298 CHAPTER 7
Language
In Chapter Six we discussed how language can possibly affect our memory. For example,
being asked “Did you see the car bump into the truck?” may prompt a slightly different
memory than “Did you see the car smash into the truck?” In this section, we will exam-
ine language and how cognition can be affected by language.The Levels of Language Analysis
- 11 Identify the different elements and structure of language.
Language is a system for combining symbols (such as words) so that an infinite* number
of meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communicating with others.
Language allows people not only to communicate with one another but also to represent
their own internal mental activity. In other words, language is a very important part of
how people think.
The structures of languages all over the world share common characteristics. They
consist of the sounds that exist within a language, word meanings, word order, the rules
for making words into other words, the meanings of sentences and phrases, and the rules
for practical communication with others.
GRAMMAR Grammar is the system of rules governing the structure and use of a lan-
guage. According to famed linguist Noam Chomsky (Chomsky, 2006; Chomsky et al.,
2002), humans have an innate ability to understand and produce language through a
device he calls the language acquisition device, or LAD. He defined the LAD as an innate
“program” that contained a schema for human language. The children matched the
language they heard against this schema and, thus, language developed in a well-
researched sequence (Chomsky, 1957, 1964, 1981, 1986). While humans may learn the
specific language (English, Spanish, Mandarin, etc.) through the processes of imitation,
reinforcement, and shaping, to Learning Objectives 5.5, 5.9, and 5.13, the com-
plexities of the grammar of a language are, according to Chomsky, to some degree “wired
in” to the developing brain. Recent research has supported Chomsky’s ideas, with evi-
dence of both hierarchical development of language comprehension and the underlying
brain processes involved (Ding et al., 2015). to Learning Objective 2.13. The
LAD “listens” to the language input of the infant’s world and then begins to produce
language sounds and eventually words and sentences in a pattern found across cul-
tures. This pattern is discussed in greater detail in the next section. to Learning
Objective 7.12. Grammar includes phonemes (the basic sounds of language), morphol-
ogy (the study of the formation of words), rules for the order of words known as syntax,
and pragmatics (the practical social expectations and uses of language).
PHONEMES Phonemes are the basic units of sound in a language. The a in the word car
is a very different phoneme from the a in the word day, even though it is the same letter of
the alphabet. The difference is in how we say the sound of the a in each word. Phonemes
are more than just the different ways in which we pronounce single letters, too. Th, sh,
and au are also phonemes. Phonemes for different languages are also different, and one
of the biggest problems for people who are trying to learn another language is the inabil-
ity to both hear and pronounce the phonemes of that other language. Although infants
are born with the ability to recognize all phonemes (Werker & Lalonde, 1988), after about
9 months, that ability has deteriorated, and the infant recognizes only the phonemes of
the language to which the infant is exposed (Boyson-Bardies et al., 1989).
MORPHEMES Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning within a language. For
morphemes example, the word playing consists of two morphemes, play and ing.
the smallest units of meaning within
a language.
language
a system for combining symbols (such
as words) so that an unlimited num-
ber of meaningful statements can be
made for the purpose of communicat-
ing with others.
grammar
the system of rules governing the
structure and use of a language.
phonemes
the basic units of sound in language.
*infinite: unlimited, without end.