The Structure of Language What are the rules or principles are that predict how sounds are made and how are they used (phonology-patterning of sounds) How do sound sequences convey meaning and how are meaningful sound sequences strung together to form words (morphology-patterning of sound sequences and words) How are words strung together to form phrases and sentences (patterning of phrases and sentences)   Understanding the language of other people is essential to understanding the culture of that people. It is hard to understand the beliefs, attitudes, values, and world view of a people without understanding their language and the nuances of how that language is used. Imagine you see people go by a certain rock and seemingly walk out of their way to avoid it. Suppose they believe an evil spirit resides there. How could you possibly know that without being able to ask and understand their answer?

All languages have definite patterns in the sounds their speakers use, in how those sounds are combined to form symbols, and how those symbols are organized into meaningful sentences. When people encounter an unfamiliar language for the first time, they are often confused and disoriented, but after becoming familiar with the language, they eventually discover its' rules and how the various parts are interrelated.

Exercise: Listen to the sentences "My house is big" and "My house is old" in the following languages.Can you recognize some languages as more similar to each other than others? Which ones?

In every society children do not need to be taught "grammar" to learn how to speak. They begin to grasp the essential structure of their language at a very early age, without direct instruction. If you show English-speaking children a picture of a buffalo and then a picture of two of them, they will say there are two buffaloes. They know somehow that adding an 's' to a noun means more than one. But they do not know this consciously, and adults may not either. One of the most surprising features of human language is that meaningful sounds and sound sequences are combined according to rules that often are not consciously known by the speakers.

Exercise

Consider picture on the right. How is it described differently by speakers of Spanish or French versus those of English?