Chapter 2: Understanding the Elements of Language

Phonology

  • Language elements framework: five major elements = phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics. Bloom & Lahey model: form, content, use (phonology, morphology, syntax → form; semantics → content; pragmatics → use).
  • Phonology: study of the sound system and rules governing sound use in a language.
  • Phonemes: the smallest units of sound that can signal a meaning difference; English has ~43 phonemes (varies by dialect).
  • Distinctive sounds vs letters: 26 letters do not map one-to-one to 43 phonemes; multiple pronunciations for a single letter depending on context (e.g., the letter a).
  • Minimal pairs: used to identify phonemes (e.g., pill vs bill differ by /p/ vs /b/; p is a phoneme in English).
  • Voicing and articulation: consonant features include place of articulation, manner, and voicing; vowels classified by tongue position and mouth shape.
  • Phonotactic constraints: rules about which sounds can occur together; constrain possible word formations (e.g., why tphj is not a word).
  • Constraints vs rules: some linguists use the term constraints (e.g., phonotactics) and sometimes “rules” to describe permissible sound sequences; linked to optimality theory.
  • Role in learning to read: mismatch between letters and phonemes complicates reading/writing acquisition.
  • Key example: /p/ vs /b/ differ by voicing; both are bilabial stops; /p/ is voiceless, /b/ is voiced.
  • Quick reference: phonology informs how sounds can form words and how they are pronounced within a language.

Morphology

  • Morphology: study of words and how they are formed; governs the structure of words.
  • Morpheme: the smallest unit of meaning in a language.
  • Free morphemes: can stand alone as words (e.g., base, ball).
  • Bound morphemes: cannot stand alone; attach to base words (e.g., -s for plural, prefixes like un-, suffixes like -ing, -able).
  • Example analyses:
    • baseball = base (free morpheme) + ball (free morpheme) → two morphemes.
    • baseballs = base + ball + s → three morphemes (s is a bound morpheme).
  • Allomorphs: variant pronunciations of a morpheme depending on context (e.g., the plural -s pronounced as /s/ after voiceless sounds, /z/ after vowels or voiced sounds).
  • Cranberry debate: cranberry may be analyzed as two morphemes (cran + berry) due to cranapple juice evidence.
  • Purpose: identify morphemes and the rules for forming words; helps reduce odd letter-sound sequences when programming language processing.
  • Practical note: knowledge of morphemes supports understanding of pluralization, affixation, and word formation rules.

Syntax

  • Syntax: study of the rules that govern how words combine to form phrases and sentences.
  • Phrase structure rules: build sentences from constituent parts.
  • Simple notation examples:
    • S=NP+VPS = NP + VP
    • NP=Art+NNP = Art + N
    • VP=Aux+VVP = Aux + V
      These indicate a sentence consists of a noun phrase (subject) and a verb phrase (predicate).
  • Recursion: rules allow infinite sentence generation by embedding phrases within phrases (e.g., conjunctions, relative clauses).
  • Imperatives and questions: some sentences require transformational approaches beyond basic phrase structure (e.g., transforming deep vs surface structure).
  • Transformational grammar (Chomsky): two levels in language
    • Surface structure: actual speech form
    • Deep structure: underlying linguistic representation
    • Transformational rules convert deep to surface structure (e.g., forming questions by inversion and adding wh- words).
  • Universal and universal-access theories: later developments (government & binding theory; X-bar theory) attempt to explain cross-language universals and structural variation (e.g., head-first vs head-last languages).
  • Classic example: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously demonstrates that syntax can be correct while meaning is nonsensical; emphasizes need for semantic rules.
  • X-bar theory and universals: provide a more general framework for syntactic structure across languages.
  • Importance for language understanding: combining phrase structure with transformational rules supports parsing and generation of coherent, grammatical sentences.

Semantics

  • Semantics: study of meaning in words and sentences.
  • Semantic rules: govern which word combinations yield meaningful expressions.
  • The semantic feature theory: words may be described by fundamental features (e.g., husband = +male, +adult, +human, +married).
  • Selection restrictions: rules about which words can appear together (e.g., cannot describe someone as both bachelor and married; metaphorical meanings exist in non-literal uses).
  • Metaphor and non-literal meaning: some combinations are true metaphorically (e.g., colorless green ideas) and do not describe factual reality.
  • Theories of semantics: feature theory is one approach but has limitations, especially for verbs, pronouns, and other word classes beyond nouns.
  • Contemporary emphasis: semantics is shaped by social interaction and cognitive development (e.g., Tomasello) and semantic networks influenced by word-word connections.
  • Learning word meanings: ongoing exploration of how children acquire word meanings; discussed further in later chapters.

Pragmatics

  • Pragmatics: use of language for communication; rules governing social use and illocutionary intent.
  • Direct vs indirect speech acts:
    • Direct: speaker’s form matches intention (e.g., "Stop that car!" is a command).
    • Indirect: form does not match intention (e.g., "Can you come to the table?" may be a command, not a question).
  • Indirect speech acts: more difficult to interpret; require understanding of communicative intent beyond syntax.
  • Conversation rules (Gricean maxims):)
    • Relation: responses should be relevant to the topic.
    • Quantity: provide enough information, not too little or too much.
    • Quality: be truthful and well-supported.
    • Manner: be clear and orderly.
  • Context sensitivity: pragmatics varies with social context, status, and setting; politeness conventions differ across environments.
  • Practical challenge: programming a computer to handle pragmatic rules is difficult because it requires understanding people and social context.
  • Developmental note: children rapidly acquire pragmatic skills and social-cue sensitivity.

Summary

  • The chapter presents language as a system of interrelated elements: form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), and use (pragmatics).
  • Each element has its own rules, but real language use reflects strong interdependencies among elements.
  • Understanding these components helps differentiate language disorders from differences and guides strategies to supports language development.
  • Future chapters (e.g., Chapter 13 and beyond) discuss methods to enhance language skills and how children acquire the system.