Components

1. Morphology – Formation of words

 (the way words are formed). Morphology is the study of the smallest meaningful units in speech and writing. Morpheme relates to the smallest unit of meaning.

II. Phonology – Sounds

Phonology relates to the relationship between letters and sound. Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound. Phonology distinguishes and creates the sounds of language. For example, the word “chip” has three phonemes: /ch/ /i/ /p/. Also the words “pat” and “bat” differ only in their initial sounds /p/ and /b/, making these distinct phonemes. Each of these sounds is a phoneme. A phoneme focuses on the sound only, without regard for the letter or letter combinations. It is simply the components of sound that we hear in language. Languages have specific phonological rules that dictate how sounds interact. When a sound becomes similar to a nearby sound, it is called assimilation. In the word “handbag”, the “d” sound assimilates to the “b” sound, so it’s pronounced as “hambag”.  In the word “sandwich”, the alveolar nasal “n” assimilates to the bilabial “w”. Hence it is pronounced as “sandwich”.

The various types of Phonology are:

1. Assimilation
2. Elision
3. Insertion
4. Metathesis
   1. Assimilation:
5. In phonetics, “assimilation” refers to the process where a speech sound becomes more similar to a neighboring sound, meaning its pronunciation changes to match the characteristics of the surrounding sounds, usually to ease pronunciation in connected speech; essentially, one sound influences another to become more alike.

There are three types of assimilation:

1. Assimilation of place: Here a consonant changes its place of articulation. Two types of /k/ in the words “leak and lock”. Because of the front vowel in “leak”, it requires less effort to keep the tongue nearer to the front of the mouth to produce the following /k/, resulting in a fronted, or palatalized [k’]. The example above, where the /k/ moved toward the front of the mouth, is an example of assimilation of place. Assimilation of place is very common in English, especially with the three nasal phonemes. For example, the phoneme /n/ in the word “pan” is a voiced alveolar nasal, but when it is joined to form the word “pancake”, many people pronounce the /n/ now as a velar nasal, that is [ŋ], because it has assimilated to the following velar sound of the [k] in cake: [pæŋkek]. The same assimilation of place with [n] becoming [ŋ] in words like “incredible or ink”. Another nasal assimilation of place occurs in words like “symphony”, where the bilabial [m] is followed by a labiodental fricative [f]. This word is often pronounced with a labiodental nasal, represented by the symbol [ɱ]: [sɪɱfəni]. Another very common type of assimilation of place is called palatalization, which means that sounds are moved towards the palate. Examples:

• sure, sugar
• pleasure, measure
• nature, creature
• educate, adulate

The spelling of these words, which was set before the phonological change, reveals how these words would have been pronounced in Shakespeare’s day: “sure and sugar” were pronounced with [s], “pleasure and measure” were pronounced with [z], and “nature and creature” were pronounced with [t]. In American English there is a divide between people who pronounce words like “news or tune” with a straight [u] and those who pronounce them with [ju]).

If we concentrate on Present-Day English, we see the effects of palatalization ongoing, not only within individual words like discussed above, but in word boundaries.

1. ii) Assimilation of manner: This refers to two neighboring sounds becoming similar in their manner of articulation. This happens in coalescence when, in connected speech, two adjacent sounds are merged to form a new sound. Additionally, it is usually heard in very rapid speech, or very informal situations and it can be either progressive or regressive. There are several ways in which assimilation of manner can occur. Examples are given below:

When a plosive (stop) sound changes into a nasal to match a neighboring nasal sound. Example: input → [input] may become [imput] in casual speech.

A stop sound may change into a fricative sound when influenced by a nearby fricative. Example: that person → [dat person] may become [deaf person].

A fricative may become a stop when adjacent to a stop sound. Example: this job → [dis job] may become [dis djob].

A glide like /w/ or /j/ may become a stop or fricative in fast speech. Example:

you can → [ju can] may become [dyu kan].

Assimilation of manner happens due to various phonetic and linguistic factors, such as Ease of Articulation, Speed of Speech, Dialectal Variations, Phonological Rule.

iii) Assimilation of Voice: Here  a voiceless sound that is near a voiced sound will become voiced, or a voiced sound that is near a voiceless sound becomes voiceless. This type of assimilation is incredibly common in English. For example, the precise form of the plural ending –s will be the voiceless [s] if the word ends in a voiceless sound, but [z] if the word ends with a voiced sound: back makes a plural with [s] to produce [baeks], while bag makes a plural by adding [z], to produce [baegz].The same process occurs with the past tense ending –ed. It remains voiced in words that end with a voiced consonant, like joined [djoind], but in words that end with a voiceless sound, it assimilated to the voiceless [t], as in jumped [djmpd].

