Looking for some help with your linguistics essay?
We have good news: this article is a complete guide to your future paper. We prepared a variety of essay topics, writing prompts, and ideas for you. There are also some linguistics essay examples below.
Linguistics is a science that studies all aspects of languages. We can divide it into synchronic and diachronic, theoretical and applied, micro and macro. Here are the main subdisciplines of linguistics:
A linguistics essay is a paper about theoretical and practical aspects of languages. Introduction to linguistic aspects is an essential part of any education. Typically, you can get such an assignment in high school or college. Which subjects can include essays about linguistics?
Argumentative, persuasive, and descriptive essays are the typical tasks on linguistics. We prepared some examples of the most popular areas below.
Bellow you’ll find a list of essay titles connected to several areas of language studies. Here is our selection of linguistics essay topics.
A morphology essay should focus on word formation and the internal structure of words. Also, pay attention to parts of speech, intonation, and stress.
Here are the topics:
In your syntax essay, write about grammar, phrases, and sentences. Pay attention to the structure of sentences and logical connections that define word order. You can discuss various syntax methods and theories in your essay.
Let’s take a look at our topics:
You should focus on sounds and signs that we use in verbal communication in a particular language in your essay. You need to pay attention to the patterns of sounds and syllables. There are three types of phonetics: articulation, transmission, and perception.
Here are the essay titles:
The paper should be about meaning, reference, or truth. There are various semantical theories that you can use in your writing. You can choose one of these essay topics:
Linguistics is not only about theoretical, linguistic aspects but also about practical things. Science is not only about analysis, interpretation, and reflection. It is a vast scientific community that has an influence and takes action. Linguists face different difficulties when they do their research, communicate with their colleagues, and implement the results of their scientific work.
For example, the Linguist Society of America focuses on social and scientific issues. Here are a few things that the linguists contribute to:
Thank you for reading this article! Below is a selection of essay templates you can use for inspiration when writing your own linguistics essay.
Over the years man has developed various forms of writing to convey information or messages. The forms include pictographic, ideographic, logographic, phonographic and alphabetic. Pictographic form of writing is where drawings or symbols are used for illustration. Drawings are used to express or transmit ideas. This form of writing has...
Introduction Numerous studies of the 20th century in the field of linguistic politeness play an important role in modern pragmatic works that touch on this topic and raise issues of verbal communication. As a basis for many ideas and hypotheses, Brown and Levinson’s theory is used as a valid background....
Introduction The differences between various English accents are a well-researched topic, particularly when it comes to the North American and British variations. The difference in how various groups pronounce words may be the most important point of discussion on the topic. It is the most overt difference between various modes...
Martha’s Vineyard is commonly known for its integration of deaf members into everyday community life. There have been various literary works on how this involvement helped the whole community thrive. Two such works are by Nora Ellen Groce and Barry Crouch. There are many similarities and differences between Groce’s and...
Introduction By introducing students to the Arabic language and improving their skills in different types of speech activity, one should take into account that active perception should be promoted. In the context of working with younger pupils, building an educational program based on emotional contact can help establish contact and...
Morphology is the study of the structure of words and their relation to other words. Since a morpheme is the smallest linguistic piece ‘with a grammatical function,’ it serves as a common unit of analysis.[1] Morphemes have different functions, such as forming new words, changing parts of speech, or adding...
Introduction While teaching and learning language are sometimes perceived as merely providing and obtaining a particular set of prescriptive forms, language is a structural and multifaceted system that integrates knowledge about cultural and social phenomena. This paper aims to examine my personal development as a language learner based on the...
Introduction The modern globalized economy is characterized by high levels of worker mobility. Individuals are traveling far from home to improve their living conditions and find better jobs. English is considered to be the most popular and widespread language in the world due to its historical popularity and relative simplicity...
Introduction During the last several decades, much attention has been paid to the differences between men and women. The discussion of gender differences touches upon various fields of life, and language is not an exception. McCormick said about the differences between how men and women listen and how their brains...
Introduction Research Background Since time in sundry, the art of movement and gesture were the main tools of communication among human beings (Assalahi, 2013). Basically, as a visual language, art has expressive and receptive components through which different ideas may be communicated void of any audible speech (Amin, Benachaiba, &...
