Module 2

• A language is a system of arbitrary symbols and rules within verbal expression used by humans to communicate with each other
• Language is the ability of humans to express themselves through words that define our inner feelings
• Jargon: special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand
• colloquialism: a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary conversation
• vernacular: the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region
• standard language is the language that is used in everyday situations and is the most common language
• slang:  words that are not considered part of the standard vocabulary of a language and that are used very informally in speech
• dialectal variations are the ways in which languages change and develop, due to a variety of influences both social and physical
• Functions of language include reflective, expressive, ritualistic, and communicative
• Expressive language is fundamentally a release of emotion, allowing the feelings of the producer to be interpreted and appreciated
• The main function of language is to communicate information, ideas and thoughts
• Reflective function allows language to be used by man to ruminate on past events
• The ritualistic function of language is to create a sense of community and belonging.
• Characteristics of language include human, culturally acquired, arbitrary, unitary, productive, dynamic, interchangeable, maturational, displacement and systematic
• Arbitrary: based on personal whim, rather than any reason or system
• unitary: forming a single or uniform entity
• Languages change due to transliteration, coinage, blending, compounding, jargon, eponymy, borrowing, acronyms, elevation and perjoration
• transliteration is the process of transferring a word from the alphabet of one language to another.
• coinage: newly created word or phrase
• compounding the morphological operation that puts together two free forms and gives rise to a new word.
• eponymy is a place or thing named after someone or something
• borrowing is where one word is taken from another language and used in a different way
• acronym: an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word
• elevation is the development of making a commonly perceived word as bad to good
• pejoration is the change of a commonly good word to bad
• phonics: a method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with symbols in an alphabetic writing system.
• pragmatics are how the context of words contributes to meaning, commonly meaning more than the statement indicates
• semantics are study of meaning in language