Welcome!

Welcome to New Concept Linguistics (NCL). Linguistics is the scientific study of human languages. Languages are tools for communication. There are four kinds of human languages: spoken language (speaking), written language (writing), sign language, and Braille.

Scientific theories are generally written as scientific papers, which have to be repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. The scientific terms in papers are not the same as the vocabulary used in everyday life. Because of the principle of least effort (PLE), the words for everyday are with multi-interpretation in dictionaries. On the other hand, for the purpose of accuracy, the definition of scientific terms is unique.

However, many linguists were used to simplify both "spoken language" and "written language" into "language", so that the three concepts of "spoken language", "written language", and "language" are easy to conflate. Consequently, the theory with these terms is self-contradictory. The following example is a part of a handout from a university. (1)

When we think about the components of human language, we think of it as consisting of the following:

1. A sound-system (or phonological component).

2. A set of vocabulary items (the "lexicon").

3. A grammatical system ("morphology") which puts meaningful elements together into 'words'.

4. ……

As we all know, human language(s) include speaking, writing, sign language, and Braille. There is no sound-system in written language, sign language and Braille. If you define “word” as a unit composed of a letter or several letters, there are no words in spoken language and sign language.

With conflating terms, a theory cannot be correct. Compared with traditional linguistics, the terms in NCL are more accurate. More accurate linguistic terms means new concept. With the concepts in NCL, it is easy to find out the mistakes hidden in some theories of traditional linguistics.

Further reading: A mistake in Saussure's theory.

For more information, please click into the articles at top right corner of this page.

Reference: (1) Structure of Human Language, Handout for LING 057, Language and Popular Culture. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/popcult/lingstruct.html

NCL: new concept linguistics

PLE: The principle of least effort

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My name is Wang Yujiang. I was born in China. My mother tongue is Mandarin, and my first (written) language is Chinese. English is my second (spoken and written) language. Compared the written Chinese and English, I felt some of the linguistic theory seems inconsistent. At first, I thought it was a mistake in Chinese linguistic circles only. After further research, I found that these errors also exist in international linguistic circles.

I am an amateur, and not in any linguistic circle. I had contacted a few professional linguists on the Internet. They all did not pay any attention to my point of view, and no one pointed out what is wrong in it. Although I pointed out mistakes in their thesis, they did not explain without exception. They just introduce me to the thesis printed in a book, or books. However, the theses printed books cannot prove they are correct.

Now I'm retired. Thanks to Google site, I can setup my own site. Before my points of view are proved wrong, I am hoping more and more linguists can read my essays.

contact me email: wyj10018@gmail.com