Introduction Grammar denotes the system of rules that guide the conventional setting and connection of words in a given sentence, which means that it addresses the structure or form of languages. There are numerous methods that teachers use while teaching grammar. Some of the approaches are the grammar-translation method, the...
Examples of group terms used by a speech community in the university Parallel Program- The term is pronounced as the English words meaning degree program designed to transfer a qualified student to universities although not selected by the university. LM; a female student at the university. “The exam was difficult...
Introduction/Thesis statement The foremost issue, within the theoretical framework of translation-paradigm, has traditionally been considered the fact that the syntactical structure and semiotic mechanisms of Source Languages (SL) often prove irreconcilable with that of Target Languages (TL). Therefore, it does not come as a particular surprise that, while addressing the...
Conditional Mood The source of the chosen text is the trailer for the movie called The Grey. The following excerpt will be used: “How hard would you fight; how far would you go…to get back home?” (TheGreyMovie2012, 2011). This piece has been chosen to illustrate how conditional mood should be...
The text is a lyric from the song by Beyoncé Knowles called “If I Were a Boy”. It has been chosen since it vividly illustrates the grammar rule to be explained. In addition, the song is popular, and it is quite likely that almost all students know it and remember...
Introduction Expressing negation through conversational exchanges can serve many functions (Gönen, 2011, p. 253). At this point, the exchange of information between speakers can be improved through the presence of Contrastive Discourse Markers (CDMs) (Khatib & Safari, 2011, p. 243). An actual engagement of Saudi college English learners in a...
Introduction Kinship terminology is a system applied in many world languages in reference to people one is related to. The Chinese kinship terminology is widely studied owing to its complexity. Through continued analysis, many editions have been developed by scholars over the last two thousand years. Despite the keen interest...
Introduction Teaching English as a foreign language remains one of the most rewarding careers in the education sector. Tutors must identify the emerging needs of every learner in order to deliver appropriate instructions. It is also agreeable that the teaching process can be demanding since there are certain problems that...
Summary The authors of both articles conducted a descriptive research study by adopting a longitudinal data collection method among the participants for 10-12 months. However, the instruments of data collection differed. The review of the Iranian study (Papi & Abdollahzadeh, 2012) shows that the authors collected data using the observation...
The article titled, Literacy and Literacies by James Collins mainly highlights how studies on literacy have served to influences general studies on culture and knowledge. Collins asserts that most of the scholars on the topic argued from the awareness that within any society, there are inherent intellectual differences amongst individuals...
The point of financial literacy learning is in letting people engage in available social opportunities and relations that lead to sustained wellbeing and improved financial performance during their lifetime. Abstract Low literacy is a serious problem in Canada. What accounts for literacy and how to teach financial literacy are the...
The Multi-Genre Analysis of Barrister’s Opinion The article of Hafner (2010) is dedicated to a narrow and specific issue in applied linguistics – the investigation of the genre of barrister’s opinion. The author claims that the present genre is seriously under-researched, but it still represents a very interesting and informative...
English as a Global Language English is gaining recognition as a global language and it is being studied more whether this language should be a global language (Nadkarni, n.d.). For more than half of the century, people who migrated from different parts of the Indian subcontinent have added lots of...
Introduction Communication is arguably the cornerstone on which any successful relationship, be it business or personal, is built. The importance of effective communication as a means of gathering information is universally acknowledged and a lot of research has been taken on the subject and numerous books are written to help...
Chapter 2 In this chapter, Thomas Scovel discusses the way in which children acquire their mother tongue. At first, the author notes that crying can be viewed as the precursor of language and speech (Scovel 8). As a rule, it is a response to the discomfort that infants can experience....
Literacy is one of the most popular topics in contemporary research. The crisis of literacy is believed to have far-reaching implications for the future of global society. The emergence of numerous literacies, most of which are socially construed, has become the distinctive feature of the global reality. Here, we talk...
Discuss William Littlewoods’s point of view on choosing what to teach William Littlewood (1981) argues that language education should reflect the communicative needs of students. The problem is that in many cases, children are supposed to learn mostly about various structural elements of the language. For instance, one can speak...
Introduction People have developed several misconceptions about the ability to acquire a second language, where, children are said to be at a better position to acquire a second language as compared to adults (Felser & Clahsen 2009). While the allegation could be true, it may not apply to all individuals....
