Building Blocks of Language
Building Block #1: Language
Language has long been thought of as separating us from the animals. Although animals can communicate, they do not have language. Without language, our ways of thinking, understanding, and transmitting knowledge would be limited to the here and now. Language systems are dynamic. Human language is unique in that it can convey abstract ideas. Language is open, in that the system is free to change. Language is symbolic, in that there is no real connection between a sound and the meaning associated with it. Spoken language is based on phonemes, the basic sounds that make up a language such as "th" and "sh." Phonemes group together to form morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes. When we wish to communicate an idea, we start with a thought, and then choose words and phrases that will express the idea, and produce the speech sounds of those words and phrases. Sentences have both a surface structure (particular words and phrases) and a deep structure (the underlying meaning).
Language has rules of grammar and allows the speaker to express abstract and distant ideas. In English, grammar includes such things as subject-verb agreement, plurals, and possessives. Semantics and syntax are the two major components of grammar. Semantics refers to the system of rules that govern how we assign meaning to morphemes. Syntax refers to the rules of how words should be arranged in a particular language.
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