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Language is very difficult to put into words. -- Voltaire
What do we mean by “language”?
A system used to convey meaning made up of arbitrary
elements that are organized using a set of rules. -- Rader
Three basic aspects:
Phonology (phonemes)
Morphology (morphemes)
Syntax (structuring rules)
deep structure
surface structure
Phoneme – smallest unit of sound
distinctions important for determining word meaning
English has 40 phonemes
Morpheme – smallest unit of meaning
free – can stand by itself as a word
content words – convey the main semantic meaning of the sentence
grammatical function words– about 360 in english
determiners (e.g., “a”)
prepositions (e.g., “in”)
conjunctions (e.g., “but”)
relative pronouns (e.g., “which”)
bound – needs to be attached to a word
these are called “inflections”
prefixes and suffixes
Deep vs. Surface Structure
Deep Structure Processes
Select roles of the elements of the sentence and the
meaning for each
e.g., agent, action, object
Surface Structure Processes
Create an utterance with a particular structure & lexemes
e.g., The boy kicked the ball
The ball was kicked by the boy
The lad kicked the football
Contrasts:
Things that do not meet the definition of language
communication
mimicry (echolalia)
language-like behavior
protolanguage
Film: The Human Language, Part I
What are the two basic ground plans for languages????
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.– Noam Chomsky
used as an example of syntax without meaning
In English both word order and word inflections are used
Word Order
For example, saying “The dog bit the boy” vs. “The boy bit the dog”.
Word Inflection
For example, adding “ed” to the root form of a verb for the past tense
for what we call “regular verbs”