Finally, all languages evolve over time, changing based on how they’re used and adapting to new ideas.įromkin makes several distinctions as language is defined. All languages have a set of rules, called grammar, that allow for understanding and communication. Even though languages are built from a small number of sounds or signs, they can be combined into a possibly infinite number of sentences.
There’s no relationship between things and the language used to refer to them.
All languages are equally complex and expressive. It’s used by all humans around the world.
The essay takes great pains to define language, grammar, and the components therein in such a way as to cover spoken, written, and sign languages, identifying the common underlying basics that unite all languages. Language, according to this essay, is a form of symbology that represents meaning but is arbitrary in how it represents, ordered by a vast, complex set of rules, and yet somehow all of this is learned and understood by children all over the world as if this skill was as natural to learn as walking. This piece, an excerpt from An Introduction to Language, breaks down the fundamentals of what language is and how its rules are defined. If you are not yet a member of OpenLab and joined our class, you need to speak with Prof. In regards to your grade for these assignments: I am looking for your best effort–as the semester progresses, you will see these assignments get easier to do and your level of writing will improve. These writing assignments constitute a log of the readings and are designed to do these things: give you regular writing practice, summarization practice, and make the lessons meaningful to you by putting what you have learned into your own words. Write about how what you learned in the reading and lecture relates to something you know or have experienced. Write about what you found the most significant or interesting. If you are not yet on OpenLab, email your work to me. Copy-and-paste your writing (saved elsewhere) into a comment made to this blog post. After today’s class, write at least 250 words summarizing the important points from the reading and lecture.
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