ANT E105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Paralanguage, Pierre Bourdieu, Mutual Intelligibility
Document Summary
Language is a system of communication that uses symbols such as words, sounds, and gestures organized according to certain rules to convey any kind of information. Productivity means that someone can use known words to invent new word combinations. Displacement is the ability to use words to refer to objects that are not present. Descriptive linguistics is the study of the construction of those sounds, their meanings, and their combinations into forms that communicate meaning. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can make a difference in meaning. Phonology is the study of sounds that exist and which ones are important in a particular language. Morphemes are the smallest units of sound that carry meaning on their own. Morphology is the study of the patterns and rules of how sounds combine to make morphemes. In human language, we combine morphemes to form phrases and sentences, relying on specific patterns and rules called syntax.
