what the language is

7/31/2019 What the Language Is

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By Fitri

What is language


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Definition

Language is the medium ofexpression of our thoughts andfeelings

Symbolic system of sounds that conveysmeaning when put together according toa set of rules

Meanings attached to any given word inall languages are totally arbitrary


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Knowing the Language

1. Linguistic knowledge

when you know a language, you canspeak and be understood by others.

Have capacity to produce soundsthat signify certain meaning.

Understand or interpret the sounds

produced by others


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Example:

My goddaughter who wasborn in Sweden and who now lives

in Australia is named Disa, aftera Viking queen.


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2. Knowledge of the sound system

Knowing what sounds (signs) are inthat language and what sounds are not.

e.g. the word foreign


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Please read these words

flour Flower

Summer Glitter

Glaze Glimmer Glare Glimpse

Poverty Glisten

Prestige Glare Ridge Gleam

reach Ambiguous


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3. Knowledge of words

Knowing a language is also to knowthat certain sound sequences signify

certain concepts or meaning.e.g. Boy, toy, girl

Know the words in that language, that

is, the sound units that are related tospecific meaning.


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House maison (French),odan (Twi), dom (Russian).

Hand main (French),nsa (Twi), ruka (Russian), mano

(Spanish)


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Words from different languages

a. Kyinii f. Bolna

b. Doakam g. Wartawan

c. Odun h. Inaminatu

d. Asa i. Yawwa

e. Nyinngi


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Think these words

BegRequestAskGetObtainAcquireRecognizeKnow


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4. Knowledge of sentences and non-sentences

To memorize and store an infinite set

of sentences would require an infinitestorage capacity.

To learn a language, you must learn

something finite.


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Identify these sentences

1. a. John kissed the little old lady whoowned the shaggy dog.

b. who owned the shaggy dog John

kissed the little old lady.c. John is difficult to love.

d. It is difficult to love John.

e. John is anxious to go.


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f. It is anxious to go John

g. John, who was a student, flunked hisexam

h. Exams his flunked student a was whojohn


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Prescriptive grammar

Rule of grammar brought bygrammarians attempts to legislate what

speakers grammatical rules should be,

rather than what they are.e.g.

I am older than she


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Descriptive grammar

A linguists description or model of themental grammar, including the units,structures and rules

An explicit statement of what speakersknow about their language.

what the language is

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