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Language Paper

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Language Paper
Latrece Pratt
PSY/360
March 23, 2015
Karen Wilson

Four Levels of Language Structure and Processing
This paper will discuss the four levels of language structure and processing. Which are known as phonemes, Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics. These four main components work collectively to create a meaningful communication between individuals. Language is the ability to understand both spoken and written words, and to produce meaningful words when someone speaks or writes. Language can be a complex skill set that encompasses countless difficult processes, such as biological, mental and social skills. First Level Phonology
Phonology is the study of sound. These reverberations need to be recalled and understood appropriately according to the language. Phonemes create up words, which must be remembered and understood correctly according to the language. Words consist of sentences, which must be recognized and understood correctly according to the language. Sentences consist of words, which must be remembered and understood correctly according to the language. Phonology can also consist of hand signals, gestures or rhymes. Phonology is different from phonetics it involves the way sounds are used to deliver a meaning.
Examples of Phonology
In the English language sounds of speech is one example of phonology which is either a consonant or vowel. Phonemes are not actually spoken sound it is more of a representation of sound. For example the word goat. It has the O sound which can be got. Another example can be the word Bear it has the ER sound which could be Ber. You can have two words that have the different meaning but the same sound such as cat/sat tub/hub. “The M sound for example is made by closing the mouth while opening the nasal cavity” (Galotti, 2014, p. 2

Sounds of Language
The English language has roughly around 40 phonetic segments also sometimes known as phones. “Language may have a vast number of phones, but only certain ones have meaning” (Galotti, 2014, p. 218). The word phoneme means the smallest unit of sound that makes a significant difference in a given language. 2ND Level Syntax
What is Syntax?
Syntax is a set of rules by which a person puts together full sentences. An arrangement of words that are in a sentence. All languages have a different way of using syntax. Syntactic sentence structure is made up of a group of words to form a sentence. For example, the cup fell on the floor. Is a complete sentence whereas drummer twisted sister is dead. This sentence would be considered an illegal sentence or an incomplete sentence. The rule is that words in a sentence should be able to describe every legal sentence and they should not be able to describe every illegal sentence.
Mechanisms such as words help individual’s perceptual system make logical sense of spoken phonemes. Syntactically accurate sentence does not by itself create a good conversation. When you have a conversation with someone. The first requirement is to listen and perceive the sounds that are being spoken to you. Next you have to put the sounds together in some coherent way, identifying the meaningful units of language, an aspect known as morphology. A simple word can be broken into different levels. For example we are taught not to use the word ain’t. Linguistically it is okay to use the word Aint because it has perfect meaning and it is a legal word. Syntax comes with a lot of rules of grammar.

Sentence Structure Sentence structure begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Syntax comes with a lot of rules on how to form sentences. Sentences are made up with small phrases that are put together to make a complete sentence. Which contains a noun phrase and a verb phrase. In a noun phrase there is a word that is considered the head. The head is the core of the phrase. Next you have a modifier. A modifier defines the head or specific meaning. Next is the noun phrase that usually describes a person or a thing. That is performing the verb or action in a sentence. 3RD Level Semantics
What is Semantics? Semantics is the study of meaning. In order for a conversation to take place there must be some sort of good flow a give and take. A person must be a good listener and be able to pay attention and make certain assumptions and the person speaking must make it easy for the listener to understand what is being said. Semantics can also be defined as how we define words and interpret words, signs and sentence structure. It also can mean how we understand others and the result of our interpretations when a person makes a decision.
To have a good conversation the sentence must have meaning. In order to have a good conversation, all the sounds we produce and communicate must make sense. The audience must be able to obtain from the speaker the meaning of what he or she is trying to communicate. In order for a listener to figure out a meaning of a sentence. “The listener has to pay attention to more than just the meaning of the individual words” (Galotti, 2014, p.223). For example the sentence “Sara exchanged her dress for a suit”. One would speculate that Sara took her dress somewhere. Most likely to the store to return it in exchange for a suit. The question would be what exactly does exchange mean? Giving and exchanging mean two different things in which the listener would have to decipher what is being said.
Theories of meaning.
Theories and meanings will explain how words are used to process whole sentences. Cognitive psychologist concentration in semantics has to do with how information is stored and prearranged. In order for people to form concepts and categorize the topics. Theories of meaning have to explain the following at least. Anomaly, Self-Contradiction, Ambiguity, Synonymy and Entailment. 4th Level Pragmatics
What is Pragmatics? Pragmatics is the ability to communicate verbally with another speaker using the English language. One must produce words that follow the rules of phonology, syntax and semantics.
Social rules of language etiquette. Social rules of etiquette would be not interrupting another person who is speaking and starting a conversation with an Orthodox greeting such as (“Hello”. How are you?). Social rules pertain to knowing when to use the correct words in the right setting. For example a child and an adult are having a dialog between the two of them. There is a plate of cookies on a table and the adult reaches for the cookies. And the child says you better not eat those cookies because you will get bigger. For the adult on the receiving end of the conversation would be led to believe the child was insulting them. But for the child he or she was not speaking with the intent to be rude. The child may not know how to use language properly in a social setting.

Different Kinds of Utterance Different types of utterance means that we demand different responses. For example in assertiveness a speaker will assert a belief in some form of a proposition. Individuals who have problems pragmatically in a social setting will say things inappropriately or unrelated in a conversation. Or they may tell a story in an unorganized way or little variety in verbal language. Directives is another form of utterance or kind of speech. Which is giving instructions from the speaker to the listener. Example “Open the Door”. Commissives is another form of utterance. Example “I promise to clean my room” This is saying the speaker is committing to do something later.

Reference * Galotti, K.M. (2014). Cognitive psychology in and out of the laboratory (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

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