Some of the issues listed below relate to unsolved problems of linguistics as such, that is, those for which there is no solution. Others can be designated as a subject of discussion , therefore, these are problems for which there is no single solution (so far), and there are only opinions of individual linguistic schools and scientists .
Content
- 1 General views
- 2 languages
- 3 Psycholinguistics
- 4 Translation
- 5 notes
General
- Is there a universal definition of a word ?
- Is there a universal definition of a sentence ?
- Are there universal grammar categories that all languages obey?
- Do morphemes (the constituent elements of a word) and syntagmas (semantic elements of a sentence) follow the same principles?
- Is it possible to formally distinguish between languages and dialects ?
- How did grammar come about?
- How did Creole languages come about?
Languages
- The origin of the language and the origin of speech are still the main unsolved problems, even after centuries of trying to understand these issues.
- Unclassified languages (languages whose genetic affiliation has not been elucidated, mainly due to lack of material) make up about 38 of the 6000-7000 languages currently living.
- A separate case is represented by isolated languages , which show a lack of connections with other languages.
- Unencrypted scripts .
Psycholinguistics
- Origin of language
- The emergence of grammar [1]
- Language acquisition :
- Mastering the first language by children (initial mastering of the language). How exactly / whereby children learn the language? The discussion is held between two points of view: the first is psychological nativism , that is, the idea that the ability to language is “sewn” into the human brain initially, and the second is learning the language from scratch , the view that the language is not peculiar to the brain itself, but is acquired as a result of interaction with the outside world. In other words, this is a discussion of the problem of “ congenital or acquired ”.
- Language Acquisition Device : How is language located in the brain? Is there a special area in the brain that is responsible for the development of linguistic abilities, or does language occupy “alien” areas?
- Why are the abilities to express themselves in a foreign language , for those who have learned it, ultimately somewhat less than the abilities of those for whom it is native , regardless of the linguistic abilities of the students?
- Language acquisition by animals: how much can animals be taught a language (e.g. syntax )? Among the methods of communication in animals, about how much and about which it can be said that they have the same or similar features as human languages?
- General question: is it possible to conduct psycholinguistic experiments that answer these questions?
Translation
- Are there objective criteria for the quality of translation? [2]