English Language SAC 1
morphology: the study of the internal structure of words and of the rules by which words are formed
morpheme: the smallest unit of meaning
smallest meaningful unit: a word you can’t split up any more without severely altering the meaning
e.g. car+dig+an ≠ cardigan
content (or lexical) morphemes: morphemes that carry the main meaning of a word
e.g. strangeness
function morphemes: purely grammatical meaning, to modify other words
e.g. stangeness
free morphemes: morphemes that can be words by themselves
e.g. dog, I, chant
bound morpheme: must be attached to another morpheme in order to make a word
e.g. pre-, un-, -ed
structure of a word
prefix root suffix
The Six Design Features of Human Language
1. Discreteness
Languages are made of discrete, repeatable units that create meaning when combined.
English plural -s can only come at the end of words: ‘pens’, never ‘spen’ or ‘psen’.
English prepositions must come before their dependents: ‘her with’ (instead of ‘with her’) is not grammatically correct in English. Every language is made of grammatical ‘rules’ like these, though they vary widely depending on the language.
2. Duality of Patterning
Words and pieces of words are made up of smaller, but meaning-less, units.
Consider the words ‘fib’ and ‘fit’: phonemes /b/ and /t/ don’t mean anything in English on their own, but they distinguish between two words with different meanings.
3. Displacement
This is how language communicates things that aren’t immediately present, either in space or time.
Using terms such as ‘back then’ or using future tenses such as ‘will’, show this to be a part of language structure.
4. Arbitrariness
The sounds or gestures of a word usually aren’t related in a rational way to meaning.
When you picture the word ‘bed’ there is no reason for a bed to come into mind. A bed is simply called a bed because we say so, and continue to teach so.
5. Productivity
There is an indefinite number of linguistic constructions that can be made and understood.
I went to the store. I was going to the store earlier. Earlier, I went to the store. There is no limit on how to express this through communication.
6. Semanticity
Parts of a language including words, pieces of words, and phrases—have a specific meaning
Cat flushes wall. This does not mean anything to an English speaker because it has no meaning. It is a cluster of words that do not communicate meaning.
Affixes are prefixes, suffixes and infixes.
Inflectional morphemes are affixes that are added to a word to indicate grammatical information such as tense, number, or gender.
Derivational morphemes are affixes that change the meaning of the word.
Affixation describes a process of constructing words by putting new affixes on them.
Neologism means new word
Word Classes
Open/Content Class
new words can be added, refer to real life things, phenomena and actions
- Noun
- Verb
- Adjective
- Adverb
Closed/Function Class
doesn't really change, works to hold language together
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Determiner
- Conjunction
Nouns
person, place, thing, idea
- Generally
- Concrete
- Collective
- Abstract
Verbs
are doing words, but can also express states of being
- Generally (consider tense)
- Auxiliary: Help with verb tenses - to be, to have, to do etc.
- Modal: Provide extra information about the action, processes, satates or events expressed by the verb - can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might and must
Person
1st - I
2nd - you
3rd - she/he/they
Tenses
past - walked
present - walking
future - walk
Versions of be
am are is
be been being
was were
Conjugation
turns to walk (infinite) to I walk/you walk/she walks (finite) etc.
Adjectives
Describe something
Adverbs
often end in ly (not always)
types:
- manner/how: loudly, stupidly
- time/when: occasionly, never
- place/where: around, there
- degree/how much: very, nearly, too
- number/how often: twice
Modes of Language
- Spoken
- Written
- Signing
Spoken language is part of human instincts and childen can pick it up pretty easily, but written language must be taught.
Differences between spoken and written language
- Spoken language can convey tone much easier than written language
- In written language acronyms and shortened words are more common
- Written language is often more formal and structured than spoken language
- Written language can be edited before being sent
- Spoken language is often gets immediate replies from other participants
- Spoken language utilises nonverbal cues such as facial expressions and body language
- Spoken language has accents and different ways of talking
- Written language has more permanance
Standard vs non-standard language
Traditionally, written language adheres to the standard far more frequently than spoken langauge and spoken if more often found to be non-standard. However, with the internet
Big ideas to think about when examining a text
- Function - inform/persuade/entertain
- Mode - the format the text is in spoken/written
- Purpose - what is the author specifically trying to do with their text
- Audience - who did the author write it for
Morpheme
The smallest unit of language
Phrases
A single word/group of words acting together as unit
Clauses
Are main structures used to compose sentences
Sentences
A sentence makes sense on its own. It starts with a capital letter and ands with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark.
Sentence Types
Declarative
Provide imformation, obserbvations or statements. Most common sentence type.
eg. it is going to rain today.
Imperative
Give a direct order or instruction.
eg. pick that up.
Interrogatives
Designed to elicit a response. Always end with a question mark. Sometimes rhetoric (don't require an answer).
eg. are you here yet?
Interrogative tag: A tag question is added on to a declarative statement to make it an interrogative
eg. the homework is due today, isn't it?
Exclamitive
Make exclamations. Emphasise high levels of emotion. Ends with an exclamation mark when written down.
eg. what a catch!
Afifixation
an addition to a base word to change its meaning by adding a prefix/suffix/infix
Neologism
new (neo) word (logism)
Mode
Refers to the three ways in which communication is possible, speech, writing and signs. There are also paralinguistic features such as gestures and facial expressions which help add detail to the modes but are not fully fledged enough to be considered separate modes.
Setting
Refers to the time and place communication is made and is separated into two parts - the setting of when communication was uttered and then the setting of where it was received. For example in a face to face conversation it is uttered and received at the same time and place but in a text conversation the different parts could occur at completely different times or places
Relationships between participants
Refers to the connection between the speakers/writers and listeners/readers.
Function vs content words
Content words have actual meaning by them selves. Function words are purely grammatical to help construct sentences.
Standard english
spelling, punctuation, lexemes all adhere to grammar & syntax rules, what is learnt in school
Non-standard english
slang, unofficial words
Interrogative tag
Turns a sentence into an interrogative sentence
FANBOYS coordinating conjunctions
For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
Referential
Transmitting information is a core function of language. i.e the school assembly will take place in the usual meeting place on Thursday.
Emotional
Expressing feelings, desires. i.e I'm soooo tired
Conative
Language can be used to direct, command and to get things done and make contracts. i.e Boys must wear a long sleeved short and tie for the college photographs
Phatic
Language is particularly useful in establishing and maintaining social relationships. We endeavor to be polite in our dealings with others.
Poetic
Highlighting aesthetic functions of language
Metalinguistic
Language to talk about and refer to language itself. i,e Asking "What does phatic mean"
Vocal effects
creaky voice, whispering, tone of voice, laughing, sighs, intakes of breath
Prosody effects
stress, pitch, intonation, tempo, volume
Code switching
The way someone changes the way they talk in order to fit in.