Language Structure and Use: Language Structure and Use


What is language?: What is language? Structural view: language exists in its structural system Cognitive view: language exists in the mind via our mental models Sociocognitive view: language exists in social interaction


Language Universals: Language Universals • All languages are equally complex, rich, and expandable • All languages change through time • All languages are arbitrary • All languages have sound or symbolic systems. • All languages develop in similar stages.


Structure of Language: Structure of Language Phonology and Graphology Syntax Grammar Morphology Semantics Pragmatics Discourse Nonverbal communication Language variation: dialects


Phonology: The Sound System of a Language: Phonology: The Sound System of a Language Languages have different sounds “rr” in Spanish “th” in English Other examples? Languages allow only certain sound combinations “special” (Eng.) v. “especial” (Span.) “Ngo” (Viet.) v. “singing” (Eng.) Other examples?


Graphology: The Symbolic System of a Language: Graphology: The Symbolic System of a Language This is the English writing system. Other examples? (This system only writes in English.)


Phonology (2): Phonology (2) Languages discriminate sounds differently /b/ vs. /v./ in English and Spanish Tout vs. Tu in French and English Other examples?


Phonology (3): Phonology (3) Languages use intonation differently Chinese: ma (rising tone) vs. ma (falling tone) English: How are you? (greeting) vs. Fine, how are you? (response)


Phonology (4): Phonology (4) Languages have different timing and stress patterns Example: English (as stress-timed language) Cows eat grass The cows eat the grass The cows are eating the grass • Las vacas comen pasto Spanish Example: dgegetit? Wazup?


Phonology (5) : Phonology (5) Syllables emphasized or reduced by pitch (high vs. low) change meaning By length (of vowel) By quality of vowel By loudness By Example: I walked TO (not from) the park v. I walked to the park. ExCUSE me! v. Excuse me.


Syntax - Word order, intonation and stress: Syntax - Word order, intonation and stress Grammar: word order, intonation and stress Variables. It was a great big dog. Was it a big dog? What does he do? What he doesn’t do. What he does. Do you dance? - Yes I do. or Yes I dance. Other?


Grammar (1): Grammar (1) Descriptive grammar (how native speakers actually speak) v. prescriptive grammar (how we think people should speak) “Who’s there?” “It’s I” v. “It’s me” “I should have went” v. “I should have gone” Try to emphasize forms according to the practices and judgments of well-educated native speakers


Grammar (2): Grammar (2) Informal (mostly spoken) v. formal (mostly written) grammar Formal grammar Passive voice: New molecules are formed when… Embedded clauses The scientist noticed that the molecules had bonded Washington, the first president to be appointed, was…


Grammar (3): Grammar (3) Other difficult grammar points ELLs Verb tense errors (“The business society rely heavily on other businesses.”) Irregular verbs Count v. non-count nouns (“There’s a special program to help the peoples”) Word forms (“I could see how cruelty it was”) Double negatives (“I don’t never go there.”)


Morphology: formulation of words with meaning units: Morphology: formulation of words with meaning units Words can be changed by the addition of small units of meaning (like prefixes, suffixes and infixes[except in English]) Do, undo, don’t Come, income, comeback Other examples


Morphology (2): Morphology (2) Study of morphemes helps students understand word structure and decode text Book (one morpheme) Books (two morphemes: book + s [plural]) Cover (one morpheme) Uncovered (three morphemes) Same spelling, different morpheme singER v. biggER, bookS v. swimS


Morphology (3): Morphology (3) Free morphemes (book) v. Bound morphemes (binder) Derivational (change meaning, ex., thoughtLESS) vs. inflectional (thinkS) How many morphemes? Lion • Lying Underachiever • Crosscultural Language • Development


Semantics: Semantics Study of meaning Difficult semantic points for ELLs Size/nature of vocabulary (rain v. precipitation; rich v. wealthy) Shades of meaning Slender v. thin v. skinny Collocations (word combinations) It’s raining cats and dogs (v. it’s raining dogs and cats; it’s snowing cats and dogs) Salt and pepper (not pepper and salt) He’s highly intelligent (v. he’s highly wealthy)


Semantics (2) : Semantics (2) Words serving as different parts of speech: “She’s my mother.” v. “Don’t mother her too much.” or “He’s a clown.” v. “Don’t clown around.” Slang: “Listen up.” “Get down.” “Let’s bail.” Words with different meanings depending on context: ”I throw the ball” v. “The throw is on the sofa” or “Play ball” v. “There’s a new play at the theater.” Homonyms: “For v. four,” “fare v. fair”, “to v. too”, “been v. bin”


Semantics (3) : Semantics (3) Words serving as different parts of speech: “She’s my mother.” v. “Don’t mother her too much.” or “He’s a clown.” v. “Don’t clown around.” Slang: “Listen up.” “Get down.” “Let’s bail.” Words with different meanings depending on context: ”I throw the ball” v. “The throw is on the sofa” or “Play ball” v. “There’s a new play at the theater.” Homonyms: “For v. four,” “fare v. fair”, “to v. too”, “been v. bin”


Pragmatics: Pragmatics How language is used in context. Q: “How are you?” A: “Fine, thanks.” Scripts, schema Buying clothes, reserving airplane seat, buying a movie ticket, explaining steps Register, sociocultural appropriateness Language for court, playground, school “Yes, your honor”, “Hey, dude”, “Yes, sir.”


Discourse: how thoughts are expressed through language: Discourse: how thoughts are expressed through language Larger chunks of language tie together to express thoughts or feelings Oral Discourse Turn-taking/interrupting Topic focus and relevance Conversational repair Written Discourse Reference (genre, purpose, audience, author) Cohesion (organization of ideas, evidence, etc.) Cultural traditions (psycholinguistics)


Nonverbal communication: Nonverbal communication Body language Gestures Facial expressions Eye contact Proxemics (personal territory) Intimate distance (up to 1.5 feet) Personal distance (1.5 to 4 feet) Social distance (4-12 feet) Public distance (12-25 feet)


High-Contact Cultures orLow-Contact Cultures: High-Contact Cultures or Low-Contact Cultures Arabs Chinese Dutch French Germans Greeks Italians Japanese Latin Americans Thai Turks North Americans


High-Contact Cultures orLow-Contact Cultures: High-Contact Cultures or Low-Contact Cultures Arabs Chinese Dutch French Germans Greeks Italians Japanese Latin Americans Thai Turks North Americans


Language variation: dialects: Language variation: dialects Mutually comprehensible variants of the same language that systematically differ in semantics, phonology or syntax. All variants, including standard versions All equally rule-based and logical, none is linguistically superior Certain dialects are more socially valued (due to the power and prestige of their speakers) All have social value in certain settings Value the speaker and his/her dialect while promoting access to standard English