Introduction The debate concerning the use of a standard form of English has been a heated one for several decades, especially amongst linguistic and partly the general public. One of the most central issues characterizing the debate is the use of Standard English in education and more specifically whether it...
Diversity of language and culture Back in elementary school, a Korean boy had some speech problems. His problem in the speech was notable when speaking letters r, l, and sh. The problem was as well notable in words that contain these letters. His reading skills were poor, coupled with unusually...
Personal Statement about Grammar Grammar is an aspect of studying English that causes much debate and disagreement, both in policies of teaching and in the description of the subject on the whole. Historically, there have been several approaches to viewing, studying, and teaching grammar, each of which has made a...
Brown, R. (1973). A first language. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. The present work is dedicated to the peculiarities of sentence construction and sentence understanding since the author believes these issues are of central importance to understanding English grammar and successfully mastering it. He outlines several essential aspects of...
Despite the popular idea that, due to technological advances, which children are fascinated by, it is very hard to get a child excited with reading, the latter can, in fact, be turned into a child’s hobby rather easily. According to what Dr. Peter Afferbach states, watching children learn to read,...
Introduction The literary work that we have thoroughly discussed this week was very significant and interesting to me in many ways. This literal work made me understand literature in a different way. Generally literature restores our past, arouses our imagination, praises the common place, stirs up emotions and serves as...
Introduction In this paper what will be examined are the differences in speech between bilinguals and monolinguals through the use of the following YouTube videos: Speaking English in the Philippines Speaking English in the U.S. The videos show two distinct population sets, one being Filipino and the other American. The...
Introduction The present paper refers to the practical and theoretical implications of curriculum design and change; the proper regard is given to the historically formed traditions in language teaching, the most valuable innovations of the 20th century in both traditional MLT and more modern ELT. The ideas of Connelly (1988)...
Introduction Researchers have concentrated on incidental vocabulary learning, especially when examining the efficacy of glosses. From the backdrop of most empirical research studies, Rott and Williams (2003) have established that incidental vocabulary learning can be swiftly enhanced when glosses are made available. This conclusive finding works best when both non-gloss...
English and Hindi # Hindu English Comments 1 SOV SVO Unlike in the system of the English language, the system of Hindu presupposes that the subject of the sentence was followed by the object. 2 Place – Adverb – Verb Verb – Place – Adverb In contrast to English, where...
Phonetic Knowledge From the transcriptions, Richard showed that he did not have major problems with producing any sound. Most of the pronunciation errors Richard made were mainly due to excitement. He seemed so carried away with excitement that he mispronounced some words. For instance, he repeatedly left the letter “d”...
Thai students often have problems with using the English grammar constructions and tenses because they do not use inflected forms of the verb in their language. Thus, much attention should be paid to the additional practice in using Past Simple constructions and verb inflections by Thai students (Swan & Smith,...
Introduction Incidental vocabulary learning has been a major area of study by researchers especially when examining the efficacy of glosses. From the backdrop of most empirical research studies, it has been established that incidental vocabulary learning can be swiftly enhanced when glosses are made available. This conclusive finding works best...
Introduction English has become a global language. It is the adopted language of many non-English speaking countries. Literary works are being produced in hundreds from places where English is still a second-language for the masses. However, the cultural influences on the language are undeniable. This influence has led to the...
Chapter four summary This chapter concentrates on the role played by a reported speech in oral literature. The author begins by asserting the importance of excellent structural elements in reported speech. Direct speech is restrictive in the way of reporting while the reported speech gives the speaker some flexibility to...
Complaint Letter John Black, CEO of High Nile Hotels, 11/1/2013 Dear Sir, Mice in the Hotel I would appreciate it if you would help me with this situation. Your waiter Helen Harris served us at your restaurant on 5 January 11, 2013, and we did not have a very pleasant...
Introduction At first it seems obvious that the knowledge of a foreign language, especially English, which is extremely widespread nowadays, is essential for everyone. However, when it came to the actual process of learning, I realized that it took a great effort to study the language. Nevertheless, with the help...
