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Elements of Language

• Chapter Two

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Introduction• Traditional model of language elements

– Phonology– Morphology– Syntax– Semantics– Pragmatics

• Bloom & Lahey Model– Form (phonology, morphology, & syntax)– Content (semantics)– Use (pragmatics)

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Phonology

• Phonemes– Definition: smallest linguistic unit of sound

that can signal a difference in meaning»(b)ill, (p)ill, (dr)ill

• Phonological rules– Rules that determine what sounds can occur

together• Definition

– Study of the sound system of language

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Morphology

• Definition: is the study of words and how they are formed– Rules govern how sounds are put together to

form words• Baseball= base + ball: each has meaning• Basement=base+ ment: ment is not a word• Base is a morpheme

• Morphemes: are the smallest unit of meaning in a language– Free- each morpheme can stand on its own– Bound- prefixes and suffixes cannot stand on

their own

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Syntax• Definition

– Rules that govern how words are put together to make sentences

• Phrase structure rules– The dog is running. Article(the) noun (dog)

main verb (running) • Transformational rules

– Deep structure: underlying linguistic structure– Surface structure: what you actually hear

• Government and binding theory (Chomsky, 1981)– Universality of language– Colored green ideas sleep furiously

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Semantics

• Definition– Study of the meanings of words

• Semantic component theory– Certain fundamental features of all

words– Fundamental features– Selection restrictions

• Words which can appear together• Married bachelor

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Pragmatics

• Definition: the use of language for communication• Speech acts

– Indirect speech: utterance for which the syntactic form does not match communication intention

• Can you come to the table? Not really a question

• Conversational rules– Relation: relevant to the topic– Quantity– Quality: truthfulness– Manner: directness