I'm looking to expand my knowledge of linguistics and re learn everything I know about language from the ground up and work up from fundamentals.
Question is, where do I start?
I tired defining and categorising things like nouns and verbs etc but I realised that there are more fundamental things I could begin with.
I'm assuming at least some of you must have done linguistics at a higher level, I would be grateful for any reliable material on the fundamentals of language.
Is there an objective hierarchy for language that I can follow?
Pic related, another thing I was planning on starting at
>>9639751
Bump
Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
>>9640120
thanks for the response
I started out with Language Files by OSU press which is readily available as a PDF on libgen type sites
I have a degree in linguistics. I would recommend picking up an introductory textbook to linguistics. A good textbook will cover the basics (phonetics, morphology, syntax, etc.) and should also include an overview of higher level concepts such as historical linguistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics, to name a few. That way you can learn the basics and get a brief introduction to other studies in linguistics to figure out what you want to learn more about.
I still recommend getting a textbook and following it, but here's how I would structure independent studying:
1. Phonetics - the sounds of language
- learn IPA as soon as possible, you will need this if you want to do any serious studying
2. Phonology - the function and patterning of sounds
3. Morphology - the analysis of word structure
4. Syntax - the analysis of sentence structure
5. Semantics -the analysis of meaning
Those topics should give you a basic understanding of linguistics. Enough to start looking into other topics like first and second language acquisition, the brain and language, etc.
Keep in mind that while I suggest these topics as introductory, each could make up an entire graduate level class. So be careful not to overwhelm yourself.