Chomsky defines ‘competence’ as “the ability of the idealized speaker – hearer to associate sounds and meanings strictly following the rules of his language” (Chomsky 2006, p. 103) and considers ‘performance’ as the ability to apply the competence into speaking – hearing procedures and show personal knowledge (Chomsky 2006, p....
Present the research topic and aims of the research The research topic of the study conducted by Barbara Johnstone, Kathleen Ferrara, and Judith Mattson Bean is gender, politeness, and discourse management in same-sex and cross-sex opinion-poll interviews. The objective of the research was to understand the means of the utilization...
History of Bilingualism in the US Despite the fact that a lot of Americans see bilingualism as a modern trend reflecting the present-day diversity of the nation, the historical perspective of the issue reveals that it has always been present in the country. The earliest settlers were not exclusively English...
A Letter to a Friend Hi, Paul! I’m sorry I haven’t been writing for a while, but I was really up to my neck in work. But what happened today made me so upset that I just need someone to see me through this crisis. I know you’ll have some...
Criteria of a good test Content validity is one of the criteria used to determine a good test. A test is said to be good if its content represents a representative part of language skilfulness and construction among others with which it should deal with. Content validity in grammar is...
Explain how the interactive practices between adults and young children promote language development. Why is the approach you chose better than the other approaches? The nativist interpretation is the most logical of all psychological approaches to childhood language development. This is because each human being is endowed with an innate...
Introduction Thai language is very different from English and, hence, Thai students often have various problems when reading, writing and speaking English. There are issues with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. It is necessary to note that Thai students tend to speak with a distinct accent and use grammar of their...
The denotations and connotations of the word can coincide or be absolutely different for different people. The same person would name different connotations of the same word while being in a good or bad mood. English is a polysemantic language, which means that the same word can have more than...
Findings in previous studies about the ways that literature can improve the language skills of ESL students Literature has been used over the years as one of the ways of teaching English as a second language. The literature has been incorporated in modern-day technology, such as videos and audios that...
It is a well-known fact that every word in the English language belongs to a certain grammatical category. However, it is sometimes not enough to define whether the word is a noun, a verb, or an adjective. There is a number of different properties that should be considered. Thus, every...
Description The study by Roberts and Liszka investigates the processes of second language learning. The authors examine a particular linguistic issue that is researched by other scholars from many angles, namely the acquisition of tense and aspect morphology (Roberts & Liszka, 2013). According to the researchers, they aim to assess...
A Brief Historical Review Ecuador was subjugated by the Spaniards in 1534, after conquering the Incas in the modern territory of Peru. The resistance of the native population in the region was suppressed by Sebastian de Benalcazar’s army. During that period, the Spaniards founded the largest cities of Ecuador, including...
Introduction Communication is an important aspect of human and animal life because it helps individuals to move away from, express their emotions, and keep in touch with others. People communicate differently from animals, and this forms a major difference between these two groups of living things (Miller 1981). This essay...
One can easily think of a few words that are likely to be found in a child’s first lexicon. Such words as “mama,” “dada,” “hi,” “bye,” and “no” are widespread early utterances. The important issue is why those words may become someone’s first. Analyzing early utterances can help gain insight...
Content analysis is a term used to refer to the act of altering the symbolic composition of a document from qualitative form to quantitative form. Content analysis may also be described as an example of coding. Coding means compiling similar elements or behaviors into a reduced number of categories. It...
Introduction The English language has increasingly become important throughout the world today particularly in the Arab world. This is why educators and parents in Saudi Arabia have become concerned about their children’s limited level in English especially in oral communication. English is a major problem in Saudi especially among the...
Brain and Language Production Parts of brain There are four parts of the brain, which are the Broca’s area, the Wernicke’s area, the areas known as “the motor cortex and the accurate fasciculus” (Yule, 2010, p. 139). Localization view The ability of the human brain to correlate different aspects of...
Introduction Communication and sharing information are now seen as the foundation of the development of humanity as well as the primary way for any person to succeed in their life. Therefore, foreign language learning is deeply integrated into the educational system of almost any country. English has become one of...
Introduction Expressing negation through conversational exchanges can serve many functions (Gönen, 2011). An actual engagement of EFL Saudi interlocutors in a conversational exchange to negate can clearly reflect their inadequate knowledge of the pragmatic functions of CDMs in spoken discourse (Lewis, 2011). The way they frequently negate, by means of...
