1. Revision Outcome 1, Unit 1 The Nature and Functions of Language
VCE English Language
Revision Outcome 1, Unit 1
The Nature and Functions of Language

2. Language Write down in your books what you think language is.
At what age do you think that children ‘know’ a language?
Is language just vocabulary?

3. Metalanguage Write down a definition of metalanguage
What are the five subsystems which from the metalanguage in linguistics?

4. Subsystems

5. fnetiks nd fnolodgi
Phonetics – the study of the speech sounds of all human languages
Phonology – the study of the sound systems of language
Important to listen to the sounds that are made and represent them with symbols that more accurately reflect them

6. Morphology and Lexicology
Morphemes are the smallest unit of meaning
Can be free or bound
Free can stand alone
Bound must be attached to another morpheme
Prefix – attached to the front of a stem
Stem – stand alone morpheme

7. Morphemes (cont.) Suffix – morpheme attached to the end of a stem
Inflectional morphemes – give grammatical information
Derivational morphemes – change the class of a word
Give two examples of each of these

8. Word Classes Nouns – words that name things
Verbs – action or state of being words
Adjectives – describe nouns
Adverbs – describe the action of a verb
Prepositions – show how things are related
Conjunctions – join clauses
Pronouns – in place of nouns
Articles – The, A, An.

9. Syntax The way we arrange words in a sentence
Subject – the person or thing the sentence is about
Predicate – what is said about the subject
Phrase – group of related words
Clause – group of related words containing a subject (noun) and predicate (verb)

10. Types of Clause
Independent – (or main) clauses can stand on their own in a sentence
Dependent – (or subordinate) clauses can’t stand on their own
Relative clause – a dependent clause that describes the noun it relates to. It is introduced with who, which, that and relates to the noun in the main clause

11. Clauses and sentences
Adverbial clauses – answer the questions how, when, where and why about the verb.
Compound sentences – tow or more simple sentences joined by a conjunction or separated by a comma, semi-colon or colon.
Complex sentences – main clause plus one or two subordinate clauses

12. Sentence Types Declarative – state facts
Imperative – commands or orders
Exclamative – expression of strong emotion
Interrogative - questions

13. Semantics Study of meaning in language
Connotation – associated meaning
Denotation – dictionary meaning

14. Discourse Analysis
Discourse – can be spoken or written; it is a connected series of utterances or sentences.
To study or examine a discourse to show the structure
or essence