Language Systems
COM 370—Psychology of
Language
John R. Baldwin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0I7PCoy-nk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_l7ty_MH_Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlw4NJdnNE
A Model of Language
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1289153507&vw=g&b=0
&pos=15&p=slim+shady&fr=yfp-t-501
Y'all act like you never seen a white person before
Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in
the door
…
I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm only givin you
things you joke about with your friends inside your living
room
The only difference is I got the balls to say it
in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated
at all
I just get on the mic and spit it…
Applying the model
► Syntax:
 Sentence structure
 Parts of speech
► Morphemes
 Locate different types of morphemes:
►Bound,
unbound
►Derivational, inflectional
► Phonemes
► Semantics
► Context
Language Systems
Elements of Language: Once over Lightly…
► Phonetics: the sounds of a language
► Phonology: how sounds are put together
► Morphology:
 the breaking up of sounds into words:
►Ihavetogohomeearlytoday.
►I
have to go home early today
►Rhaidimifyndadre’ngynnarheddiw
►Rhaid I mi fynd adre’n gynnar heddiw
 the parts of sounds that have meaning, can
work together: “coffeelike”; “bookly”
“incentivate”
Language Systems (continued)
the arrangement of sounds into
grammatical sentences
► Syntax:




You up pick at o’clock will eight
I will picks you up at eight o’clock
I will pick you up at eight o’clock
At eight o’clock, I will pick you up
► Grammaticality
(is it correct?) versus
semantic acceptability (does it make
sense?)
Language Systems (continued)
Semantics: the meaning of utterances
► Ambiguity




(more than one possible meaning)
I like chocolate cakes and pies.
I’ll meet you at the bank.
Visiting relatives can be dreadful
I saw her duck
► Semantic
“equivalence”?
 John is an unmarried male = John is a bachelor?
 The car bumped the truck = The truck was bumped by
the car?
 Spanish: “Las llaves se me perdieron.”
Language Systems (continued)
the relation of language to
context; social conventions, etc.
► Pragmatics:
►How
(when, to whom) would you…
 ask a favor?
 point out something potentially embarrassing?
 Tell a joke
► Styles
of Speech: Registers, dialects
► Discourse? Social ideas (ideologies)
embedded within the other elements of
speech
Language Elements 2
► Phonemic:
the sounds
► Phonology: the relation of sounds to sounds
► Morphemic: the relation of sounds to meaning
► Syntax: the relation of words to each other
► Semantics: the relation of words to what they
represent
► Pragmatics: the relation of utterances to social
settings
► Discourse: the relation of utterances to ideas
► An
exercise… www.engrish.com
Thought questions
► What does/can language do?
► How is human language different from what other
animals do?
Language in a System:
Communication
Sending
Receiving
Meaning
All of
These
Interpreting
Pragmatic
Conceptual
ALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
HAVE
►A
MODE OF TRANSMISSION
 SIGNS
 SIGNALS
ALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
HAVE
► PRAGMATIC
FUNCTION
TRUE LANGUAGE-BASED COMMUNICATION
SYSTEMS HAVE
► CONCEPTUAL
FUNCTION
► INTERCHANGEABILITY
► CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
► ARBITRARINESS
► DISCRETENESS
► DISPLACEMENT
► PRODUCTIVITY
Language productivity
(continued)
► EMERGENT
► EVOLVES
► BUT
ALWAYS RULE GUIDED (set by
language and culture)




Phonetic
Semantic
Syntactic
Pragmatic
A thought question:
Now…in more detail: Phonetics
► What





