Nature of Language

Lecturer: Dr. Santi C. Djohar, MA Student Name Student Number Academic Year Study Program Date : Teguh Eko Setio : 1108066041 (non-regular class) : 2012 : Magister Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris : April 20th, 2012

DESCRIBING LANGUAGE
Grammar The describing language consists of grammatical, internal phonological and semantic structures of languages at given points in time without reference to their histories or to one another. Then at the first here about grammar of a language as the description of the way in which can change their form and can be combined into sentence in that language. Sentences consist of words, but not every string of word constitute.

Spoken and Written Grammar Grammar is explained as language system and when we put it parallel with skill of language, it has different area for grammar as a system; writers orientate more towards norms, and speakers orient towards each other. It can be said writing is more off-line and not time bound; speech is more online and in real time. Grammar speech has its own constructional principle it is organized differently from written (Biber et al 1999:1066). Grammar accounts for the constructions of a language by linguistic transformations and phrase structures. "In transformational grammar, the term 'rule' is used not for a precept set down by an external authority but for a principle that is unconsciously yet regularly followed in the production and interpretation of sentences.

Vocabulary Of course competent speakers of the language also know the lexis (or vocabulary) of a language although that knowledge will vary depending, for example, on their education and occupation. They know what words mean and they also know the subtleties of some of those meanings. Competent speakers of English know what a heart is but they do not get confused by sentences like 'He wears his heart on his sleeve. Competent speakers of a language also know the connotations of a word: for example, would you tell your best friend that they were 'thin', 'slim', 'skinny' or 'emaciated'? Competent speakers of a

language also know how to change words - how to make 'possible' 'impossible', how to make interesting' 'interested' and so on.

English language corpora What is a corpus? In principle, any collection of more than one text can be called a corpus, (corpus being Latin for "body", hence a corpus is anybody of text). But the term "corpus" when used in the context of modern linguistics tends most frequently to have more specific connotations than this simple definition. The following list describes the four main characteristics of the modern corpus.

Sampling and representativeness Finite size Machine-readable form A standard reference

Word Meaning In linguistics, meaning is what the source or sender expresses, communicates, or conveys in their message to the observer or receiver, and what the receiver infers from the current context.

Ambiguity Ambiguity means confusion about what is conveyed, since the current context may lead to different interpretations of meaning. Word meaning can be based to divide based on the areas such as: Pragmatic meaning Semantic meaning Conception meaning Semiotics

LANGUAGE IN USE We formed complex social groups as humans because of language and our ways of expression. It helped in developing the human society a lot and was a major factor in the cooperation between different groups and individuals of people. It is the main means of Socializing.

Purposes Using a language as a primary means of communicating our thoughts is so natural. Some of the roles of language are so mundane that they are hardly ever noticed, others are very elevated, or even abstract. Most certainly there are many other functions that natural languages fulfill, yet depending on approach to this issue the number of functions and their names might vary.

Appropriacy Appropriacy refers to whether a word is suitable for the context it is being used in. It is an important aspect of language but an extremely complex one, as decisions about how to say things depend on understanding exactly what is right for the context and the culture. Example It may be appropriate to say hold on a minute, will you?' in one context and could you wait a moment, please?' in another.

Language as Discourse When we discussed discourse, we saw how what we say depends on a number of variables such as where we are, what we want to say and who we are talking to. It also involves our ability to structure discourse - to organize what we say into a coherent whole. Clearly students need to be aware of the different ways language is used in different situations. They need to know the difference between formal and informal language use. They need to know when they can get away with 'sorry' and when it would be better to say 'I really must apologies' for example. Such knowledge involves learning language functions. One of the variables which govern appropriacy is purpose. We decide what we want to say on the basis of what purpose we wish to achieve. Do we wish to invite? To agree? To congratulate? All these purposes have been called language functions, since to say 'Congratulations' to someone actually performs the function of congratulating as soon as the word is out of your mouth. 'I promise' performs the function of promising. With such words the relationship between word and function is easy. It is more complex when a superior says pointedly to someone else in the room 'It's very hot in here' in such a way that he or she is clearly requesting the other person to open the window. The realization of many functions can often fall between these two

extremes, however, since 'Would you like to come to the cinema?' is a transparent way of inviting, and 'Could you open the window?' is clearly performing a request function.

