Year: 2013-2014
Professor: María Rodríguez
Class: INGL 4011
College: University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus
Grace H.
Rodríguez Cruz
ENGL4011
August 22nd,
2013
“Speech is a distinctly human phenomenon.” The
beauty of language goes way beyond the naked eye does. This brings the concepts
of the six independent subsystems of language: Phonology (speech, sounds), Morphology
(word inflection and derivation), Syntax (order and construction), Lexicon (vocabulary),
Semantics (meaning) and Pragmatics (context). Language also depends on
dialects; these are always present and different even if the same language is
being spoken. The types of lects include: Sociolect (depends on the social and
economic position), Genderlect (based on gender differences), geolect
(depending on the place) and Idiolect (the uniqueness of every individual). In
the area of linguistics, the study of the word can be conducted in a
theoretical (nature of the individual versus the linguistic background) or
descriptive (the study of how the components operate). In a descriptive level,
language can be studied based on the existing patterns of the language
(synchronic) or the changes given to the root of speech (diachronic). These
studies can be tested with a native speaker but linguists cannot expect any
explanation from which the language has the certain structures. He/she may have
the morphology, syntax and semantics because it is learned in an arbitrary way,
not because he/she was obliged to learn.
In
order to study a language, the linguist must make a corpus (an outline or
example to work with). The corpus can be based in three things: (A) Select a certain
author or time period, which is a closed/limited investigation. (B) Take
recordings and notes from a native speaker, which starts in an open matter but
closes when the data is collected and ready to investigate. Or (C) beginning
the investigation with an intuition or insight about the language, leaving the
act of collecting data in an always open matter.
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