Language
Deanne Compton
Cheryle Nix
Samantha Sams
What is language?
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A body of words and the systems for their use
common to a people who are of the same
community or nation, the same geographical area,
or the same cultural tradition.
Any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds,
gestures, or the like used or conceived as a
means of communicating thought, emotion, etc.
In computers, a set of characters and symbols
and syntactic rules for their combination and use,
by means of which a computer can be given
directions.
Origins of Language
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Scientists do not agree
on when human
language was first used.
Estimates range from
2,000,000 years ago to
only 40,000 years ago.
The nature of speech
means there is no data to
base these conclusions
on.
Properties of Language
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Communicative
Arbitrary (except for onomatopoeia)
Meaningfully structured
Multiply structured
Productive
Dynamic
Components of Language
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A phone is a speech sound or gesture.
Phonemes are distinguishable sounds of each
culture’s language. Phonemes are also the
smallest structural unit that distinguishes
meaning, such as vowels or consonants.
Phonemics is the study of the different phonemes
found in various cultures.
Phonetics is the study of the physical sounds of
human speech.
Components of Language
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Morphemes are the simplest units of sound with
meaning. Prefixes and suffixes are considered as
morphemes. Ex: un|break|able
A lexicon is the total set of morphemes a person
knows.
Vocabulary is the number of words a person
knows. The average person has around 20,000
words in the vocabulary.
A syntax is the way in which words are put
together to form phrases or clauses.
Semantics
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The study of the meaning
of words.
Definitional theory: the
meaning comes from the
defining features of a
concept
Prototype theory:
characteristic features
and prototypical aspects
of a concept; better way
to understand meaning.
Pragmatics
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Focuses on a higher
level of analysis and
on the implied
meaning of the given
idea.
Types of Language
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Verbal
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What is being spoken
Nonverbal
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Communication besides
spoken words
Can occur through any
sensory channel– sight,
sound, smell, touch, or
taste
The Brain and Language
Language Acquisition
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The process by which the language capability
develops in a human.
Seven Stages of Language Acquisition
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Prenatal responsivity to human voices
Postnatal cooing
Babbling
One-word utterances
Two-word utterances
Telegraphic speech
Basic adult sentence structure
Views of Language Development
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B. F. Skinner
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Verbal Behavior
Language must be learned & reinforced
Behavioralist approach
Noam Chomsky
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Generative grammar
“Innate” universal grammar
Naturalist approach
Linguistic Universals
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A statement that is true
for all natural languages.
Only 11 color names are
needed: black, white,
red, yellow, green, blue,
brown, purple, pink,
orange, and gray.
Different languages use
anywhere from 2 to all 11
of these names.
Bilingualism
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The ability to speak two
languages.
Additive bilingualism:
second language is
learned in addition to the
strong original language
Subtractive bilingualism:
second language
replaces the original
language
Increases cognition
Gender and Communication Research
by Deborah Tannen
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Men
 Communicate information
 Maintain status
 Talk about future action
 Use language to sold
problems
 Fear loss of
independence
 Men talk more overall, but
more in public
 More activity, less
conversation
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Women
 Talk to create and support
relationships
 Talk for its own sake
 Establish intimacy
 Seek emotional support
through language
 Women talk less, but more
at home
 Less activity, more
conversation
Writing Systems
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Logographic: symbols and morphemes
correspond (Chinese and Japanese)
Syllabic: symbols and syllables correspond
(Japanese, Akkadian, and Mayan)
Alphabetic: symbols and sounds correspond
(Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, etc.)
The English language also uses logographic
symbols such as &, @, $, *, #, and others.
Grammar
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How nouns and verbs and other meaningful units
can be arranged
When we speak, we do not use words in random
order, they are arranged into grammatical
syntagms & expressions
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A grammatical syntagm is a serial arrangement of various
parts of speech
Ex: a brown bag is an article followed by an adjective,
followed by a noun
Unlike English, most languages do not place verbs before
objects
Linguistics
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The scientific study of the nature and structure of
language
Subfields include:
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Phonology & phonetics (articulatory gestures & sounds of
language)
Semantics (meaning)
Syntax (grammar)
Historical linguistics (history & family trees of languages)
Psycholinguistics (psychology of linguistics)
Sociolinguistics (sociology of language)
Origins of Linguistics
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Ferdinand de Saussure
(1857-1913)
Swiss linguist who showed
us how to separate
historical linguistics from
non-historical linguistics
Believed to be the greatest
linguist, even today, and
few can dispute his
theories
Symbols
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Objects, characters, or other concrete
representations of ideas, concepts, or other
abstractions
When symbols are transmitted between locations
in the brain, we are thinking in language
When symbols are converted into articulatory
gestures and sounds are heard by others, we are
talking or communicating
When symbols are converted into bits in a
computer, printed, or written, we are storing
information
Slang
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The use of informal words and expressions
to describe an object or condition.
Vocabulary that is meant to be interpreted
quickly but not necessarily taken literally.
Often metaphors or allegories.
Some examples are: “That’s bad!” meaning
“That’s really nice, awesome, etc.”
Computer Programming Languages
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PHP
C#
AJAX
JavaScript
Perl
C
Ruby and Ruby on Rails
Java
Python
Visual Basic .Net
Text Messaging
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A brief, electronic
message sent and
received via a wireless
network.
Text language
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L8R= later
LOL= laughing out loud
TTYL= talk to you later
IDK= I don’t know
The End. Questions? Comments?