"Textbook of Linguistics" (Nguyen Thien Giap)

Professor Nguyen Thien Giap is one of the leading experts in linguistic theory and Vietnamese linguistics. He is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Linguistics (University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi). This work is the result of over 40 years of research and teaching by the author.Linguistics textbook(National University of Hanoi Publishing House, August 2008) "It can not only serve the purpose of teaching the subjectIntroduction to Linguistics, and also serves as a reference for lectures onGeneral Linguisticsand other linguistic topics."

Introduction by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang

Like all fundamental sciences, Linguistics comprises two major areas of knowledge: basic linguistic knowledge that has been established as the foundation for the existence of this science, and modern linguistic knowledge gained through discovery and exploration, which has led to the development of linguistics in a direction that is both focused and interdisciplinary, both specialized as a true science and highly applicable to human life. Professor Dr. Nguyen Thien Giap's textbook on linguistics was written in this spirit.

As a leading expert in linguistic theory and Vietnamese linguistics, with over 40 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at one of the oldest and leading linguistics training institutions in the country, and with a series of research works including articles, textbooks, and monographs, the author has developed this textbook to meet the general objectives of university education as stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training. It is evident that within a vast body of linguistic knowledge, with many issues lacking consensus and numerous unanswered questions requiring further research, the author of this textbook...Linguistics textbookThe author has carefully selected and included relevant knowledge in this book, helping users first understand and grasp the basic concepts and content, thereby guiding their thinking towards the topics to be discussed. Therefore, it is easy to see that the book contains a wealth of scientific content, yet it is not confusing, thanks to its clear presentation; the knowledge presented is general, abstract, and challenging, but it does not overwhelm or discourage the reader; instead, it is coherently linked, creating interest for learners; the examples cited in the book all originate from real-life linguistic situations in Vietnam, proving and supplementing the theory, enlivening the knowledge, and ensuring that the theory is not detached from reality; the discussion questions at the end of each section always include some questions to reinforce learned knowledge and some questions applying it to the practical aspects of Vietnamese linguistics in particular, and issues of Vietnamese linguistics in general. All of these factors have contributed to the undeniable success of this book, both in terms of its scientific content and its pedagogical methods.

The book consists of 12 chapters, each covering a major topic in linguistic science: 1/ The nature and function of language; 2/ The origin and development of language; 3/ Language, thought, and culture; 4/ World languages; 5/ Writing; 6/ Linguistics; 7/ Phonetics; 8/ Lexicology; 9/ Grammar; 10/ Semantics; 11/ Pragmatics; 12/ Applications of linguistics. Overall, the book covers all the basic contents of linguistics. Each section contains specific content, and each specific content is further broken down into smaller issues. This allows for the identification of fundamental and modern knowledge, general knowledge and practical knowledge.

Chapter 1:The nature and function of languageThe book moves from the initial concept of object recognition, namely "recognizing and defining language," to clarifying the social and signaling nature, as well as the communicative and cognitive functions (among other functions) of language.

Chapter 2:The origins and development of linguisticsThis book systematically presents the origins of human language and its development. To clarify the conditions for language emergence and its precursors, the book introduces different perspectives on the origins of language, thereby analyzing and clearly identifying its origins. Simultaneously, it outlines the process of language development with a series of concepts such as tribal languages, regional languages, ethnic languages, cultural languages, etc., along with variations related to each concept; analyzing both objective and subjective factors that cause language to change and develop. Notably, the formation and development of the Vietnamese language is cited as an illustration for the theoretical content.

Chapter 3:Language, thought, and cultureThis paper presents the relationship between language and thought, and the relationship between language and culture. Pointing out two previous conceptions—either equating language with thought or separating them—the author analyzes, proves, and affirms that language and thought are unified but not identical. Regarding the relationship between language and culture, the author demonstrates a dialectical relationship between them and points out different conceptions of language and culture, such as Sapir-Whorf's hypothesis, the argument that language determines culture, and culture determines language.

Chapter 4:Languages ​​of the worldThis is not a mere list of existing languages ​​in the world, but rather a presentation of them according to two linguistic classification theories: classification by origin using historical comparison to divide them into language families, and classification by typology to divide languages ​​into different language types. Based on this classification and the characteristics of each subtype, it is possible to identify the characteristics of Vietnamese as well as the languages ​​of ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

Chapter 5:WritingThis book presents various writing systems around the world, the relationship between spoken and written language, and spelling. Each writing system is illustrated with specific characteristics and examples. Notably, Chinese characters – a writing system related to Vietnamese (it was once used as a form of Vietnamese writing) – as well as those of other Asian languages ​​such as Vietnamese and Korean, are used as detailed illustrations and analyses.

Chapter 6:LinguisticsThis section provides a general overview of the formation, development, subject matter, tasks, and research content of linguistics, whose subject matter is language itself. At the same time, as a fundamental science, linguistics is related to other fundamental sciences, forming interdisciplinary or borderline sub-disciplines of linguistics.

Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 present four research areas focusing on the constituent aspects of the structural system of language:phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, and semanticsAll four sections are presented within a unified framework. A series of fundamental concepts have been clarified through definitions and explanations, and, in particular, the practical applications of the phonetic, lexical, grammatical, and semantic aspects of Vietnamese have been used as examples to supplement the theory. Specifically:

Chapter 7:PhoneticsThis section presents the subject matter and tasks of phonetics, the physiological and physical basis of phonetics, phonemes, intonation phenomena, and phonology.

Chapter 8:LexicologyThe presentation covers eight topics: vocabulary and lexicology, words within the vocabulary system of a language, vocabulary units equivalent to words, vocabulary classes, vocabulary transformation, and the issue of systematizing vocabulary in dictionaries.

Chapter 9:Grammar, presenting content including grammar and grammatical studies, grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, parts of speech, grammatical categories, grammatical relations, syntactic relations, syntactic structure and syntactic components, grammatical functions, phrases, subphrases and sentences.

Chapter 10:SemanticsThe presentation covers 10 topics: semantics, meaning and significance of linguistic units, semantic change of words, types of word meaning, sentence meaning, semantic relationships, and semantic fields.

Chapter 11:PragmaticsAs a new research direction in post-structural linguistics, it is systematically presented in terms of identifying concepts and exploring and developing specific issues, comprising eight sections: pragmatics, manner and meaning, speech act theory, conversational analysis, politeness and communication, the principle of cooperation and conversational implications, information structure, discourse analysis, and conversational analysis.

Chapter 12:Applications of linguisticsThis section presents the main applications of linguistics in several fields such as linguistics and language teaching, linguistics and translation, and linguistics and literature. Through this, it can be seen that the theory of linguistics is not just "grey," and that linguistic research is not merely "for language, because of language," but also makes useful contributions to human life.

With over 500 pages, the Linguistics textbook provides fundamental and up-to-date knowledge of the field of linguistic science.

As a researcher and lecturer in linguistics from a later generation, I deeply appreciate the talent and dedication of Professor Nguyen Thien Giap. Although he has "cultivated knowledge far and wide," he remains passionate about his profession, resulting in this book. I respectfully introduce it to readers.

Hanoi, March 2008
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang
Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics
Chairman of the Hanoi Linguistics Association