All humans are born with the innate ability to acquire, develop and understand language
Language is a complex and fascinating system of communication that humans use for various purposes and functions. Language is composed of different levels of structure, such as sounds, words, sentences, and meanings. Language is also influenced by social and cultural factors, such as norms, rules, and conventions.
In this text, I will explore some of the aspects of language that make it a uniquely human ability. I will discuss the topics of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and grammar. I will also explain some of the key terms and concepts related to these topics.
Phonetics
Phonetics is the study of the characteristics of speech sounds and their production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols.
Phonetics as a research discipline has three main branches:
- Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the articulation of speech: the position, shape, and movement of articulators or speech organs, such as the lips, tongue, and vocal folds.
- Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the acoustics of speech: the properties of the sound waves produced by speech, such as their frequency, amplitude, and harmonic structure.
- Auditory phonetics is concerned with speech perception: the perception, categorization, and recognition of speech sounds and the role of the auditory system and the brain in the same.
Phonology
Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages. This means the study of the categorical organization of speech sounds in languages; how speech sounds are organized in the mind and used to convey meaning.
One of the main concepts in phonology is minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are words with different meanings that have the same sounds except for one. For example, time and dime, pin and bin are minimal pairs.
Another important concept in phonology is phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language that are capable of conveying a distinction in meaning. Phonemes are abstract mental representations. For example /a/, /e/, /i:/ / I / etc.
When a phoneme is pronounced, it becomes a phone. A phone is the realization sound of a phoneme. For example [a], [e], [u], [I:], [I] [j], [o].
When a phoneme is used in a particular language, it is called an allophone. An allophone is a variant form of a phoneme. For example, an example of a phoneme is /p/ as in the word “spin” or as in the word “pin;” the allophone in pin is aspirated (causing it to sound almost like a “phi”), whereas the allophone in “spin” is not, and sounds like “pih.”
Morphology
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.
The minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function in a word is called a morpheme. For example, in the word unkindness, there are three morphemes: un-, kind, and -ness.
Morphemes can be divided into two types: free and bound.
- Free morphemes are simple words that consist of one morpheme. They can stand alone as words. For example, house, work, high, chair, wrap. They are words in themselves.
- Bound morphemes are morphemes that must be attached to another morpheme to receive meaning. They cannot stand alone as words. For example, un- and -ness are bound morphemes that require the root kind to form the word unkindness. These are also called affixes as they are attached to the stem. There are two types of affixes: prefixes (front of the base) and suffixes (end of the base).
Free morphemes can be further divided into two groups: lexical (or content) and function (or grammatical) words.
- Lexical words are called open class words and include nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. New words can regularly be added to this group. For example, computer, google, selfie.
- Function words are called closed class words and include conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns; new words cannot be (or are very rarely) added to this class. For example, and, but, for.
Bound morphemes can be further divided into two types: derivational and inflectional.
- Derivational morphemes are morphemes that make new words or change the grammatical category or meaning of words. For example, teach – teacher boil-boiler bake –baker sing-singer
- Inflectional morphemes are morphemes that make grammatical changes to words without changing their category or meaning. They indicate aspects such as number, case, gender, person, tense, aspect, mood, and degree. For example, ed, s, es, ed/er talked, walked etc.
Syntax
The syntax is the study of the structure and formation of sentences. Syntax deals with how words are arranged and combined to form phrases and clauses that convey meanings and messages.
One of the main concepts in syntax is word order. Word order is the order in which words appear in a sentence. Different languages have different word orders, such as subject-verb-object (SVO), subject-object-verb (SOV), verb-subject-object (VSO), etc. For example, in English, the typical word order is SVO:
John loves Mary.
In Japanese, the typical word order is SOV:
John Mary o aishite iru.
Another important concept in syntax is constituency. Constituency is the grouping of words into units that function as a whole within a sentence. These units are called constituents. Constituents can be identified by various tests, such as substitution, movement, coordination, etc. For example, in the sentence:
The old man gave the young girl a red rose.
The words the old man form a constituent that can be substituted by a pronoun (he), moved to another position (To the young girl, the old man gave a red rose), or coordinated with another constituent (The old man and his wife gave the young girl a red rose).
Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, sentences, and texts. Semantics deals with how language conveys information, concepts, thoughts, feelings, etc.
One of the main concepts in semantics is reference. Reference is the relationship between words and the things or entities they stand for in the real world or in a fictional world. For example, in the sentence:
The Eiffel Tower is in Paris.
The word Eiffel Tower refers to a specific structure in France that exists in reality.
Another important concept in semantics is sense. Sense is the relationship between words and the concepts or ideas they express in the mind. For example, in the sentence:
The morning star is the evening star.
The words morning star and evening star have different senses (they evoke different images or associations in the mind), but they have the same reference (they both refer to the planet Venus).
Grammar
Grammar is the system of rules and principles that governs the use of language. Grammar includes all the aspects of the language discussed above: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Grammar also includes other aspects of language use, such as pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, etc.
Grammar can be approached from two perspectives: descriptive and prescriptive.
- Descriptive grammar is the systematic study and description of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers. Descriptive grammar observes and analyzes the patterns and variations of language use in different contexts and situations.
- Prescriptive grammar is a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures of a language, usually intended as an aid to the learning of that language. Prescriptive grammar prescribes or dictates how language should be used according to certain norms or standards.
Both kinds of grammar are concerned with rules–but in different ways. Specialists in descriptive grammar (called linguists) study the rules or patterns that underlie our use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. On the other hand, prescriptive grammarians (such as most editors and teachers) lay out rules about what they believe to be the “correct” or “incorrect” use of language.
Conclusion
In this text, I have explored some of the aspects of language that make it a unique human ability. I have discussed the topics of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and grammar. I have also explained some of the key terms and concepts related to these topics.
Language is a complex and fascinating system of communication that humans use for various purposes and functions. Language is composed of different levels of structure, such as sounds, words, sentences, and meanings. Language is also influenced by social and cultural factors, such as norms, rules, and conventions.
All humans are born with the innate ability to acquire, develop and understand language. Language is an essential part of human cognition and communication. Language is also a source of creativity and expression.
References
- Crystal, D. (2010). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014). An introduction to language (10th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
- Yule, G. (2016). The study of language (6th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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