4310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Lexeme, Spoken Language, Pragmatics

• School: University of Canberra
• Department: University of Canberra
• Course: 4310
• Professor: Dr. Caroline Ng Tseung-Wong

Document Summary

Spoken language can be characterised as code in which spoken sound is used in order to encode meaning. Human language is primarily a communication system. A symbolic, rule-governed system that is both abstract and productive. Words and parts of words represent meaning. The meaningful units of a language are conventional symbols-refer to things other than themselves. Language symbols are arbitrary (bat ky): no necessary relation between sound and meaning. The relationship between the form (the sounds / words / letters / characters) that we use have no natural/meaningful relationship with their meaning. Each language is restricted by set of rules that reflect regularities of the language. We can say things that no one has ever said before or state previous ideas in new way) ** sound -> meaning (semantic) -> context (pragmatics: meaning aspects of language. Semantics: study of meaning encoded in language: change word in a sentence -> change whole meaning of sentence.