1. b) Elision:

Elision is a common phonological process in which sounds are omitted in speech or writing, usually to facilitate smoother pronunciation or to conform to rhythmic patterns. This phenomenon occurs in many languages, often as part of natural linguistic evolution, and is particularly prevalent in spoken language. The various tyupes of Elision with examples are given below:

1. Phonetic Elision: This occurs when certain sounds or syllables are dropped during casual speech. For example, in English, “I am going to” often becomes “I’m gonna.”
2. Grammatical Elision: Some grammatical elements may be omitted in informal speech, such as “He is” becoming “He’s.”
3. Poetic Elision: Used in poetry and literature to maintain meter or rhythm. For instance, in Shakespearean verse, “o’er” is used instead of “over.”
4. Historical Elision: Over time, certain sounds have been completely lost in languages. For example, the Old English “knight” was pronounced with the “k” and “gh” sounds, which are now silent.

    Here are some examples of Elision used in our daya to day language:

• cam-ra for “camera”
• dunno for “don’t know”
• kinda for “kind of”
• choc-late for “chocolate”
• asp-rin for “aspirin”
• hist-ry for “history”
• temper-ture for “temperature”
• math-matics for “mathematics”
• fam-ly for “family”

Elision occurs for Ease of Pronunciation, Rhythmic and Poetic Constraints, Informality and Speed, Historical Linguistic Evolution. While elision enhances fluency in speech, it can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, particularly for non-native speakers. It also plays a crucial role in dialectal differences and language change over time.

1. c) Insertion:

Insertion, also known as epenthesis, is a phonological process in which a sound is added to a word during speech. This can occur within a word (medial insertion) or at its boundaries (initial or final insertion). Insertion is common across languages and often arises due to ease of pronunciation, phonotactic constraints, or historical language evolution. Insertion can be categorized into three main types:

1. Vowel Insertion

A vowel is inserted between two consonants to simplify pronunciation. This is common in languages that avoid certain consonant clusters.

• Example: In Spanish, speakers may insert a vowel when pronouncing borrowed words, such as “español” (Spanish) from Latin “hispaniolus.”

2. Consonant Insertion

A consonant is added between vowels or at the boundary of words to facilitate articulation.

• Example: In some dialects of English, an intrusive /r/ is inserted in phrases like “law and order”, pronounced as “law[r] and order.”

3. Glide Insertion

Glides like /w/ or /j/ are sometimes inserted between vowels to make transitions smoother.

• Example: Some English speakers pronounce “going” as “gowing”, inserting a slight /w/ sound.

Insertion occurs for Ease of Pronunciation , Phonotactic Constraints, Historical Changes, Dialectal and Regional. Insertion, or epenthesis, plays a crucial role in speech and language evolution. It occurs across languages due to phonotactic constraints, ease of articulation, and dialectal variation. Understanding insertion helps in studying phonetics, language development, and speech patterns across different linguistic communities.

1. d) Metathesis:

 Metathesis is a phonological phenomenon in which sounds within a word change their order, resulting in a different pronunciation. This process can occur in various languages and is often influenced by ease of articulation, speech errors, dialectal variation, or historical linguistic development. Metathesis can be categorized into different types, including regular, irregular, and historical metathesis. Various types of Metathesis are:

1. Regular Metathesis
   • In some languages, metathesis occurs systematically and follows a predictable pattern. An example is seen in some dialects of Spanish, where the word “murcielago” (bat) is pronounced as “murciégalo” due to the transposition of /l/ and /g/.
2. Irregular Metathesis
   • This type occurs sporadically and does not follow a set linguistic rule. It is often found in casual speech or specific dialects. An example in English includes the pronunciation of ask as aks, which is commonly found in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and some other dialects.
3. Historical Metathesis
   • Over time, some words undergo metathesis as part of language evolution. A well-known example in English is the word bird, which developed from the Old English form brid.

Some examples of Metathesis in the English Language:

• Bird (from Old English brid)
• Third (from Old English thrid)
• Horse (from Old English hros)
• Wasp (from Old English wæps)
• Frist (an archaic form of first)
• Aks (a variant of ask found in various dialects)
• Comfortable often pronounced as “comfterble” in casual speech
• Introduction sometimes pronounced as “interduction”

Several factors contribute to the occurrence of metathesis in speech such as Ease of Articulation, speech Errors, Dialectal Variations, Language Contact. Metathesis is a natural phonetic process that occurs across languages due to various linguistic and cognitive factors. Whether occurring systematically or sporadically, it plays a crucial role in shaping the evolution of language and dialectal diversity. Understanding metathesis provides insights into the dynamic nature of phonetics and language change.

