Understanding General Linguistics.

This book aims above all to provide an introduction to general linguistics and an understanding of how language works. After defining linguistics and its objectives, the origins and evolution of language, the main concepts of linguistics will be described.The fundamental aspects of linguistics (language/languages/speech; structuralism; double articulation; competence/performance; theories of the sign; communication; syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations; diachronicity and synchronicity) will be presented. The components or branches of linguistics, especially the so-called traditional ones such as phonetics, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics, as well as semiology/semiotics will be discussed. Applications will be proposed at the end of each chapter.