European International Journal of Philological Sciences
35
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
35-37
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
24 October 2024
ACCEPTED
26 December 2024
PUBLISHED
28 January 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue01 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Structural and Functional
Aspects of Language
Sharasulova Shirin
Associate Professor of the Department of "Uzbek and Eastern Languages"
of the Oriental University, Uzbekistan
Abstract:
These are the issues that form the
methodological and theoretical foundations of
linguistics. Linguistics has developed various scientific
directions and methods since its early days. These issues
include the theoretical principles, approaches,
concepts, and notions that linguists use in the study of
language.
Keywords:
Structure, signifier and signified of language,
language and consciousness, typology of language,
semantics, and pragmatics.
Introduction:
In linguistics, it is necessary to distinguish
between language and speech. Language is a set of
systematic signs, and speech is the process of using
language in real life. Understanding this difference in
linguistics is important in studying how language works.
Below are some of the main theoretical issues of
linguistics:
Structural and functional aspects of language: In
linguistics, language can be studied from two main
aspects: structural (the appearance of language and its
components: phoneme, morpheme, syntax, etc.) and
functional (the role of language in communication, the
communicative function of language).
Signifier and signified of language (sign and meaning):
Linguists, especially after Saussure's structuralism, have
tended to view language as a system of signs. In this
system, each sign (word or phoneme) represents a
meaning, and the relationship between this sign and
meaning constitutes the main function of language.
Language and culture: The relationship between
language and culture is also a topical issue in linguistics.
Language is seen as an echo of culture, therefore, it is
necessary to take into account the cultural context in
the process of studying language.
Language and consciousness: The issue of the
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European International Journal of Philological Sciences
relationship between language and consciousness is
also widely discussed among linguists. In order to
understand the relationship between language,
thought, and consciousness, the psychological and
cognitive aspects of language are studied.
Language and human communication: Linguistics
studies the communicative functions of language, that
is, how it works in communication between people,
the exchange of ideas through language, the purpose
of language, and its communicative power.
Linguists deal with issues such as the evolution of
language, its changes, the development of vocabulary
and grammatical structure. This issue is related to the
history of linguistics and helps to understand the
similarities and differences between languages.
Typology of language: The classification of languages
according
to
their
grammatical
structure,
morphological structures, syntax and phonetic
features is also one of the theoretical issues of
linguistics. Typology in linguistics aims to identify the
general and specific features of languages.
Phonetics and phonology: In linguistics, phonetics (the
study of sounds) and phonology (the study of the
sound system in a language) are studied separately.
This section helps to understand the sound structure
of a language and the relationships between sounds.
Semantics and pragmatics: Semantics (the meaning of
words and phrases) and pragmatics (issues related to
the use of language in context) are one of the
important theoretical issues in linguistics. These areas
provide a deeper understanding of how language
works and its role in communication in society.
These issues form the necessary foundations for
linguists to study language in more depth and
determine the methods used in scientific research.
In linguistics, there are two main approaches to the
study of language: structural (the structure of
language, its parts and their relationships) and
functional (the communicative role of language and its
purpose). The structural and functional aspects of
language are interrelated, and each covers different
aspects of language understanding. In this coursework,
we will consider the structural and functional aspects
of language separately, analyze their interaction and
their importance in linguistics.
Structural aspects of language
The structural aspect of language studies the
constituent parts of language and their relationship to
each other. The structural approach sees language as a
systematic, tightly connected set of elements. It
consists of the following main components:
Phonetic and phonological structure
The phonetic system studies the way a language
expresses and perceives sounds. Phonology studies the
structure of the sound system, that is, the phonemes of
the language, their relationships, and the sound systems
of the language. For example, the difference between
the words "big" and "bigness" is due to the different
arrangement of phonemes.
Morphology Morphology studies the word structure of
a language. Words are divided into morphemes, that is,
units of meaning. Morphology analyzes the morphemic
system of a language and their use. There are two main
types of morphology:
• Derivative morphology
- is associated with the
creation of new words.
• Inflectional morphology
- studies the grammatical
forms of a word, i.e. changes (for example, the person
and tense forms of a verb).
Syntax
Syntax studies the connections between words in a
language, i.e. combinations of words, sentences and
their structure. Syntax organizes the external structure
of a language and is based on the grammatical rules of
the language. For example, the words in the sentence "I
go to school" are arranged in the syntactically correct
order.
Semantics
Semantics studies the semantic aspects of a language. It
helps to understand what meaning words, phrases,
sentences and texts convey. Semantics, in particular,
analyzes the logical structure of language.
Functional aspect of language
The functional aspect of language studies the role of
language in communication and its social purposes. The
functional approach sees language as a means of
communication. Language is used for various social,
cultural and psychological purposes. The functional
approach includes the following main elements:
Communicative function
The main function of language is to communicate.
Through this function of language, people express their
thoughts, feelings, and desires. It studies how language
works as a tool in the communication process. It can be
seen what meaning and purpose each element of
language (word, sentence, syntax) serves in the
communication process.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics studies the purposeful use of language. This
approach shows how language works in accordance
with the context and in what ways language can be
used. From a pragmatic perspective, the purposes and
context of language are of particular importance. For
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European International Journal of Philological Sciences
example, the meaning of the sentence "Please open
the window" can vary depending on its context.
Discourse
Discourse studies the broader communicative
processes that occur in the use of language. In
discourse, language is not only a set of words and
sentences, but also helps to understand how it is
formed in a social and cultural context. Discourse
analysis studies longer and more complex forms of
communication (e.g., conversations, interviews,
written and spoken texts).
Sociolinguistics studies the social functions of
language.
Language
is
used
not
only
for
communication, but also to express social status.
Differences between languages, dialects, and lexical
forms show the connections and differences between
social groups and cultures.
The relationship between structural and functional
aspects
The structural and functional aspects of language
complement each other and together constitute
language. The structural approach studies the internal
structure of language, while the functional approach
studies the external use of language. To fully
understand a language, it is necessary to understand
not only its external structure, but also its social and
communicative function.
For example, changes in syntax may be due to the
communicative needs of a particular language. Or
phonetic changes, such as phonetic contraction,
highlight the connections between social groups. The
interaction of these two aspects determines the social
and cultural role of language.
CONCLUSION
The structural and functional aspects of language play
a very important role in linguistics. The structural
aspect helps to study language systematically and
formally, while the functional aspect helps to
understand the role of language in communication and
its social purposes. Analyzing both aspects together is
necessary for a complete understanding of language.
In linguistics, these two approaches, being
interconnected, allow for a deeper study of language.
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FEATURES OF THE ADJECTIVE IN THE SIMPLE
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Sharasulova,
S.
(2023).
SEMANTIC-SYNTACTIC
FEATURES OF THE ADJECTIVE IN THE UZBEK
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Sharasulova, S. (2021). The Subject Of A Qualitative
Device In The Sentence Acts As A Secondary Predicate
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ТЎҒРИ ТАЛАФФУЗ УСТИДА ИШЛАШ МЕТОДИКАСИ.
Talqin va tadqiqotlar ilmiy-uslubiy jurnali, 1(2), 128-134.
