Abstract The paper defines language and lexicon and looks at the key features of a language. The paper specifically examines the interaction between environment and language and then discusses the four levels of language; sound, meaning, syntax and pragmatics. The paper also looks at the role of language processing in cognitive psychology and concludes that language exists on a biological, linguistic, and cultural level, although the degree to which these factors produce and affect language and meaning remains controversial.
Outline:
Introduction
Defining Language and Lexicon
Evaluating the Key Features of Language
Four Levels of Language Structure and Processing
The Role of Language Processing in Cognitive Psychology
From the Paper "Although the term is less familiar than that of a 'language' the notion of a lexicon cannot be separated from the definition of a language. A language may be defined as an arbitrary and dynamic system of expression characterized by an enclosed but permeable vocabulary, grammar, and conceptual system. "Every language has a different vocabulary, but every language provides the grammatical mechanisms for combining its stock of words to express an open-ended range of concepts. A lexicon is defined as a bridge between a language and the knowledge expressed in that language" (Sowa 2005). In short, a lexicon answers the question of how are words and sounds used to transmit concepts in a coherent fashion--through the medium of a lexicon that limits and defines what types of words, sounds, and grammatical structures are acceptable."
Tags: environment, sound, meaning, syntax, pragmatics, words
Abstract This paper reviews the exploration of names and naming in three aspects: semiotics, linguistics, and anthropology. The author explains that names, according to the semiotic theory, are a kind of sign; they link our conception to objects in the world whereas in linguistics, the word class, meanings and uses of names are examined. The paper also explores the anthropology of names and naming, observing that names have some kind of social and cultural meaning - names are often used as a metonym since they can convey some specific message to the hearers and gives people their social identity by indicating gender, ethnicity, and social relationship in many cultures. This paper includes figures.
Outline:
Introduction
Semiotics of Names
Linguistic Exploration of Names
The Word Class Of Names
The Meaning Of Names
Mill (1874)
Frege (1892)
Russell (1905 and 1912)
Waismann (1965)
Kripke (1972)
Lyons (1977)
Hofmann (1993)
The Uses Of Names
Metonymic Uses Of Names
Names and Ambiguity
The Anthropology of Names and Naming
Names and Identities
The Roles Of Names
Naming And Culture
Conclusion
References
From the Paper "Although names and naming, as mentioned above, were studied in several fields, only three major disciplines, semiotics, linguistics, and anthropology, will be explored in this paper. If you asked me 'why these three disciplines?' I shall answer you that because they are the most basic principle concerning most studies (of names and naming). To understand the issue, we have to explore it through these three perspectives. Semiotics explains our conception of names; linguistics reveals knowledge of names as a part of languages; and anthropology suggests social and cultural aspects of names and naming. So, I believe that the exploration through these three fields should cover the major studies of names and naming."
Abstract This paper explains that, in today's world of information, it is very common for borrowed words, such as Japanese "sushi" or American-English "supermarket", to be adopted as a part of the lexicon of several languages. Every language, the author explains, borrows words because of either the lack of lexical items in the recipient language or the desire for prestige of the dominant donor language. The paper describes and analyzes the Thai language for linguistic features such as not only lexical borrowed items but also certain sound patterns, morphemes, syntactic structures, semantic meanings and orthography.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Lexical Borrowing in Thai
Table: Some Characteristics of Thai Lexicon
Phonological Borrowing
Figure: Two-Way Models of Phonological Borrowing
Morphological Borrowing
Syntactic Borrowing
Semantic Borrowing
Orthographic Borrowing
Figure: Thai Consonant Symbols
Figure: Thai Vowel Symbols
Figure: Thai Tone Marks
Figure: Thai Special Diacritics
Conclusion
From the Paper "As I have introduced earlier, when words are borrowed, the pronunciation also changes. It is remodeled to the conventions of the borrowing language; this process is called by Campbell "adaptation", a foreign sound in borrowed words which does not exist in the receiving language will be replaced by the nearest phonetic equivalent to it in the borrowing language. In the case of Thai language, we can obviously see that a lot of foreign loanwords in Thai have gone through the adaptation process. And there are several results come out of the process."
Abstract This paper discusses slips of the tongue, lapsus linguae, parapraxes or fehlleistung. The paper examines these parapraxes from the point of view of linguistics and psychology, as well as merely redundant habits of mind and simply just mistakes. The paper suggests that the everyday reaction to slips of the tongue will always be one of the revelations of deeper meanings or hidden desires, regardless of any truth behind the words.
From the Paper "There is also another discipline to be heard from, that of philosophy. The philosophical debate that intercedes here and says that language itself by its nature is a bridge between realities. We cannot know another's mind without language, therefore language is a key feature giving meaning to daily events. These meanings help us to more firmly understand reality. It is also by its very nature an insight into the conscious as well as the unconscious mind. The words of poets are not always factual but they certainly have been known to give us a deeper meaning to our existence and reality. (Pennebaker, Mehl and Niederhoffer 2003: 550)"
Tags: consciousness language, Freudian slip, lapsus linguae
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that during the past twenty years, the relationship between language and gender has received increasing interest and has become a major topic in the area of sociolinguistics. A number of studies have investigated linguistic behaviours of men and women and tried to identify and explain their differences. The writer interprets and comments on language and gender in the field of sociolinguistics and discusses myths and stereotypes embedded in language about men and women. The writer argues that the difference in linguistic variations between women and men is not a simple reflection of social stratification or gender role but an extremely intricate phenomenon that cannot be fully understood without considering the intertwining contextual variables within a specific interaction.
