Language

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Language

• Deanne Compton
• Cheryle Nix
• Samantha Sams

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What is language?

• 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.

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Origins of Language

• 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.

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Properties of Language

• Communicative
• Arbitrary (except for onomatopoeia)
• Meaningfully structured
• Multiply structured
• Productive
• Dynamic

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Components of Language

• A phone is a speech sound or gesture.
• Phonemes are distinguishable sounds of each
  cultures 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.

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Components of Language

• Morphemes are the simplest units of sound with
  meaning. Prefixes and suffixes are considered as
  morphemes. Ex unbreakable
• 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.

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Semantics

• 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.

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Pragmatics

• Focuses on a higher level of analysis and on the
  implied meaning of the given idea.

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Types of Language

• Verbal
• What is being spoken
• Nonverbal
• Communication besides spoken words
• Can occur through any sensory channel sight,
  sound, smell, touch, or taste

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The Brain and Language
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Language Acquisition

• The process by which the language capability
  develops in a human.
• Seven Stages of Language Acquisition
• Prenatal responsivity to human voices
• Postnatal cooing
• Babbling
• One-word utterances
• Two-word utterances
• Telegraphic speech
• Basic adult sentence structure

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Views of Language Development

• B. F. Skinner
• Verbal Behavior
• Language must be learned reinforced
• Behavioralist approach
• Noam Chomsky
• Generative grammar
• Innate universal grammar
• Naturalist approach

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Linguistic Universals

• 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.

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Bilingualism

• 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

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Gender and Communication Research by Deborah
Tannen

• 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

• 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

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Writing Systems

• 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 , _at_, , , , and others.

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Grammar

• 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
• 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

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Linguistics

• The scientific study of the nature and structure
  of language
• Subfields include
• 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)

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Origins of Linguistics

• 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

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Symbols

• 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

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Slang

• 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 Thats bad! meaning Thats
  really nice, awesome, etc.

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Computer Programming Languages

• PHP
• C
• AJAX
• JavaScript
• Perl
• C
• Ruby and Ruby on Rails
• Java
• Python
• Visual Basic .Net

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Text Messaging

• A brief, electronic message sent and received via
  a wireless network.
• Text language
• L8R later
• LOL laughing out loud
• TTYL talk to you later
• IDK I dont know

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The End. Questions? Comments?