Abstract The purpose of the proposed study is the analysis of the difficulties experienced by preschool children when studying letters. The research problem is the identification of a viable approach to promoting young learners’ understanding of the letter-sound correlation. Given this problem, the intervention has been selected that is aimed...
Topic Teaching literature in a language course to ESL students has been a topic of a lasting debate. Some researchers argue that, even though there can be certain hazards in the use of literature, it helps students to expand their linguistic knowledge and be exposed to cultural peculiarities of people...
Introduction Language is one of the important tools and communication methods that human beings deserve to embrace over the past decade and still do. In the modern society, different strategies to promote the language creativity and active interactions have been a success. As much as people tend to cope with...
To the surprise of many students studying language styles, informal style occurs not only in informal letters and conversations but in newspapers as well. Newspapers may have numerous examples of slang, informal language, and coined words. This is especially the case for the word choice for headings, comic sections, humorous...
The English language is the most studied languages around the world. Most of the non-native speakers living outside Europe or America have a very good command of written English, but their spoken English is sometimes pathetic. On the other hand, non-native speakers living in Europe and America can speak English...
Introduction English and Thai languages are different in terms of their phonological systems. For instance, there are 21 vowel phonemes and 21 consonant phonemes in Thai language (Enfield, 2008). The aspirated voiceless stops such as /ph/, /th/, and /kh/ in the Thai language are not mere allophones of /p/, /t/,...
Introduction The book analyses how various scholars and philosophers provided vital input to the foundations of language during the Hellenistic age. The main consideration in the book is to engage the philosophy of language, linguistics, and other aspects such as the nature and origin of languages as a medium of...
Learning a foreign language can pose serious problems for learners. Thailand students are facing this challenge, especially when they go to study in foreign countries. Challenges like pronunciation make it difficult for them to speak and understand English words. With these challenges, English learners prefer a foreigner to teach them...
Introduction The language that people use is multifaceted and unique. With the help of speech, a person can not only convey his or her thoughts and communicate with an interlocutor. Over the past thousand years, human communication has reached a new level, becoming the object of study of many linguists....
Introduction Understanding the differences between genres and their purposes is critical in writing, as it helps distinguish between the writing styles and figurative language (Wardle & Downs 5). Mass media reporting and scientific researches tend to use various means of expression to deliver the message to the audience. To support...
Introduction The short story under analysis is entitled “Crimson Abbey.” This horror story dwells upon a patient at a mental hospice of the future. It is necessary to note that the story addresses an issue of insanity, which is quite popular in modern society. At present, literate people tend to...
Language is one of the major forms of cognition that distinguishes humans from other species on the planet. Representatives of many other species tend to rely on sounds produced by voice as means of communication, some species even use partially learned systems of vocalisations; however, humans are the only species...
Preschool and early school years are crucial for children to develop their language and literacy skills and increase the linguistic repertoire to use it during conversation, narration, reading, and writing (Owens, 2015). For this reason, children can acquire tremendous benefits from home or classroom activities targeted at enhancing their literacy...
Use of English and Hindi Prepositions Unlike Hindi, where a postposition is used, the English language is more likely to apply to prepositions. For instance, in the English language, this part of speech is placed before the identified noun whereas Hindi postposition is put after the noun or pronoun. In...
Teaching strategies The article provides useful and valuable insights into the teaching strategies that educators can use when instructing ELLs (English language learners). One of the most effective instructional practices is an explicit instruction that demonstrates how a task is going to be done and what the teacher and their...
Introduction Diglossia is defined by Fergusson (1959) as a specialized form of study where a specific ancient language is analyzed in the context of comprehending its dynamics for writing and oral works. However, he identifies that the summed up knowledge is not essentially used in day-to-day conversations. This is affirmed...
Vocabulary Instruction Vocabulary is crucial for successful text comprehension. Although not many students understand that at first, it is mainly the teacher’s duty to show students how important vocabulary is and why it should be memorized and used. Sedita (2005) points out that there are several categories of students who...
Introduction The growing number of English language learners (ELLs) is a problem with which the education system of the United States is faced. Numerous English second language (ESL) schools offer their services to immigrants and their families. However, early literacy and academic performance of ELLs are still at a low...
