{"id":469,"date":"2023-03-02T20:17:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/language\/"},"modified":"2023-06-28T14:40:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T14:40:06","slug":"language","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/language\/","title":{"raw":"Language: Learn It 2\u2014Components of Language","rendered":"Language: Learn It 2\u2014Components of Language"},"content":{"raw":"

Components of Language<\/h2>\r\n
Language<\/strong>, be it spoken, signed, or written, has specific components: a lexicon and grammar.<\/section>
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lexicon and grammar<\/h3>\r\nLexicon<\/strong> refers to the words of a given language. Thus, lexicon is a language\u2019s vocabulary. Grammar<\/strong> refers to the set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon (Fern\u00e1ndez & Cairns, 2011). For instance, English grammar dictates that most verbs receive an \u201c-ed\u201d at the end to indicate past tense\r\n\r\n<\/section>
[ohm2_question height=\"475\"]4197[\/ohm2_question]<\/section><\/section>
Words are formed by combining the various phonemes that make up the language.
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phonemes and morphemes<\/h3>\r\nA phoneme<\/strong> (e.g., the sounds \u201cah\u201d vs. \u201ceh\u201d) is a basic sound unit of a given language, and different languages have different sets of phonemes.\r\n\r\nPhonemes are combined to form morphemes<\/strong>, which are the smallest units of language that convey some type of meaning (e.g., \u201cI\u201d is both a phoneme and a morpheme). Further, a morpheme is not the same as a word. The main difference is that a morpheme sometimes does not stand alone, but a word, by definition, always stands alone.\r\n\r\n<\/section>
[ohm2_question height=\"500\"]4198[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>We use semantics and syntax to construct language. Semantics and syntax are part of a language\u2019s grammar.\r\n\r\n
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semantics and syntax<\/h3>\r\nSemantics<\/strong> refers to the process by which we derive meaning from morphemes and words. Syntax<\/strong> refers to the way words are organized into sentences (Chomsky, 1965; Fern\u00e1ndez & Cairns, 2011).\r\n\r\n<\/section>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. Through our use of words and language, we are able to form, organize, and express ideas, schema, and artificial concepts.\r\n\r\n
[ohm2_question height=\"300\"]4199[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>\r\n

Language in Context<\/h2>\r\nPickering and Garrod (2004) argue that we achieve our conversational coordination by virtue of our ability to interactively align each other\u2019s actions at different levels of language use. We align the\u00a0lexicon, syntax, as well as speech rate and accent. For instance, when one person uses a certain expression to refer to an object in a conversation, others tend to use the same expression (e.g.,Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986). Furthermore, if someone says \u201cthe cowboy offered a banana to the robber,\u201d rather than \u201cthe cowboy offered the robber a banana,\u201d others are more likely to use the same syntactic structure (e.g., \u201cthe girl gave a book to the boy\u201d rather than \u201cthe girl gave the boy a book\u201d) even if different words are involved (Branigan, Pickering, & Cleland, 2000).\r\n\r\nFinally, people in conversation tend to exhibit similar accents and rates of speech, and they are often associated with people\u2019s social identity (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). So, if someone has lived in different places where people have somewhat different accents (e.g., United States and the United Kingdom), they might speak with Americans with an American accent, but speak with Britons with a British accent.\r\n\r\nPickering and Garrod (2004) suggest that these interpersonal alignments at different levels of language use can activate similar situation models in the minds of those who are engaged in a conversation.\r\n\r\n
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situation models<\/h3>\r\nSituation models<\/strong> are representations of the topic of a conversation.\r\n\r\n<\/section>So, if you are talking about Gabe and Mia with your friends, you might have a situation model of Gabe giving Mia a ring in your mind. Pickering and Garrod\u2019s theory is that as you describe this situation using language, others in the conversation begin to use similar words and grammar, and many other aspects of language use converge. As you all do so, similar situation models begin to be built in everyone\u2019s mind through the mechanism known as priming.\r\n\r\n
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priming<\/h3>\r\nPriming<\/strong> occurs when you're thinking about one concept (e.g., \u201cring\u201d) reminds you about other related concepts (e.g., \u201cmarriage\u201d, \u201cwedding ceremony\u201d).\r\n\r\n<\/section>So, if everyone in the conversation knows about Gabe, Mia, and the usual course of events associated with a ring\u2014engagement, wedding, marriage, etc.\u2014 everyone is likely to construct a shared situation model about Gabe and Mia. Thus, making use of our highly developed interpersonal ability to imitate (i.e., executing the same action as another person) and cognitive ability to infer (i.e., one idea leading to other ideas), we humans coordinate our common ground, share situation models, and communicate with each other.\r\n\r\n
[ohm2_question height=\"400\"]4200[\/ohm2_question]<\/section><\/section>","rendered":"

Components of Language<\/h2>\n
Language<\/strong>, be it spoken, signed, or written, has specific components: a lexicon and grammar.<\/section>\n
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lexicon and grammar<\/h3>\n

Lexicon<\/strong> refers to the words of a given language. Thus, lexicon is a language\u2019s vocabulary. Grammar<\/strong> refers to the set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon (Fern\u00e1ndez & Cairns, 2011). For instance, English grammar dictates that most verbs receive an \u201c-ed\u201d at the end to indicate past tense<\/p>\n<\/section>\n