LANGUAGE SUBSYSTEMS 0684717689

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’.