Introduction: The Research Background: The Power of Negation The history of English discourse development is rather complicated. Like any other issue that presupposes not only the tangible evidence like texts or any other form of keeping the track of the necessary data but also such ephemeral elements like oral speech,...
Introduction The book “Communicative Activities for EAP” by Jenni Guse and Scott Thornbury is an English book meant for EAP teachers of both ESL and EFL that encompasses the framework for the four macro skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing. The writer chose the four resource model developed by Freebody...
Statement of Research Problem In the current globalized society, many people are finding it increasingly important to learn foreign languages because of socio-economic and political reasons. According to Huang (2011), the ease with which people learn foreign languages depends on many factors. Some people find it easy to learn a...
Of all people, a writer is, perhaps, the person that is expected to treat their language with most care and respect. However, the idea of using a language appropriately is rather loose, mostly because the very concept of correct use of the language is quite vague (Crossley et al. 100)....
Word formation processes and creation of meanings can occur in very many ways so teachers should learn to incorporate these processes to facilitate learning. For instance, language learners normally use compounding as a way of making new meanings from simpler words (free morphemes). For example, waterfall is derived from the...
Discourse markers Discourse markers are elements that are applied in communication to enable conversations to become more articulate. However, the particles augment insignificant meanings in rephrasing the expressions (Povolná, 2012). For instance, elements including oh, well, now as well as you know are some of the syntactically autonomous words. In...
Introduction At present, one of the detriments of teaching vocabulary in the English Learning Institutions (ELI) is the emergence of mixed-ability classes. As noted by Ansari (2013), a mixed-ability classroom environment is made up of different groups of learners with different learning interests, skills, and abilities. Over the years, EFL...
The principle of sociolinguistics It is possible to distinguish several important principles that underlie sociolinguistics. First, one should mention the premise according to which many changes within the language can be attributed to “socially relevant forces and facts” (Spolsky, 1998, p. 4). For instance, they can be attributed to various...
Semantic analysis Semantic in linguistics is largely concerned with the relationship between the forms of sentences and what follows from them. Semantic analysis is an analysis of the sensible set of instructions that form part of programming in a language, for instance, the presence of subject-verb agreement, proper use of...
Introduction English as a second language has proven quite difficult for many students. This has been attributed to the direct influence of their first languages. It is important to point out that it is not only cultural differences that make the students find second languages difficult, but also complex linguistic...
Korean is a language I know little (or rather nothing) about. However, I know that it is completely different from English and even such languages as Chinese, Japanese. Therefore, I am a bit anxious about my future lessons in Korean. I am aware of the fact that the communicative approach...
The ESL student needs are integral parts of our curriculum because students are divided into different language proficiency levels in K-2 according to the expectations based on the study level. In this respect, students are assessed in terms of the listening/speaking, writing, and reading skills that are essential for further...
Early childhood education is the background for preparing young children for primary school education. During this stage, the children are equipped with strategies of reading, writing, and doing some other works. The education given to children at early childhood is meant to encourage them to interact with the environment, play...
Language is a fundamental part of a human culture. It is so ubiquitous that we seem to rarely mention it or give it proper credit. Naturally, something that is used so often will inevitably affect its users and at the same time will be affected by them. Hence the ever-changing,...
Introduction One of the most important elements of the curriculum, the knowledge assessment is supposed to suit all students of the given level and evaluate the basic skills. Hence, it is necessary to achieve high degree of validity, reliability and fairness in developing a set of tasks. Choosing such a...
What Is Fiction? In writing, fiction is a type of story that can be characterized by a specific set of features. To be more precise, fiction commonly refers to the kind of setting or a scenario that was made up by the author (“How the language really works,” 2000). Such...
Introduction The English language learners (ELLs) are those individuals who represent a diverse population of students who came from different countries, have a different background, and speak various languages. Mainly, they are united only by the desire to master English. They need some adjustment period to be ready to cope...
The Cultural Competence and Linguistic Competence Policy Assessment (CLCPA) was designed for the purpose of supporting community health centers and evaluating their preparedness for dealing with culturally, demographically and linguistically diverse communities (CLCPA, n.d.). This test shows the levels of awareness the agency in question has of other cultures and...