Structure of Human Language

Handout for LING 057

Language and Popular Culture.

When we think about the components of human language, we think of it

as consisting of the following:

1. A sound-system (or phonological component).

2. A set of vocabulary items (the "lexicon").

3. A grammatical system ("morphology") which puts meaningful

elements together into 'words'.

4. A syntax, or set of rules to state what the order of elements is in

larger utterances, such as 'sentences.'

5. A semantic component, where meanings are interpreted.

We think of these components as being in some ways finite and in other

ways non-finite. And the building blocks of one component form the
units of the ones higher than it.

1. The sound-system is capable of infinite minute differences in sound,

but no language uses all, or even a large part of the possible
differences. Sound systems divide things up into finite units (called
"phonemes" or classes of sounds) and therefore the number of sound
units is finite i.e. English has a finite number of vowels and
consonants; the number of vowels is around 11 or 12, varying by
dialect.

2. A set of vocabulary items (the "lexicon"). The set of meaningful

units is finite, or sort of: there are often 'old' (archaic, obsolete)
 words floating around in the language, especially in print. Some may
be used by older speakers; some may be recognized for their
meaning in context, but wouldn't be 'known' in isolation. So old
meanings are going out, and new words are constantly being
invented.

The set of meaningful units in the lexicon is therefore more or less

finite, but not exactly the same for every speaker. Some meaningful
units have only grammatical meaning, e.g. suffixes on words such
as -ing, -s, -ed, -th (as in width etc.) and so on. So we distinguish
between

lexical meaning and

grammatical meaningful units.

The grammatical morphemes are more finite in number than the

former. One example of a fairly new grammatical marker is the
suffix 'guys' as in 'you-guys' which marks plurality for a lot of
people. Other dialects have 'y'all' for this. The fact that it is
becoming a grammatical marker is shown by the way some people
make it possessive, i.e. 'you-guys's' [yugayzIz], or in southern
dialects 'yallz':

'You guys needs to give me you-guys's receipts so you can get

reimbursements.
Y'all need to give me y'all's receipts so you can get
reimbursements.

3. A grammatical system ("morphology") which puts meaningful

elements together into 'words'. The grammar is finite, at any given
moment.
4. A syntax, or set of rules to state what the order of elements is in
larger utterances, such as 'sentences.' But the output of the syntax,
i.e. the sentences people know and recognize, is infinite.

5. A semantic component, where meanings are interpreted. Number of

possible meanings is probably also infinite.

Put these together in a kind of hierarchical structure, using the sound

system as the first building blocks and working upward from there,
gives us the following structure:

Level of structure: Possibilities:

Semantics: Infinite.
Syntax: sentences INFINITE
Grammar: rather rigid and fixed.
finite
Innovation at this level is slow
Vocabulary, meaningful units:
finite
somewhat open-ended, but essentially
Sound system, units of sound finite
Phonetic level Infinite

We see this kind of structure, built from the ground up, as possessed
solely by humans, and not observed for other animals, even primates
such as chimps, gorillas, etc. The structure of their communication
system is much simpler: fewer 'vocabulary' items, simple syntax, very
little innovation.

haroldfs@ccat.sas.upenn.edu