given a particular shape or order.

• A one level we consider only the form or shape

• At another we consider the level of meaning

SUMMARY

• A combination of both gives us a meaningful form.

Diachronic & Synchronic Approaches• Diachronic approach related with development of

language over different ages

• Synchronic approach related with the shape of language at a specific time without considering its shape in the past or future