Linguistic Terms

Linguistic Terms: English Language

Linguistics is the systematic study of language. Professionals who study linguistics are called linguists. Linguists look at various aspects of language, including the small sounds that make up words and how the meaning of words changes based on context.

Linguistic Elements of Language

Linguistics examines many elements of language, including the following:

The section below elaborates on the four main linguistic terms and concepts.

Linguistic Terms and Concepts

There are four main areas of linguistics: phonology, grammar, semantics, and pragmatics.

Phonology

Phonology is the study of speech sounds in a language. Linguists studying phonology study phonemes, the smallest units of sound in a language.

For example, car and bar are different because the phonemes "c" and "b" are different. However, phonemes do not always correspond with spelling, especially in English. Regional dialects and social dialects also shape differences in speech.

Fig. 1 - Phonology is the study of a language's speech sounds.

Grammar

Grammar refers to the structural rules of a language. In linguistics, grammar has two major sub-parts: syntax and morphology.

Syntax

Syntax refers to word order within a sentence. The order of words in sentences impacts the meaning of sentences and also shapes the tone and style of writing. For example, consider the following sentences:

Putting the adverb "sometimes" at the end of the first sentence emphasizes the frequency of the yelling. It makes it seem like the situation is not that bad because it is only sometimes. However, in the second sentence, the adverb comes first and the information about yelling comes second. This emphasizes the action and makes it seem worse than the first sentence.

Morphology

Morphology studies the formation of words and how they relate to one another. Studying morphology requires studying morphemes, the smallest lexical units of a language.

Fig. 2 - Morphemes are the building blocks of words.

For instance, consider the word pen. This word is a morpheme because it cannot be divided anymore. "Pe" and "n" do not hold any meaning by themselves.

Morphemes are not always words, though. For example, consider the word unbreakable. This word is made up of three morphemes: "un," "break," and "able." "Un" is not a word but a prefix, which is added to the beginning of a root word and carries its own meaning. "S" is also a morpheme because when it is added to a word, it indicates plurality.

Semantics

The study of semantics is the study of words' meanings. Linguists who study semantics look at the interaction between small parts of discourse and how they interact to form larger meanings.

Linguists who study semantics also examine how people can draw different meanings from words. They take into account connotation and denotation.

For example, consider the sentence: The colors on those buildings are very loud. According to the denotation of loud, the word is used to describe something making a lot of noise. However, in this sentence, the connotation is something bright. Semantics takes into account variations in word meanings like this one.

The two main types of semantics are lexical and phrasal.

Lexical Semantics

Lexical semantics is all about analyzing the meaning of words and their relationships. Linguists who study lexical semantics examine how to articulate the meaning of words and how to deal with variability in word meaning. For example, consider the word sign. People assign different types of meanings to this word. For example, a stop sign on the road is a type of sign, but when someone puts their finger to their lips, it is a sign to stop speaking.

Phrasal Semantics

Phrasal semantics is all about examining how words and phrases come together to form the meaning of the larger expressions. In contrast to lexical semantics, it looks at more than one word. For example, consider the sentence John wrote the song. This sentence is grammatically different than the sentence The song was written by John. John is only the subject in the first sentence. However, semantically, the sentences have the same meaning because the individual words come together to convey the same idea.

Fig. 3 - Readers can look up a word's denotation in a dictionary.

Pragmatics

The study of pragmatics is the study of how the context of language contributes to its meaning. Context is a broad term that refers to something's surroundings, including the culture, society, and places in which it occurs.

For example, consider how you would ask a teacher in your school for something compared to your best friend at your house. When speaking to your teacher, you are likely more polite and formal because the context of the situation necessitates demonstrating professionalism and respect. When talking to your friend at home, the context is informal, and you can be more relaxed. This is evident in the following two sentences.

These two sentences ask for the same thing, but they do so differently. The language used to request the pen changed because of the context!

Types of Words in Linguistics

There are two main types of words in linguistics: lexical words and functional words.

For instance, take a look at the following sentence:

The words "to," "the," and "a" do not indicate any unique meaning of the sentence on their own. They are therefore functional words. They make the sentence grammatically correct, but they do not have clear definitions that make or break the sentence. On the other hand, words like "hotel," "Rome," and "holiday" give readers an indication of what the meaning of the sentence is on their own. Even if the readers only read these words, they can understand what the sentence is about. These words are thus lexical words.

Linguistic Terms Examples