Introduction to Psychology 1/IPSY102/Cognition/Language

From WikiEducator
Jump to: navigation, search

Language is a communication system that involves using words and systematic rules to organize those words to transmit information from one individual to another. While language is a form of communication, not all communication is language. Many species communicate with one another through their postures, movements, odours, or vocalizations. This communication is crucial for species that need to interact and develop social relationships with their conspecifics. However, many people have asserted that it is language that makes humans unique among all of the animal species (Corballis & Suddendorf, 2007[1]; Tomasello & Rakoczy, 2003[2]). This section will focus on what distinguishes language as a special form of communication, how the use of language develops, and how language affects the way we think.

Components of language

Language, be it spoken, signed, or written, has specific components: a lexicon and grammar. Lexicon refers to the words of a given language. Thus, lexicon is a language’s vocabulary. Grammar refers to the set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon (Fernández & Cairns, 2011[3]). For instance, English grammar dictates that most verbs receive an “-ed” at the end to indicate past tense.

Words are formed by combining the various phonemes that make up the language. A phoneme (e.g., the sounds “ah” vs. “eh”) is a basic sound unit of a given language, and different languages have different sets of phonemes. Phonemes are combined to form morphemes, which are the smallest units of language that convey some type of meaning (e.g., “I” is both a phoneme and a morpheme). We use semantics and syntax to construct language. Semantics and syntax are part of a language’s grammar. Semantics refers to the process by which we derive meaning from morphemes and words. Syntax refers to the way words are organized into sentences (Chomsky, 1965[4]; Fernández & Cairns, 2011[5]).

We apply the rules of grammar to organize the lexicon in novel and creative ways, which allow us to communicate information about both concrete and abstract concepts. We can talk about our immediate and observable surroundings as well as the surface of unseen planets. We can share our innermost thoughts, our plans for the future, and debate the value of a college education. We can provide detailed instructions for cooking a meal, fixing a car, or building a fire. The flexibility that language provides to relay vastly different types of information is a property that makes language so distinct as a mode of communication among humans.

Icon multimedia line.svg
Language

View this video published on the CrashCourse channel on Youtube.

The video provides a brief overview of many of the concepts about language that are covered in this learning pathway.

Language



References

  1. ↑ Corballis, M. C., & Suddendorf, T. (2007). Memory, time, and language. In C. Pasternak (Ed.), What makes us human (pp. 17–36). Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications.
  2. ↑ Tomasello, M., & Rakoczy, H. (2003). What makes human cognition unique? From individual to shared to collective intentionality. Mind & Language, 18(2), 121–147.
  3. ↑ Fernández, E. M., & Cairns, H. S. (2011). Fundamentals of psycholinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
  4. ↑ Chomsky, N.(1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
  5. ↑ Fernández, E. M., & Cairns, H. S. (2011). Fundamentals of psycholinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Source
This page was proudly adapted from Psychology published by OpenStax CNX. Oct 31, 2016 under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/4abf04bf-93a0-45c3-9cbc-2cefd46e68cc@5.52.
Retrieved from "https://wikieducator.org/index.php?title=Introduction_to_Psychology_1/IPSY102/Cognition/Language&oldid=1040459"