The Role of Phonology in Language Learning

Phonology is essential in second-language acquisition, as learners must grasp the new sound system and its patterns. Difficulty in pronunciation often arises when a learner’s native language lacks certain phonemes present in the target language. Understanding phonological structures helps in better pronunciation and comprehension.

Applications of Phonology

Phonology has practical applications in various fields, including:

• Speech Therapy: Helping individuals with speech disorders improve pronunciation.
• Language Teaching: Assisting in pronunciation training for language learners.
• Linguistic Research: Understanding language evolution and comparison.
• Artificial Intelligence: Improving speech recognition and synthesis technology.

Phonology is fundamental to linguistic analysis, playing a crucial role in understanding spoken language and communication. By studying phonemes, phonological rules, and language-specific sound patterns, linguists and language learners can gain deeper insights into how language functions and evolves. The knowledge of phonology is not only important for theoretical linguistics but also has significant real-world applications in communication, education, and technology.

III. Syntax – Sentence Structure

Syntax is  a set of rules that are used to describe and explain the ways in which words are related in a sentence. The word “syntax” comes from the Ancient Greek for “coordination” or “ordering together.” In spoken and written language, syntax refers to the set of rules that determines the arrangement of words in a sentence. Along with diction, it is one of the key ways writers convey meaning in a text. The rules of syntax can be quite complex and vary greatly by language (as well as by time period and place). Depending on the language you are speaking or writing in, these rules might be very restrictive, or quite flexible.

When it comes to English syntax, there are four baseline rules to keep in mind:

A complete sentence requires a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. This is also called an independent clause. A sentence without a subject and a verb is considered a fragment. What’s wrong with this sentence? “Walked to the dog park.” We don’t know who or what went to the dog park. How about this sentence? “Rishi the dog park.” Well, it’s just a collection of nouns and a definite article (the). For a sentence to be a sentence, it requires a subject and a verb. Combining the information from the examples we have above, the full sentence would be, “Rishi walked to the dog park.” Here, we have a subject (Rishi) and a verb (walked). This sentence also includes an object (the dog park) but that’s not necessary for it to be complete. “Rishi walked” is a perfectly acceptable full sentence.

Separate ideas generally require separate sentences. A sentence containing multiple independent clauses that are improperly joined is considered a run-on sentence.

English word order follows the subject-verb-object sequence. (It’s usually the same in French and Spanish.) In English, this is the typical order of a sentence. Take the sentence, “Johnny drank wine.” Johnny is the subject, drank is the verb, wine is the object. If we mix it up, it doesn’t make sense. “Wine drank Johnny.” Nope. “Johnny wine drank.” Not quite. “Wine Johnny drank.”

A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb—but it doesn’t express a complete thought. Generally, it’s best for a sentence to have one idea. With multiple ideas, it can be a good idea to split them up into multiple sentences. Let’s take this as an example: “Jeremy ate food, I sat at the DMV.” As it is, this sentence is a run on: there are two complete thoughts that are incorrectly joined by a comma. We could correct it like this: “Jeremy ate food. I sat at the DMV.”. But this rule isn’t etched in stone. We can join the two ideas with a conjunction. Take the previous sentence in context: “I remembered I had an appointment to renew my license, so I left Jeremy at the restaurant. Jeremy ate food and I sat at the DMV.” Now the second sentence feels more cohesive, and is joined with “and.”

Types of Syntax

Simple

Sometimes it’s best to keep it simple. A simple syntactic structure is just a single independent clause.

Take this sentence for example: “Tom went home.” It’s a full thought with a subject and verb. But a simple sentence doesn’t always look so simple. “Tom, Harry, and Jean all decided to walk over to Tom’s massive house” is a much longer sentence, but still a single independent clause.

Compound

A compound sentence contains two independent clauses, joined with a conjunction or a semicolon.

An example: “Kathy felt sick all day, but she continued to work on her physics project.” There are two clauses here which could be their own sentences: “Kathy felt sick all day” and “She continued to work on her physics project.” They’re put together with the conjunction “but.”

Complex

A complex sentence makes use of that dependent clause we were talking about. It combines dependent clauses with an independent clause.

Here’s an example. “Since Bob was shy, he went to the prom alone.” “Since Bob was shy” is dependent, and “he went to the prom alone” is independent– it could be its own sentence.

Compound-Complex

Compound AND complex? In this economy? That’s right folks. A sentence can have multiple independent clauses and a dependent clause, making it compound-complex.

An example of such a monstrosity: “After they failed their project, Daniel wept for forgiveness and Kyle denounced Ms. Klempt as a tyrant.” Can you spot which clause is which? “After they failed their project” is dependent, while “Daniel wept for forgiveness” and “Kyle denounced Ms. Klempt as a tyrant” are independent.

