The study of language

Linguistic Ideas The discipline of linguistics can be linkened to a pathway which is being cut through the dark and mysterious forest of language.

There have been three major directions in linguistics in the past two centuries.

Nineteenth Century (Historical Linguistics)

Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle made major contributions to the study of language. Plato is said to have been the first person to distinguish between nouns and verbs.

1786 is the year which many people regard as the birthdate of linguistics. Sir William Jones, read a paper to the Royal Asiatic Society in Calcutta pointing out that Sanskrit (the old Indian language), Greek, Latin, Celtic and Germanic all had striking structural similarities. So impressive were these likenesses that these languages must spring from one common source, he concluded.