Genre

Genre approach have therefore had a considerable impact ways we see language use on literacy education by theory of language developing a socially informed theory of language and an authoritative pedagogy grounded in text and content.

THESOUND OF LANGUAGE Pitch

The pitch of a sound is also known as its frequency. When the frequency is high, the wavelength of the sound is shorter. Humans can hear a range of sound between 20 and 20,000 Hz. 20 Hz has very low pitch while 20,000 Hz is a very high pitched sound.

Intonation
Intonation is the rising and falling of tone. In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody.

Individual Sound Sounds in English There are 44 speech sounds (phonemes) and over 500 ways to spell them. Individual sound exists because of some source: The sound may not exist in the L1 The sound may exist in the L1, but be used differently The sound may exist in the L1, but not be perceived

Sounds and Spelling English sound and spelling can be based on English orthography as the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. English orthography, like other alphabetic orthographies, uses a set of habits to represent speech sounds in writing. In most other languages, these habits are regular enough so that they may be called rules. In Standard English spelling, however, nearly every sound is spelled in more than one way, and most spellings and all letters can be pronounced in more than one way and often in many different ways. This is partly due to the complex history of the English language, [1] but mainly because no systematic spelling reform has been implemented in English, contrary to the situation in most other languages.

Stress British English speakers sometimes differ in where they place the stress. Thus ballet in English is stressed on the syllable.

PARALINGUISTIC FEATURE OF LANGUAGE A number of features of communication take place outside the formal systems of language (sounds, grammar, etc). These paralinguistic features fall into two broad categories, those that involve the voice and those that involve the body. Vocal paralinguistic features David Crystal gives five examples of tones of voice which, while they are perhaps not central to meaning in the same way as the sound features we noted above, may nevertheless convey attitude or intention in some way(Crystal 1996:249). The five are whispering (to indicate the need for secrecy), breathiness (to show deep emotion or sexual desire), huskiness (to show unimportance or disparagement), nasality (to indicate anxiety) and extra lip rounding (to express greater intimacy, especially with babies, for example). Whether or not these characteristics are voluntary or involuntary, they nevertheless convey intention and circumstance. It is clear that there are a number of ways of altering our tone of voice, and that when we do this consciously; we do it to create different effects.

Physical paralinguistic features we can convey a number of meanings through the way in which we use our bodies. The expression on our face, the gestures we make, and even proximity or the way we sit, for example, may send powerful messages about how we feel or what we mean. We can look at some of these in more detail.

Facial expression: facial expression is a powerful conveyor of meaning. Smiling is an almost universal signal of pleasure or welcome. Other facial expressions may not be so common, however. Raising eyebrows to suggest surprise or interest may be a part of one cultures normal currency, but may be more extreme for others. Other facial actions such as biting your lip (indicating thought or uncertainty), compressing the lips (to show decision or obstinacy), and a visible clenching of the teeth to show anger are all powerful conveyors of meaning too.

Gesture: we use gesture to indicate a wide range of meanings, although once again the actual gestures we use may be specific to particular cultures. A few examples of British English behaviors show how powerful such gestures can be: shrugging shoulders may indicate indifference, an attitude of I dont care, or I dont know; crossing your arms may indicate relaxation, but it can also powerfully show boredom. Waving can denote welcome and farewell, whereas scratching your head may indicate puzzlement.

Each culture group also has its gestures for go away both in its polite and ruder forms, and the use of arms, hands, and fingers to make obscene gestures for insults is part and parcel of the currency of society. Other less threatening gestures are also culture-bound as Figure 10 shows: Of course some gestures such as head-scratching, hand-clasping, cracking fingers, act. May not be used to convey meanings, but may rather be unconscious ticksor be used in some way to displace tension. Such displacement activities may convey a persons nervousness or distractedness, but do not send messages in the same way as a clenched fist or a beckoning finger.

