Princ. Reading Comp.	Lesson 2: Readings (1)	-

Language Overview

Sherrel Lee Haight, Ph. D.
Central Michigan University

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Language has been described as the greatest human achievement - an achievement even more important than the tools, machines, and electronic technology invented during the last two thousand years. Although other living creatures have communication systems, humans have the most highly developed systems. Language fulfills a number of essential functions: communication and socialization, the transmission of culture from generation to generation, and the development and utilization of thought. Untreated language deficits can severely limit an individual's capacity to function successfully in many aspects of life.

Oral language is considered a natural process. In contrast to reading, oral language development emerges naturally from interactions in social situations with parents, other adults, and children. There is a strong as well as critical relationship between the amount and quality of early language experiences and the successful acquisition of the linguistic and metalinguistic skills that are fundamental to the reading process.

Language is essential for the development of thinking and human relationships. While language is an integrated whole system, it is composed of several processes and subsystems. The processes of language are oral language (listening and speaking) and written language (reading, and writing). What a child learns about the language system through oral language becomes the initial knowledge base for reading and writing. A child who has difficulty in one process of language often experiences difficulty in another process. For example, a child who has a language delay at age three may end up with a reading disorder at age nine and a writing deficit at age twelve.

A child's first oral experience is the birth cry. During the next nine months of life, an infant babbles by producing many speech sounds. These sounds include those in their native language as well as those in other languages. In fact, during the first six months, it is not possible to tell which language an infant is hearing because all infants babble with the sounds produced in all languages. At about nine months, children began to speak in jargon. That is, they start to produce the phoneme sounds that are used in the language they hear - the phonemes used in other languages are no longer emitted. In addition, their vocalizations reproduce the rhythm and melody of the people they hear speaking around them.

At about 12 to 18 months of age, imitations of single words such as "mama" and "dada" begin. Between 18 months and age three, children learn the essential elements of their language, such as the grammar, and they use many linguistic types of sentences, including complex sentence structures. By age six, when children usually begin first grade, almost all have developed an extensive vocabulary and are sophisticated in using the grammar of their native language. However, important aspects of higher level language continue to develop through adolescence.

The overall study of language, including its development, function, and use, is called linguistics. The linguistic system is composed of several subsystems called the five language rule systems. These systems have implications for every process of language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each of these terms needs to be explained to facilitate discussion of the linguistic system.

Phonology is the term used to describe the system and rules for speech sounds in a language. A phoneme is the smallest sound unit in a language. The word "cat" has three phonemes or sounds, /c/ /a/ /t/, and the word "chat" also has three phonemes /ch/ /a/ /t/ because the two letters "c" and "h" make one sound /ch/. Although there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, linguists identify between 39 and 44 phonemes.

Phonemes and rules for their use differ from language to language, and sometimes from dialect to dialect. For example, in English, the phoneme /z/ in the word "measure" is never used to begin a word. Yet, in French, the same phoneme can be used to begin words, as in je and jouer. Another example of a phonological rule in English is that while the phoneme /r/ can follow the phonemes /t/ or /d/ in an English initial consonant cluster (e.g., track, drab), a /l/ cannot follow these letters.

Morphology refers to the system of meaning units in a language. The very smallest sound units that have a meaning are called morphemes or meaning units. Each language uses different morphological forms to indicate changes in meaning. In English, root words and individual affixes, which are prefixes and suffixes, are each considered morphemes. For example, the word "girl" is one morpheme or meaning unit; this word can not be broken down any more and still have meaning. When the suffix "s" is added, the word becomes "girls" and has two morphemes because the "s" changed the meaning of the word and indicates more that one girl. The word "girls" contains two morphemes or meaning units ("girl" plus the plurality "s"). A student who has not internalized the morphology of English may say, "There are two girl."

Semantics refers to the meaning of words in language. Development of the semantic system is a lifelong process, whereas most aspects of morphology and phonology are usually developed during the pre-school years. Besides knowing the meanings of individual words, it is also important to understand how word order can change the meaning of messages.

Syntax refers to the rule system that determines the way words are put together in the larger meaning units of phrases, clauses, and sentences. Different languages use different grammatical rules. Word order is very important in determining meaning in the English language. For example, the sentence, "Sabastian pushed the bike." has a different meaning from the sentence, "The bike pushed Sabastian." Most native English speakers would judge the sentence, "The dog chased the cat." to be grammatically correct. In contrast, the sentence, "The chased dog the cat." would be considered ungrammatical. The last rule system is pragmatics.

Pragmatics refers to the social uses of language. It includes the rules for using language for different purposes in different contexts. This rule system is the most complex because it relies on all of the other rule systems. Pragmatics also adds elements of the relationship between speaker and listener. It includes the assessment of the other person's knowledge, time and interest, as well as topic appropriateness, and turn taking.

One element of pragmatics in oral language is the use of the phonological features of intonation, including pitch (melody), stress (accent), and juncture (pauses). The intonation systems of different languages differ. One example of the importance of intonation is the interpretation of "White House dog" (a dog that resides with the President of the United States of America at the White House) as compared to "the white house dog" (a domestic dog with white fur). In the first case, the juncture is after "House" and in the second case, it is after "white." A student who has not internalized the intonation system of English may speak without expression, or in a monotone, and may not understand the nuances of intonation patterns such as those given above. Sarcasm is based upon a combination of a verbal statement, body language, knowledge of the speaker, and intonation patterns.

The processes of spoken and written language all utilize each of the language subsystems of phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. By gaining an initial understanding of the forms of language usage and the subsystems of language, you will be more inclined to learn more about language development and be better observers of your students' language usage. This knowledge will also help you be better able to access and use activities and materials that will help to strengthen students' use of oral and written language.

References
Kamhi, A. G., & Catts, H. W. (1999). Language and reading: Convergences and divergences. In H. W. Catts & A. G. Kamhi (Eds.), Language and reading disabilities (pp.1-24). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

How do children learn to read? Evidence and findings. (1999, December). Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan: Outlook, 31 (3), 1 & 5.

Lerner, J. W. (1997). Learning disabilities: Theories, diagnosis, and teaching strategies (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.