He Ain't Speakin' English Very Good!

Yes, the above statement would be enough to make any grammarian wince, or even anyone who has passed an American grade school English class! You might assume that linguists would be equally shocked, since they spend their lives studying language, but actually that's not necessarily the case (except that we can safely assume that American, English-speaking linguists passed their grade school grammar classes too, so maybe they would be a little bit shocked!!).

You see, there is a big difference between linguistics and the grammar classes you had to take in grade school. Typical American English grammar classes are basically there to tell you how English should be spoken. So, if you happened to voice the "shocking" statement above in front of your English teacher, he would immediately tell you that "proper" English demands that you say "isn't" instead of "ain't", "speaking" instead of "speakin' ", and "well" instead of "good". And if you want to be able to speak appropriately in educated society (not to mention get a good grade in your English class!), you had better listen to your teacher!

But linguistics is quite another type of study. Linguistics is not the study of how language should be, but how language is. So, for example, a linguist who heard that same "shocking" statement would not make it his goal to correct the speaker, but to find out how, why, when, and where some English speakers say "ain't" and "speakin' ", and use "good" as an adverb.

So while linguistics research may not help the speaker to know how to use his own language appropriately (which is one reason why linguistics isn't normally taught in grade school!), it does help to understand how languages work, which is useful for a variety of different fields, such as teaching foreign languages, developing alphabets for unwritten languages, speech therapy, and of course, translation! When we have a better understand of how Greek and Hebrew work, how the receptor language* works, and how languages in general work, we can more effectively translate the Word of God into the languages that so desperately need it. That is why I need to spend next summer studying linguistics! Someone asked me this morning what classes I'll be taking at BJU. Good question! And for those others who have wondered the same thing, here they are:

• Language Learning (how to make the most of language school, how to learn a language with or without available grammars and language teachers)
• Phonetics and Phonology (how humans use sounds to form words)
• Grammar in Use (no, not your grade-school grammar class!! This is how and why speakers use language the way they do)
• Field Methods and Literacy (how to use linguistics on the field, how to make reading primers and teach people to read)
• Bible Translation (translation philosophy, methodology, and principles)

Each of these classes is worth two or three credits, so it adds up to 12 credits of class work.

* The receptor language is the language into which the Bible is being translated at a given time.