Language Science

Language

a conventional system of elements, and the relationship between them, for expressing ideas about the world and communication with other people

Conventional

specific language users (english)

• communication

• systems of life and span

• model; sender → message → receiver

Components of Language

Phonology

rules governing the speech-sound system, or the sound system of a language (knowledge of individual sounds in a language and how sounds can be combined together in words/ sentences)

Phonetic inventories

what are the sounds (phonemes, “size” count) in a language? English → vowels & consonants

Phoneme

the smallest meaningful speech sound unit of language, a smallest sound unit that serves to distinguish between meanings of words

Phonotactics

when putting sounds together, what sequences (sound combinations) are allowed? → rules for sequences, combinations                                               

ŋ (king) → not at word beginning in english

Phonology context

In English, one phoneme is NOT always represented by one letter in spelling (book)

Syllable

a unit of speech that consists of constant(s) and vowel. Typically, vowel is obligatory but consonants can be optional

Morphology

the knowledge (rules) of internal structure of words

Morpheme

smallest semantically meaningful units in a language (word structure), can be a word or smaller than a word (vs. phoneme)

Free vs. bound morphemes

Free: dog, dance

Bound: dogs, danced → s: plural marker & d: past tense

Example of Morphemes

Syntax

the knowledge of internal structure of sentences (rules governing the ordering of words and sentences)

Semantics

the knowledge of meanings of words, sentences, and discourse (discourse: a group of sentences or utterances combined in a meaningful manner (conversations, narratives))

Pragmatics

knowledge of how language is used in social interactions to achieve certain goals (rules governing the use of language in context)

Both verbal and nonverbal communication

Complex, culture-bound language (sometimes so deep were not aware (more dramatic, subject to quick evolution)