This document outlines the four main systems that make up language: graphophonemic (relationship between written and spoken language), semantic (meaning), syntactic (grammar), and pragmatic (social use). It discusses key aspects of each system, including that graphophonemic involves phonics and the relationship between letters and sounds, semantic focuses on word and phrase meanings, syntactic looks at word order and parts of speech, and pragmatic considers the social context of language.

1. Graphophonemic System – Phonics
• Symbol systems of oral and written language and the
relationship between them
• System of written language – orthographic system –
how print is organized
• Spelling system
• Letters
• Words
• Punctuation Marks
• Phrases
• Phonics – Relationship between phonological and
orthographic systems. What readers learn to
understand as the complex relationship between how
we talk and how language is organized in written
texts.

2. Semantic Meaning
• Heart of language
• Relationships between language and
meaning
• What words and phrases mean and how
that changes

3. Syntactic System – Grammar
• Relationship of words, sentences, paragraphs
• Word order
• Tense
• Number
• Gender
• Where parts of speech go in a sentence
• How we string words together to sound like
English
• Structural rules of English

4. Pragmatic System – Language in Use
• Take into consideration the social, cultural,
and historical context of language in use
• What we know about how and when to
change language to particular social
settings
• “Is your mother there?” (in a phone
conversation) – implies “Is your mother at
home? I’d like to speak to her.”