Language and its components, main components, Sub components, Form context, Use; Phonology, morphology, syntax, prosody and semantics, pragmatics T A Subba Rao

1. LANGUAGE AND ITS COMPONENTS

2. Communication
Speech
Language

3. INTRODUCTION
Language: Language is the main vehicle
for communication.
Language is a set of arbitrary symbols
(mainly conventional) used by a group of
people for the purpose of communication.
Understanding of language requires the
explanation of terms symbol and arbitrary.

4. Symbol : Symbol is a code that stands for or represents an
object, an action or a person. Examples of symbols are
words and hand gestures.
Symbols are arranged in an order making use of a set of
rules. These rules are shared by the community and are
arbitrary.
Arbitrary : The symbols of language are arbitrary, i.e., there
is no inherent one to one relationship between the
particular spoken, written or signed word and the
corresponding object, idea or class of objects it
symbolizes.
Eg: Symbol :
Apple
Object :

5. As language is the main vehicle for communication, language essentially has same functions as that of
communication. Just like communication which has different modes, the language has different parts.
These parts deal with what to say(Content) , when to say (use), and how to say a word or a
sentence(form).
These parts are called as components of language.
We will be able to communicate efficiently by making use of these
components.
Form - deals with the structure of language -how to form
words and sentences grammatically.
Content - deals with the meaning part of language - What
to say or the content of the message.
Use - deals with the usage of language - where, when, with
whom and for what purpose language
Form
Use
Content

6. Example:
I am Munawar.
form - ' pronoun + Verb
+ Noun'
content - conveying
one's name
use - fulfilling the
purpose of introduction.

7. Language
Form
Phonology morphology syntax prosody
Content
Semantics
Use
Pragmatics
Sub-components Of language

8. PHONOLOGY:
Example:
English language - 43 speech
sounds.
Telugu language - 47
speech sounds.
Speech sounds can be further
sub-divided depending on their
nature and production as
consonants and vowels.
Phonology studies the range of speech sounds a native
speaker uses while speaking and how they are produced.
In addition it also studies the rules that are used while
combining speech sounds. Although some speech sounds
are common across languages, different languages have
different number of speech sounds.
The smallest units of sound that make up a language are
called phonemes.
For example, the word “that” contains three phonemes the
“th” represents one phoneme /th/, the “a” maps to the short
a sound /ă/, and the “t” to its basic sound /t/.

9. English

10. Telugu

11. MORPHOLOGY:
Pstklr is not a word in English language
Kapaka is not a word in Telugu language, as
these combination of speech sounds is not
meaningful.
Morphemes like chair, table, boy, etc. can be used
independently. Morphemes like un_, _ful, _ness
(in English) are not meaningful on their own, but
when attached to words they become
meaningful, (e.g., unlike, useful). These part
words like un_, _ful, etc., are known as
grammatical morphemes.
Morphology deals with the rules for
combining speech sounds to form words,
i.e., it is concerned with internal structure
of words.
It studies the rules governing creation of
words from roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc.

12. SYNTAX:
For example:
Hurricanes are scary
is a Syntactically acceptable
sentence.
Where as scary a are
Hurricanes is not an
acceptable sentence.
Syntax refers to the grammatical aspects of a
language. It deals with word order, inflections
and relationships between words.
Syntax describes the rules that speakers use in
forming and in understanding sentences.
Syntactic rules specify which strings of words
are acceptable and which are not.
Without syntactic organisation, language would
be an incoherent jumble of words.

13. PROSODY:
Example: "Yeah, that was a
great movie,"
Studies the impact of speech melody
i.e., Intonation, tone, rhythm, stress,
etc.., on the words of sentence.

14. SEMANTICS:
For example, the word lion in a
language refers to a wild
animal which roars.
It is study of language meaning and how it is acquired.
The semantic component of language includes meanings as
well as rules for linking meaning with words and word
sequences (Phrases and sentences).
Semantics is particularly concerned with the relationships
between language and knowledge of the real world of
objects and events.
The most important point to remember about language
meaning is that words do not represent things, they
represent ideas about things.
It is possible to have a grammatically correct sentence which
semantically may not be acceptable, for example, / eat sky.

15. PRAGMATICS:
Pragmatics - Rules for using
language in a social
context with a `purpose
Pragmatics deals with the language from the point
of view of users. It deals with the set of rules that determine who
says what to whom in which circumstances,
i.e., pragmatics deals with the study of use of language. For
example, a request for water is carried out differently at home as
compared to a hotel.
Different sets of words and styles are used.
Some of the pragmatic rules that govern a social interaction
include preparing for and maintaining conversation, correcting
errors made, giving and taking information, opening and closing
a conversation, changing topics, turn taking, understanding the
listener and the context, etc.
Reference: T A Subba Rao

16. Thank you

17. ANY QUERIES
Ask doubts if any