Investigating Potential Differences That May Be Caused By The Structure Of Language

Secondly, range of similarities and differences are perceived in the sets of rules constraining the language structure of Auslan and English. In comparison to English, sign languages are visual languages, hence it is distinct in modality and word-ordering structure (Damian, 2011). To illustrate, the words of spoken languages are delivered in a fairly linear pattern, both in time and on paper (Bejan, 2001). This linear sentence structure is observed in English, but the same is not demonstrated in Auslan. However, despite this distinction, the order of signs remains of importance to produce meaningful sentences. This is because Auslan conveys many grammatical features found in the English language at phonological, morphological and syntactic levels (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). An individual’s poor English grammar is attributed for sentence fragments. These poorly formed English sentences occur when a sentence lacks a subject, a verb or do not express a complete thought (Schuster, 2006). In the same manner, the wrong ordering of signs will affect the fluency of the language. For instance, the linear English sentence ‘many black cars have disappeared’ will be signed as MANY-BLACK-CAR-DISAPPEAR (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). In this example, it is important that the determiner (MANY) and adjective (BLACK) are situated before the noun (CAR) (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). This is done for the purpose of identifying the noun within the sentence, which subsequently lead to the formation

Language and grammar can greatly affect of even change the entire course of a story. Since everyone has their own way of speaking, the usage of certain words or phrases can help us to understand the personality or choices of a specific character. For example, in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, every single character has a different dialect. By listening to their speech and usage of grammar for only a short period of time, you can tell if that person is well-educated. In addition, you can tell if they are old or young. Even though everyone in the novel speaks a little differently, the most contrasting dialects are those of Bob Ewell, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. and Calpurnia.

Nothing brings people together more than language. As an international student, I noticed that more often than not, international students tend to befriend those with a common native language. Perhaps their common language makes it easier for them to communicate since they might not be comfortable with speaking English. Another possibility would be that sharing a language can also mean that they share a common way of thinking. Lera Boroditsky, an assistant psychology professor at Stanford University, wrote the article “How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?” to illustrate to her readers that language, whether it is grammar or just the general logic, does indeed affect how we think. Boroditsky and research teams in Stanford and MIT collected data from all over the world. Because of the extensive amount of research and her article’s solid structure, I find Boroditsky’s argument easy to follow and understand, therefore quite convincing. She is so knowledgeable in her area that her arguments and article are solid and build on top of each other like Tetris tiles. A well-written article can only be achieved by knowing and understanding your material well.

Understanding how the sound of a word affects how we read and categorize. By knowing how homophobic words can play a role in our comprehension and how one learns to read. By using the dual-access theory and analyzing the theories of phonological mediation and direct access to gain insight on the way one understands words and homophone relations.

According to the study of Alba, Logan, Lutz and Stults (2002), this three-generation model of language shift was documented

To begin, I am going to summarize the video of “Does learning languages make kids smarter?” of the program “Your voice” which you can find it in the following page multilingualliving.com.

All humans use a language to communicate with other humans. Overtime the human bodies have been modified to accommodate language. The human body uses 6 organs to accomplish language. The 6 organs are the lungs, vocal cords, tongue, teeth, lips and nose. Although these 6 organs main functions are eating and breathing, they have been modified over time to help exercise humans control during speech production. Linguistics is the study of how language works. Language changes over time to fit the current population. Creativity is a must in language because it gives us the freedom to produce and understand new words and sentences as the need arises. However, there are boundaries within which innovation can occur. The human language is very complex

No matter where you are in the world, you are taught about language. Whether it’s in your home learning your language or in school trying to learn a foreign language. Although while learning language the notion is never really thought about or brought up that the language and way we speak can influence the way we think and interact. Phycologist and neuroscientist alike have spent years, with multiple different tests to see if there is a connection between the various languages that are spoken and the way people not only think but also how they go about their daily lives. She writes to not only her colleagues and neuroscientists but also to anyone in the general public that is genuinely interested in the connection between