are the phonemes in the following words?
“wash”
“strength”
“milieu”
“foyer”
“limber”
► Explain
how you produce these sounds?
► What are some phoneme types in other languages
that English does not have? What are some
phonetic confusions with other languages?
Phonemes and the mouth…
http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/factsheets/families/F000368/images/diagram.gif
(phonetics)
► http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
► What
are some types of phonemes? (how would
you label them)? Useful terms in describing them?
 Consonants / vowels / semi-vowels
 The Phonetic Alphabet
► What
are some phonemes that do not go together
in English?
► Why is this information useful?
Morphology
► Morphemes
in word structure
 Conjugation
 Declension
 Prefixes and suffixes
► Rules
on prefixes and suffixes
 Stems with a given affix usually combine to
form the same part of speech: -able, -un, -dis
 Words joined with an affix usually result in the
same part of speech: -usable, disuse, abuse
Conjugation
Greek
English
English
► ginosko
► I know
► [yo] conosco
► ginoskeis
► He/she/it knows ► [tu] conoces
► You know
► [él/ella/Ud.] conoce ► ginoskei
► ginoskomen
► We know
► [nosotros] conocemos
► Y’all know
► [vosotros] conocéis ► ginoskete
► ginoskousin
► They know
► [ellos/ellas/Uds]
conocen
Declension
The boy
► Subj: The
boy(s)
► Poss: Of the
boy(s)/the
boy’s(s’)
► IO: (to) the
boy(s)
► DO: the boy(s)
► (Vocative): Oh
boy!
German
► Subj:Der Junge/
die jungen
► Gen: Des
Jungen/der jungen
► Dat: Dem
Jungen/den Jungen
► Acc: Den
Jungen/Die Jungen
Greek
► Nom: logos
► Gen: logou
► Abl: logou
► Loc: logo
► Inst: logo
► Dat: logo
► Acc: logon
► Voc: loge
Morphology
Categorizing Morphemes
►Bound:
Needs to be attached to a word
 Affixes
►Prefix
►Suffix
 Inflectional
►Conjugation
: verbs
►Declension: nouns
►Free:
Can exist by itself
Morphology
► Categorizing
Morphemes
 Derivational: Change the meaning of the word
or the part of speech
►Ex:
happy (ADJ) + un = unhappy (ADJ)
►Ex: happy (ADJ) + ness =happiness (N)
 Inflectional: Root meaning of word stays the
same, as does part of speech
►Conjugation:
Ex: She runs; he walked
►Declension: Megan’s; Megans
►[A bad joke]
An exercise
► Find
the Morpheme
Syntax
Lexical Categories: clusters or groups of
words according to function
► Nouns
(N)
► Verbs (V)
► Adjectives (ADJ)
► Adverbs (ADV)
► Determiners (DET)
► Auxiliary Verbs (AV)
► Prepositions (P): (P + NP = PP!)
► Pronouns (PRO)
Content and Function Words
► Content
words (contentives): “Carry the
principal meaning of the sentence” —”name
the objects, events, and characteristics that
lie at the heart of the message the sentence
is meant to convey” (Clark & Clark, 1977, p. 21)
► Function words: The “glue” that holds the
content words together, “to indicate what
goes with what and how.”
Content or Function???
► Pronoun
► Determiner
(e.g., articles)
► Adjectives
► Prepositions
► Nouns
► Conjunctions
► Adverbs
and conjunctive adverbs
► Verbs, regular, linking, and auxiliary
► Relative pronouns
Syntax
Ways to Organize Sentences
► Linear Order
► Hierarchical Structure: Propositions
and Constituents: “Semantically coherent
groups”
Ex: Most executives eat at really fancy
restaurants
Ex: Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
Clark & Clark Ch. 1 exercises
Wellington’s fresh, young troops
defeated Napoleon’s well-trained army.”
► Sentence:
 Find the “propositions” (p. 10-11)
 Diagram the sentence (p. 12)
►Main
phrases (NP & VP, or “subject” and
“predicate”
►Adjectives, articles, and so on
►Adjective and Adverb clauses
 Different ways to say the same thing?
 Why is this useful!?
Give me Ambiguity, or…
► Defining
Ambiguity:
► Types of Ambiguity:
 Structural: when constituents can
be grouped in more than one way
 Lexical: when a word can be a
member of more than one lexical
category
 Semantic: when a word or phrase
(or gesture) can mean more than
one thing. [Also frequently called
http://www.gally.net/leavings/01/0137.html
lexical!]
Examples: Ambiguity
► Larry
raises miniature badgers and racoons.
► We need more intelligent leaders.
► Iraq Bombs Gut Factory (headline)
► Free Wales
► Wet Paint
► The little girl hit the child with the toy
► Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim (headline)
► Teacher Strikes Idle Kids (headline)
Student Quotes
► “She
said she was having problems with her
job [at a school]. She said it was because of
a bad principle.”
► There was a high degree of gender
differentiation within her family, with her
father resting on the top.
► Where I work if a person comes in by them
self to eat the customers sometimes expect
me to sit down and converse with them.
► The
only information given about the
college was that it was a liberal arts college
off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
► “Stella was flapping and fighting the
currants in the river…”
► “In our findings, a variety of beauty
definitions arouse.”
► Barthes felt this was the problem with
mythic shits.
► The sample could have screwed our data.
Applications
► Learning
structure and clearer speaking:
 PP = preposition + object of preposition
►“This
is important for both Susan or myself”
►“This is important for both Susan and I”
►“This is important for both Susan and me”
 VT versus VI: “It’s good to be able to critique”
 Adjective or Noun?: “lots of positives,”
“prejudice,” “the dominate characteristic”
 Help! I need an AV: “I would of been there…”
 http://www.englishforums.com/English/FunnyS
entences/vqlc/post.htm
Dude!
http://duderific.tripod.com/dude.html
Productivity: Old Words
► http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
► http://www.lssu.edu/banished/complete_list.php
► http://www.banbuilder.com/
► http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ling215/NewWords/
page1.html
► http://www.urbandictionary.com/