Linguistic Theory, Schools and Semiotics

What this unit covers

This unit sits in the Foundations of Linguistics strand of Linguistics and philology. Most of what you will find is mind maps, made by GoConqr users, that lay out the main schools and ideas of linguistic theory.

• Universal Grammar and Generative Grammar cover Chomsky's idea of an innate language capacity and the basic design shared by human languages.
• Structuralism appears in several versions, with principles such as wholeness, transformation and self-regulation, and links to anthropology and semiotics.
• Functional Sentence Perspective looks at language as social interaction and traces its origins to the Linguistic School of Prague.
• Systemic Funtional Grammar sets Halliday's functional approach against the formal approach to grammar.

Where to start

Begin with the broad overview maps: LINGUISTICS walks through early grammarians, comparative philology, structuralism, generativism, cognitivism and functionalism. Linguistic paradigms adds the neurolinguistic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic views. Then move to a single school at a time.

Semiotics and context

Once you know the schools, look at the maps on Semiotics and on language, context and text from a social-semiotic perspective. Other maps cover context of situation, register and the functions of language. These show how meaning links to its setting.

Using quizzes, maps and flashcards together

Read a map, then test yourself. The English Functional Grammar Section 2 (Basics) Quiz checks word classes such as naming words, action words and words that describe nouns. The Language Classification quiz suits the typology maps. Flashcard decks such as Theme and Rheme, Typology and Systematic Functional Linguistics help you fix key terms.

Everything here is free to open and study. Choose one school, work through its map, then try a quiz or build a flashcard deck of your own.