Select three of the components of language (phonology, syntax, semantics, or pragmatics), define the component, and discuss why it is important
What will be an ideal response?
Students will select three of the following four answers.
Phonology is the study of the sounds of language and how the sounds communicate meaning in different languages. This is important because small changes in pronunciations can change the meaning of the word. For example "poisson" and "poison" sound very similar in French, but former means "fish" and the later means "poison." So phonology would be quite important if you were ordering fish for dinner and wanted to live to see the next day.
Syntax is the rules that govern word order. Syntax is important because if we did not follow similar rules regarding how we constructed sentences, our words would not make sense; sentences would simply be a jumble of words that each person randomly assembled.
Semantics is the study of meaning. Words have both a denotative (dictionary) and a connotative (interpretive) meaning. So the word "sick" could mean that someone is ill or does not feel well (denotative), but in slang it means something is really cool (connotative). So if words can have multiple meanings, it is important to understand what they mean in a given situation to avoid miscommunication.
Pragmatics seeks to identify patterns or rules that people follow to use language appropriately. This includes speech acts theory, conversational rules, and contextual rules. Because we have agreed upon rules, we can understand how to have a conversation appropriately. For example, we know that it is appropriate to use communication to ask a salesperson about a product, and the salesperson knows that he/she should wait until we are done talking before giving information. If we didn't know how to take turns talking, we would all be talking over each other.
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