From the Paper "Holmes argued that the major weakness of Lakoff's study was that it did not take into account two important interrelated contextual factures. These are the relationship between participants and the function of speech acts. For example, tag questions can be used for different purposes depending on the framework in relation to the goal. Holmes found that some tags in women's language have no informative function, which we normally expect for the use, but have interactional functions. This suggests that tag questions might be used quite differently between both genders. Women might use them to open conversation for others and not to express unassertiveness as explained in Lakoff's study."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that interrogative expressions in language can be divided generally into two basic categories that are yes-no questions and content questions. Question formation should be very challenging for language learners especially for those whose first language is structured very differently. However, common features including the sentence structure and intonation can still be identified across different languages. This paper introduces several characteristics of question formation in Japanese and Chinese, and examines the similarities and differences between the languages with reference to those in English. The writer concludes that it is possible to assume that there is no obvious movement transformation in Japanese and Chinese, for the purpose of forming yes-no questions and content questions, which is equivalent to that in English.
From the Paper "Although yes-no questions in English typically require that the operator, such as an auxiliary verb, to precedes the subject (Kuiper & Allan, 2004), this is not the case in Japanese and Chinese. Instead of rearranging the word order for the purpose of forming yes-no questions based on declarative sentences, the question particle ka or ma is added at the end of the sentence in these languages. There is no change in word order to form yes-no questions. The use of a sentence-final particle ba in Chinese can also form yes-no questions in the same way as a question particle ma, but it is only used where the answer is expected or assumed."
Tags: sentence, structure, formation, particle, word, order
Abstract In this paper, the writer outlines the historical events that have shaped this extreme dominance and outline the future prospects of English's continued use as the planet's global language. It is noted in the paper that that the success English has had in the past, continues to have in the present, and will surely have in the future, significantly impacts the world's languages and reciprocally impacts English itself. The paper concludes that English seems firmly entrenched in the position it now holds. No other language could repeat the colonial spread quite as English did. The future for English seems very bright indeed.
Table of Contents:
What is English?
Rise to Dominance
English in the World Today
Agents of Change
Prospects for the Future
From the Paper "The outer circle contains countries that for the most part share close ties to British colonial history and influence. The notable exception being The Philippines, whose frequent use of English as a second language can be attributed to a close relationship with the United States. In these countries, English is a commonly used second language, existing in tandem with the indigenous language or languages. English may be used in specific contexts and situations."
Tags: anglo-saxon colonies hybrid, united states, model
Abstract The paper first discusses how Wendy Martyna, in her article "Beyond the 'He/Man' Approach: The Case for Nonsexist Language," argues for change towards nonsexist language since sexist language and sexist attitudes are closely connected. The paper then contrasts this to Stefan Kanfer's argument in "Sispeak: A Misguided Attempt to Change History" that a society's language will not affect its sexist attitudes. The paper asserts that Kanfer's article demonstrates an author's unwillingness to address an issue seriously. The writer agrees with Martyna that humans' beliefs, traditions, and actions are so deeply rooted in language that they cannot be anything but be affected by it.
From the Paper "A society's language is one of its most powerful distinctions. In language, a society's history and present are reflected. When the English language is considered, the language that still contains masculine nouns to describe all humans (mankind) or masculine pronouns to substitute people, men and women, it is difficult not to raise questions about English-speaking societies' attitudes towards gender and gender equity.
"The issue of sexism in language is addressed in two relatively dated articles, and the authors of these articles take opposing sides. One, Wendy Martyna, argues for change towards nonsexist language, while the other author, Stefan Kanfer, argues that changing the language is ludicrous, believing that a society's language will not affect its sexist attitudes if they are present."
Abstract This paper defines persuasion and the impact of language on persuasive discourse, focusing on film review writing. Using 15 film reviews by Filipino writers as a sample, the writer researches the type of information and the macrostructures of the texts in Philippine newspaper film reviews. The information discussed in the reviews is first tabulated and analyzed, and the macrostructures are identified and labeled. They are then analyzed, using Teun Van Dijk's thematic and schematic structure framework. This paper contains tables and a figure.
Outline:
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Methodology
Sample Size
Limitations of the Study
Procedure
Theoretical Framework
Results and Discussion
Insights
From the Paper "The study of the impact of language and mass media is fairly new and most researches have been centered on advertising and news. This highlights the need to study other types of persuasive discourse such as film review writing. Although film reviews focus on a lighter subject, it has similarities with its more formal, more serious counterpart, newspaper editorials. One thing they have in common is that these two types of written texts use persuasive language to have an effect on people's behavior - be it changing a government policy or not to see a movie. With this, it can be theorized that language and the way it is structured plays an integral part in the process of persuasion in this written discourse."
Tags: ethos topic headline Aristotle critic, construct reality, television political globalization
