Abstract: This paper aims at reviewing the historical background of contrastive linguistics, evaluating its autonomy as a branch of linguistics, and then searching for its new applications. Like comparative linguistics, contrastive linguistics systematically analyzes more than two languages. Its methodology is, however, unique in that contrastive linguistics chooses two particular language, and synchronically analyzes their structures and uses to show their distinctive or contrasting features. Contrastive linguistics is application-oriented. It was originally developed as a particular application to the teaching of foreign languages. It is claimed in this paper that the autonomy of contrastive linguistics is justified only by its relevant applicability. It is thus suggested that contrastive linguistics can be used as a tool for the analysis of multi-lingual text or discourse for user-oriented purposes.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
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