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What is applied linguistics?
Author(s) -
James Carl
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/j.1473-4192.1993.tb00041.x
Subject(s) - quantitative linguistics , applied linguistics , ostensive definition , linguistics , clinical linguistics , media linguistics , interface (matter) , language and communication technologies , value (mathematics) , principal (computer security) , text linguistics , computer science , language technology , cognitive science , psychology , philosophy , natural language , comprehension approach , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , machine learning , parallel computing , operating system
Applied linguistics in one of its manifestations can be defined as that knowledge of language that can be used to influence language performance. Yet it is an ill‐defined and underdefined discipline. Earlier definitions have been of two principal kinds: the ostensive and the expository. These are assessed here. The key to a meaningful definition lies in the dual articulation of applied linguistics: it is an interface between linguistics and practicality. While this interface has traditionally been a human expert, it is suggested here that, following other disciplines, applied linguistics might illuminatingly be viewed as an ‘expert system’where two forms of expertise, value‐free and value‐added, inter‐react in the form of a transdiscipline.