LANGUAGE

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LANGUAGE

• The crown jewel of cognition.

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Language is.

• System for combining symbols so that an infinite
  number of meaningful statements can be made for
  the purpose of communicating.
• Allows us to represent our internal mental
  activity.
• Very important part of how we think.

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Levels of language putting the pieces together.

• Languages all over the world share common
  characteristics they are

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Grammar

• Grammar be an system of them rules that govern
  the structure and use of an language aint that
  right? ?
• Noam Chomsky is the psych language guru he
  says that while we learn different, specific
  languages the ability to understand the
  complexities of grammar are wired in.

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Syntax

• Syntax is the system of rules regulating word
  order to form grammatically correct sentences.
• Very important
• John kidnapped the boy has a very different
  meaning than John, the kidnapped boy

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Morphemes

• Smallest unit of meaning within a language.
• Playing is two morphemes play and ing.

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Semantics

• Rules for determining meaning of words and
  sentences.
• Sentences can have the same semantic meaning
  while having different syntax
• James hit the ball and The ball was hit by
  James.
• Be thankful you speak English it is one of the
  hardest languages to learn.
• Crazy English

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• Lets face it English is a crazy language. There
  is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger,
  neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
• English muffins were not invented in England or
  french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies,
  while sweetbreads, which arent sweet, are meat.
• We take English for granted. But if we explore
  its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work
  slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig
  is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why
  is it that writers write, but fingers dont fing,
  grocers dont groce, and hammers dont ham? If
  the plural of tooth is teeth, why isnt the
  plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So,
  one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is
  cheese the plural of choose?
• If teachers taught, why didnt preachers praught?
  If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a
  humanitarian eat?
• In what language do people recite at a play and
  play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo
  by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
  Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
• How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the
  same, while a wise man and a wise guy are
  opposites? How can the weather be hot as hell one
  day an cold as hell another?
• When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in
  a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes
  off by going on.
• When the stars are out, they are visible, but
  when the lights are out, they are invisible. And
  why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but
  when I wind up this essay, I end it?

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Phonemes

• Basic units of sound.
• Si kawl a gee (Psychology)
• Can be different the a in cat is a different
  phoneme than the a in day even though it is the
  same letter of the alphabet.
• Phonemes are not just letters, th and sh are
  phonemes too.
• Phonemes present the biggest problem for people
  trying to learn a language.

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Pragmatics

• Has to do with the manners and social
  niceties
• How to take turns in a conversation.
• The use of gestures.
• Ways in which you speak to different people
  (Hello, sir vs. Yo, whats up dude?)
• Intonation the rhythm of the language (Putting
  the emphases on the correct syllable)

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Pragmatics gone wrong

• In Japanese, the name Yoshiko should be
  pronounced with the emphasis on the first
  syllable YO-shiko which means woman-child.
  If the stress is placed on the second syllable
  Yo-SHE-ko it means woman who urinates.

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Gestures be aware!!!

• Okay or
• I want to sleep with your wife or
• Ill kill you.

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