LANGUAGE

VERBAL AND NONVERBAL LANGUAGE Human interaction and communication involve both verbal and nonverbal language.  Verbal language is what is being spoken. Language is primarily oral.  Nonverbal language is communication in ways other than spoken words such as: facial expressions, hand movements, eye contact, the manner in which one sits, or how close someone stands to you. Any aspect of a one’s presence that conveys ideas or information without being spoken is nonverbal communication. Non verbal communication is often used in conjunction with oral language. 

Every language,including primitive languages and sign languages, has Grammar: rules to form sentences. Prescriptive Grammar: the appropriateness of sentences Descriptive Grammar: how people actually speak. Universal Grammar: principles of language that are shared by every human language.

Onomatopoeic Words The relationship between an object and its word is arbitrary (selected at random). Some words seem to represent what they sound. Such words are called onomatopoeic words. Onomatopoeic words are language specific. Different languages, such as Japanese and Chinese, use different words to refer to the same sound. Onomatopoeic words describe a sound or action directly. Boo-hoo Choo-choo Bow-wow Chow-chow

Language is creative in that words can be used to create an infinite number of sentences. We can produce and understand sentences that we have never heard before. Every human infant is born with the capacity to acquire a language.

What is the difference between ORAL and SIGN languages? Oral languages are spoken and heard, i.e. oral communication. Sign languages use gestures/signs and sight, i.e. visual communication. Sign languages have a different system of communication from oral languages but conform to the universal grammar: things that are common to all human languages. Sign languages are not derived from oral languages.

Linguistics is a scientific study of Language Language is a means of communication - linguistic communication Communication involves at least two persons. Linguistic communication involves social interaction.

Sociolinguistics the study of the social aspect of language. Language is used to express ideas, concepts, etc. These are things that are processed in our mind. Psychology is the study of the mind.

Psycholinguistics The study of the psychological aspect of language: the relationship between language and the mind. It includes: –First Language Acquisition: how children acquire their first language. –Second Language Acquisition: how children/adults acquire a second language. –Language Processing: how language is used to code and decode ideas, concepts, etc. How we produce and understand language. The mind is presumably in our brains. Language is processed in our brains.

Neurolinguistics Neurophysiologic research on the basis of language is possibly the oldest field in cognitive neuroscience. Broca and Wernicke were credited with the first great breakthroughs in the understanding of the brain with their studies of language disorders. Specifically, it appeared that the Broca’s area was responsible for grammar and the Wernicke’s for making semantic sense. We now know that these two areas of the brain play a role in language use and that particular areas of the brain fulfill narrow linguistic functions. The study of the function of the brain in language processing. Computers have been used by many disciplines for research.

Computational Linguistics  the study of language using computers.  Computational linguistics is a sub-field of a larger study of Artificial Intelligence.  Computational Linguistics deals with natural language processing, speech recognition, and speech synthesis.

Descriptive Linguistics Describe the form and functions of language Language is a system; it has a structure. Any structure consists of components ordered linearly (precedence relations) and hierarchically (dominance relations). The components of language are arranged from the smallest to the largest.

Function of Language Semantics: literal meaning. Pragmatics: intended meaning or how sentences are used.

Forms of Language Articulator Phonetics: the study of how speech sounds are articulated Acoustic Phonetics: the study of the 'physics" of speech sounds. Phonology: the study of the systems of speech sounds. –Phonemes: the smallest acoustic units of language. There are over 200 possible phonemes in every language. Between 40 and 46 phoneme dialects are used by the English language. However, other languages range from 14 to 140 phonemes. –Spoken speech can be followed as fast as 30 phonemes per second or 400 words per minute.

Forms of Language Morphology: the study of the form and structure of morphemes. –Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit of language. i.e., prefixes and suffixes like un-, dis-, -ness, or –ful Lexicon: a list of morphemes known by any one person. Syntax: the structure of sentences. –Words put together into a sentence that give the sentence meaning

STUTTERING AND OTHER SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES Stuttering & other speaking difficulties like so many other human behavioral disorders, represent a poorly- understood mix of psychological, social, neurological, and linguistic factors.

Why English Is Difficult To Learn………… We take English for granted. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race. Take a look at some of the following paradoxes: The farm was used to produce produce. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The buck does funny things when the does are present. After a number of injections my jaw got number. The wind was too strong to wind the sail. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. There is no egg in eggplant. There is no ham in hamburger. You fill in a form by filling it out. Your house burns up as it burns down.

Language Acquisition The following web sight is a source for an in-depth look at language acquisition by Steven Pinker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. pers/Py104/pinker.langacq.htmlhttp:// pers/Py104/pinker.langacq.html