LANGUAGE
SUBSYSTEMS
The components found in the definition of language
should not be confused with components of language. The most popular components
of language (language subsystems) are;
i.
Syntax
The study of how individual words and their most
basic meaningful units are combined to create sentences is known as syntax. As
words are grouped together when we communicate, we must follow the rules of
grammar for our language, in other words, its syntax.
It is the
knowledge of syntax that allows us to recognize that the following two
sentences, while containing different word order and levels of complexity, have
the same meaning.
a. The boy hit the ball.
b. The ball was hit by the boy.
Syntax also allows us to accept “I went to the store” as a meaningful
(grammatical) sentence while “To store
went I” would not be acceptable English.
ii.
Semantics
Semantics refers to the ways in which a language
conveys meaning. Each language has
the way of assigning meanings to its symbols and words.
There are two types of meanings in English
semantics namely;
a. Denotative meaning and
b. Connotative meaning
Denotative meaning
This is the original meaning of
the word as explained in the dictionary. For example,
Baby means a very
young child
Honey means a
sticky yellowish-brown fluid made by bees.
Sweet means having
the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey.
Connotative meaning
This is the additional meaning
assigned to the word apart from its primary meaning. For example,
The words honey, baby and sweet
mean someone lovable (the beloved one).
iii.
Morphology
Morphology is the study of the internal structure
of words and their meaningful parts (Fasold, 2006).
Morphological processes serve two main purposes in
language variation:
a. To create new words and
b. To modify existing words.
By changing word parts, speakers and/or writers can
modify the meaning of a word to be more specific, more intense, or change its
grammatical role in the sentence.
People who read, write, and spell well are able to
use their knowledge of morphology to help them determine the meanings of
unfamiliar words and remember how words are spelled. The ability to use words
well depends on a person’s exposure to words and their sound structures,
grammatical categories, meanings, and spellings.
iv.
Phonetics
Phonetics is the study of production and perception
of speech sounds that occur in all languages. The science studies the
characteristics of human sound making; especially those sounds used in speech,
and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.
Transcription of speech sounds involves assigning a
separate written symbol to represent each distinct speech sound. The symbols
often come from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). You will recall from
chapter one that the IPA symbols can be used to represent sounds spoken in any
language.
Three branches of phonetics are generally
recognized: articulatory, acoustic and auditory.
a. Articulatory phonetics is the study of the way speech sounds are made
(articulated) by the speech organs;
b. Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds,
as transmitted between mouth and ear;
c. Auditory phonetics studies the perceptual response to speech sounds,
as mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain (Cristal, 2008).
v.
Phonology
Phonology is a branch of linguistics that describes
the rules, systems, and patterns of speech sounds (phonemes) that occur in
syllables and words.
Phonology is the study of how phonemes are
organized and how they work together to create words. This chapter includes a
description of the sounds a language uses (a phonemic inventory).
The study of speech structure within a language,
including both the patterns of basic speech units and the accepted rules of
pronunciation, is known as phonology.
The smallest units of sound that make up a language
are called phonemes. For example,
the word “jug /ʤɅg” contains three phonemes which are /ʤ/, /Ʌ/, and /g/.
vi.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics refers to the ways the members of the
speech community achieve their goals using language.
The way we
speak to our parents is not the same as the way we interact with a sibling. For
example, the language used in a formal speech may bear little resemblance to
what we would hear at a lunch with our friends. The conversational style of
day-to-day interactions is quite different from the language used even when
reading a storybook to a toddler.
Knowing the
difference and when to use a certain style is the essence of pragmatics.
For example, when someone mentions the name, ‘father’ at home, he may be referring
to ‘the male biological parent’
different from when he calls father in the church as he may be referring to the
‘arch-bishop’.
