3. All Languages Have Structure
“Every spoken language uses discrete sound
segments and has a class of vowels and a
class of consonants” (Rico, Weed 2010).
4. Phonology: The Sound of Patterns of a
Language
Phonemes are the sounds that make up a
language.
/t/ as in tip
/d/ as in dip
5. Phonemes, cont’d.
Pitch = the vibration of the vocal chords.
“Eva is going.” versus “Eva is going?”
→ the use of pitch to modify the sentence
meaning is call intonation.
7. Morphology: The Words of Language
Morphemes = basic building blocks of
language
Abolitionists = 4 morphemes
aboli + tion + ist + s
8. Syntax: The Sentence Patterns of Language
Syntax = the structure of sentences and the
rules that govern the formation of a
sentence.
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll
9. Semantics: The Meaning of Language
Semantics = the study of meanings of
individual words and of larger units such as
phrases and sentences.
“They’re just arguing semantics”
10. Pragmatics: The Influence of Context
Pragmatics = the study of communication in
context.
→ 3 major communication skills
1. ability to use language for different functions
2. ability to appropriately adapt or change language
3. ability to follow rules for conversations
