Nature of Language

 Nature of language

All languages, including of course, English, are systems, or, more precisely, series of inter related systems governed by rules, In other words, languages are highly structured; they consist of patterns that recur in various combinations and rules that apply to produce these patterns.

                                                                                                                                    

The inter-related systems of a language include Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Lexicon, and Semantics.

Languages that have a written representation (and not all languages do) also have a system of graphics. All languages have the same set of systems (with the possible exception of graphics) but the components of the systems and the inter relationship among the system differ from language to language.

Phonology is the sounds of a language and the study of these sounds.

Phonetics.  The study of the sounds of a given language as significantly contrastive   members of a system is called phonetics, and the members of the system are called phonemes   

Morphology Is the arrangement and relationship of the smallest meaningful units in a language these minimum units of meaning are called morphemes. It is often useful to distinguish between free and bound morphemes

Free morphemes can be used alone as independent words for example, take, for, each etc

Bound morphemes form words only when attached to at least one other morphemes; re, dis ,un, -ing,  –ful and –tion are all bound morphemes.

The most familiar bound morphemes are affixes (that is, prefixes and suffixes) but even bases (Forms to which affixes are attached) can be bound. An example of a bound base is the –cept of words as except, accept, deceptive, and reception; although -cept derives from an independent Latin verb capere ‘to take’, it appears only as a bound morpheme in English.

                                                                                                                                     

Syntax is the arrangement of words in to phrases, clauses, and sentences, loosely speaking, it is word order. A simple example like the difference between I had stolen my car and I had my car stolen illustrates how crucial syntax is in English. English speakers have   more option with respect to syntax than they do with respect to phonology or morphology. But we have the option of saying either I like dogs.  Or dogs I like. This freedom is limited, however; they cannot say like dogs I. Or Like I dogs.

The Lexicon of a language is the list of all the Morphemes in the language. In linguistic terminology, a lexicon differs from vocabulary or a dictionary of a language in that it includes not only independent words but also morphemes that do not appear as independent words, including affixes such as-ed, -s, mis, and poly- and bound forms like the –clude of include, exclude, and preclude, which appear only as part of words and never as independent words. One of the most remarkable features of English today is the great size and diversity of origin of its Lexicon.

                                                                                                                                    

Semantics is the study of meanings or all the meanings expressed by a language. It is the relationship between language and the real world, between the sounds we make and what we are talking about like all other aspects of language, meanings change overtime

               

 There are a number of possible ways of classifying types of semantic change. None of them totally satisfactory.