An Analogy between Linguistics and Science: A comparative study

Abstract

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It mainly comprises three aspects including language form, language meaning, and language in context. On the other hand, science involves the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.The main objective of this paper is to present diverse and multidirectional relationships between these two disciplines which are apparently separated from each other due to the fact that they belong to completely different domains. Therefore, the research problem that the researcherintended to investigate in this study is “What similarities do languages have with theories of science as far as their characteristics are concerned?” This study was conducted in three stages. In the initial stage of data collecting, the primary methodology infocus is to extract specific characteristics and virtues of scientific theories while investigating major breakthroughs in the history of science. Secondly, an attempt was made to link these fundamental qualities to features of language while identifying the linguistic approach that is hidden in scientific theories. Similarly,philosophical ideologies of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend were analyzed with special attention. In the final stage, seven such characteristics were established while concluding the extent to which linguistics and science are similar in the core nature of their qualities.These conclusions are based purely on a qualitative analysiswhere an analogy is seen from a dynamic perspective.