Proximity, posture, and echoing: the physical distance between speakers can indicate a number of things and can also be used to consciously send messages about intent. Closeness, for example, indicates intimacy or threat to many speakers whilst distance may denote formality or a lack of interest. Proximity is also both a matter of personal style and is often culture-bound so that what may seem normal to a speaker from one culture may appear unnecessarily close or distant to a speaker from another. And standing close to someone may be quite appropriate in some situations such as an informal party, but completely out of place in others, such as a meeting with a superior. Posture can convey meaning too. Hunched shoulders and a hanging head give a powerful indication of mood. A lowered head when speaking to a superior (with or without eye contact) can convey the appropriate relationship in some cultures. Direct level eye contact, on the other hand, changes the nature of the interaction, and can be seen as either open or challenging. A feature of posture and proximity that has been noted by several observers is that of echoing. An example of this sometimes occurs when two people who are keen to agree with each other find that unconsciously they have adopted the same posture as if in imitation of each other. When used in this way, echoing appears to complement the verbal communication whereas when such imitation is carried out consciously it often indicates some form of mockery. Paralinguistic features such as tone of voice, gesture, and posture are all part of the way we communicate with each other in face to face encounters.

HOW TO DESCRIBED LANGUAGEG

1. Sentence construction, a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. In order to express a complete thought, every sentence must have two parts: 1. The subject (someone or something) 2. The predicate (what the someone or something is being or doing) thats a sentence is just someone or something being or doing something. The sentence can be divided into three basic patterns part:

A. Types of Subject Nouns Pronouns Gerund or Gerund Phrase Infinitive or Infinitive Phrase Indefinite or Dummy Subject Clauses

B. Types of Verbs Transitive Verb Intransitive Verb Linking Verb

C. Types of Complements Direct Object Indirect Object and Direct Object Object Complement Predicate Adjective Predicate Noun Gerund Noun Clause Infinitive Adverb

The explanation elements of sentence construction, such as subjects, verbs, objects, modifiers, and prepositions.

Form and Meaning It is generally agreed that in each case only one word is being discussed, not two that happen to have the same form; to which the name homonym is given. There is an extensive doubtful area between the concepts of polysemy and homonymy. A word like "walk" is polysemous (went walking, went for a walk, walk the dog, Hill Walk Drive), while a word like "bank" is homonymous between at least "bank" for money and the "bank" of a river. The coexistence of several meanings in one word, which is extremely common, as stated earlier, is called polysemy. Some words develop a whole family of meanings, each new meaning often forming yet another starting point for more definitions. Senses of the same word are seldom ambiguous in context, but the less specific the context, the greater the possibility of ambiguity; for example, if someone who is looking at a picture says "What big cranes! it may not be immediately clear to anyone who cannot see the picture whether the comment refers to birds or machines.

Language Function A language function is a purpose you wish to achieve when we say or write something. By performing the function that we can perform and act of communication. A communication disorder is an inability to understand or use speech and language to relate to others. This can be divided into four areas:

Language - which involves listening, speaking, reading and writing? Articulation - the pronunciation of sounds and words. Voice - the sound produced by vibration of the vocal cords. Stuttering - a disruption in the normal flow or rhythm of speech.

Effective communication is fundamental to all aspects of human functioning. A communication disorder is a persistent difficulty in the understanding and/or use of spoken or written language. Early detection, identification and treatment of communication disorders are essential. Known causes of communication disorders include: Hearing Impairment - full or partial hearing impairment may cause difficulty in speech and language development; Physical Disability - Cleft lip and palate, or malformations of the mouth or nose may cause communication disorders. More involved disabilities such as cerebral palsy may preclude any speech at all and for these nonverbal children, augmentative communication methods may be used; Developmental Disability Some children (not all) with a developmental disability or Down syndrome may be slower to learn to talk and may need extra assistance.