The claim, humans are the only animal that can acquire language has been the subject of much debate as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, monkeys, parrots and wild children with various systems of human-like communication. Thus, one might ask, what is human language? According to Ulla Hedeager, A universally accepted definition of language or the criteria for its use does not exist. This is one of the reasons for the disagreement among scientists about whether non-human species can use a language. In nature, researchers find numerous types of communication systems, several of which appear to be unique to their possessors, and one of them is the language of the human species. Basically, the purpose of communication is the preservation, growth, and development of the species (Smith and Miller 1968:265). The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Generally, human behavior is under the voluntary control,

Linguistics has impacted cognitive psychology as the quest to understand language acquisition and the structure of language itself is undertaken. Linguistics is a complex and multifaceted; it includes language structural patterns and language development (Barsalou, 2005). The process of language development is complicated and dense, as the study of language is examined; the role of cognition is inherently examined and analyzed. Sternberg (2006) also explores language as an innate process and presents the idea that humans are born ready for language as a biological and cognitive process.

Morphological awareness supports a variety of literacy skills, including word identification, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling. “Increased morphological awareness enables children to analyze the internal structure of words and decode them more quickly and accurately ("Morphological awareness: Implications," 2013).” Aaron exhibited problems with his morphological awareness in various spots throughout the language sample. For example Aaron said “And she felled in the thing”, “And the lady sawed her”. In these two utterances Aaron has shown a failure to meet and use the correct past tense morphology. Through intervention the SLP can influence the use of and knowledge of phonology and morphology on word recognition and spelling, ultimately increasing one’s morphological awareness.

Therefore, the role of discourse must be taken into account for comprehending lexical chunks. The study of language beyond the level of sentence refers to discourse analysis (Yule, 2006). Any discourse is heavily based on formulaic sequences and recurrent word combinations (Schmitt, 2004). Erman and Warren (2000) reported that 58.3% of spoken register and 52.3% of written register employ different sorts of word combinations. Learning how to use fixed phrases helps students learn the conventions of a particular discipline (Cortes, 2004). Consequently, Hyland (2009) posits that specificity is a significant factor in discourse analysis especially in the last twenty years. Each discipline has its own specific communicative conventions to look at the world (Hyland &Hamp-Lyons, 2002). Functional and cognitive linguistics together with usage-based theories of language believe that constructions are the fundamental units of language representation which are conventionalized in the speech community and established as language knowledge in the user’s mind (Goldberg, 2006; Langacker, 1987; Tomasello, 2003).For instance, Halliday's (1989) study showed that written register employs greater nominalization, impersonalization, and lexical diversity in contrast to spoken one. In the same way, Hyland and Tse (2007) in their research demonstrated that terminology differs across disciplines and the same words have

Mark and Kirsten (2005) say “Morphology refers to the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed”. Morphological level of analysis is concerned with word formation processes subjected to specific conditions and rules of the processes of

The idea that language affects the way we remember things and the way we perceive the world was first introduced by the influential linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf (Harley, 2008). The central idea of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, today more commonly known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, holds that “each language embodies a worldview, with quite different languages embodying quite different views, so that speakers of different languages think about the world in quite different ways” (Swoyer, 2003). In the late 1990s, Cameron claimed that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was regarded as “that which must be refuted

Structuralism originated in the works of Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist in the 20th century. An attempt to study a specific whole as a complex system of interrelated parts, it soon came to be applied to many other fields. Structuralism is closely related to Semiotics and Saussure focused on the underlying system of language, ‘langue’ instead of the use of language. Yet, the discovery of ‘langue’ is possible only with an examination of parole, speech. Apart from favouring the synchronic development of language over the diachronic version, he also asserts that linguistic signs consist of a signifier and a signified. Hence, this approach is different from those that focus on the relationships between words and the objects they implicate.