How to use syntax in writing

Syntax is not necessarily a stand alone grammatical function. In fact, it ties into other key rules of writing that can seriously impact the strength and quality of your writing. 

One key to efficient, coherent writing is use of active voice. While passive voice has its place in writing, active voice best reflects English syntax structure. This is because a reader can more easily confuse the subject and object in a sentence when the sentence structure does not follow common syntax rules.

Therefore, in addition to its often awkward nature, passive voice can muddle an otherwise clear and even exciting sentence. 

1. 
   Semantics – Meaning of words

Semantics involves the deconstruction of words, signals, and sentence structure. It influences our reading comprehension as well as our comprehension of other people’s words in everyday conversation. Semantics play a large part in our daily communication, understanding, and language learning without us even realizing it.

For example, in everyday use, a child might make use of semantics to understand a mom’s directive to “do your chores” as, “do your chores whenever you feel like it.” However, the mother was probably saying, “do your chores right now.”

Since meaning in language is so complex, there are actually different theories used within semantics, such as formal semantics, lexical semantics, and conceptual semantics.

• Formal Semantics – Formal semantics uses techniques from math, philosophy, and logic to analyze the broader relationship between language and reality, truth and possibility. Has your teacher ever asked you to use an “if… then” question? It breaks apart lines of information to detect the underlying meaning or consequence of events.
• Lexical Semantics – Lexical semantics deconstruct words and phrases within a line of text to understand the meaning in terms of context. This can include a study of individual nouns, verbs, adjectives, prefixes, root words, suffixes, or longer phrases or idioms.

• Conceptual Semantics– Conceptual semantics deals with the most basic concept and form of a word before our thoughts and feelings added context to it.
  For example, at its most basic we know a cougar to be a large wild cat. But, the word cougar has also come to indicate an older woman who’s dating a younger man. This is where context is important.

Conceptual semantics opens the door to a conversation on connotation and denotation. Denotation is the standard definition of a word. Meanwhile, connotation deals with the emotion evoked from a word. Connotation will be derived from the manner in which you interpret a word or sentence’s meaning. As such, semantics and connotation are deeply entwined. For a deeper dive, read these examples and exercises on connotative words.

Semantics in Everyday Life

One part of studying language is understanding the many meanings of individual words. Once you have a handle on the words themselves, context comes into play. The same word can be said to two people and they can interpret them differently.

For example, imagine a man told a woman, “I care for you… a lot.” Wouldn’t that made the woman’s heart melt? Sure, if he just said that out of the blue, walking down the beach one day. But, what if the woman told the man, “I love you,” and, after a long pause, all he said was, “I care for you… a lot.” She’d be crushed. So, context (the current situation) will always play a role in everyday semantics.

Here are some examples of everyday words that can have more than one meaning:

• A water pill could be a pill with water in it but it is understood to be a diuretic that causes a person to lose water from his body.
• “Crash” can mean an auto accident, a drop in the Stock Market, to attend a party without being invited, ocean waves hitting the shore, or the sound of cymbals being struck together.
• Depending on context, a flowering plant could be referred to as a weed or a flower.
• A human can be referred to as a male, female, child, adult, baby, bachelor, father or mother.
• To call someone a lady means more than simply being female. Semantics tell us that, if she’s a lady, she possesses elegance and grace.
• “Young” can allude to a colt, filly, piglet, baby, puppy, or kitten.
• To say something was challenging leads us to believe it was not a good experience. It wasn’t just difficult, it was also unpleasant.
• The verb “move” can mean change place, push, pull or carry, or stir emotion.
• To call someone an angel doesn’t mean they inhabit heaven. Semantics leads us to believe they have a lovely disposition.
• The word “create” can mean build, make, construct, erect, compose or imagine.
• The simple word “on” can have many meanings, such as: on call, on the roof, on cloud nine, on edge, on fire, on purpose, on demand, on top, or on the phone.

1. Lexicon – Vocabulary

One important case where the word “lexicon” is more specifically relevant is within the field of linguistics. In fact, linguists divide languages into two parts: the lexicon and the grammar. The grammar is the set of rules that govern how language works: things like word order and conjugation are all defined by these rules. The lexicon, at its broadest, is the collection of everything else. To be more specific, it’s the full collection of lexemes. A lexeme — sometimes called a lexical item or a word form — is a basic unit of meaning in language. Most lexemes are single words, and a single lexeme includes all conjugations of a word. Eat, ate and eating, for example, are all a single lexeme. The difference between “lexeme” and “word,” however, is that a lexeme can also be more than one word. Compound nouns and verbs (living room, eat up) and idioms (hit the hay, once in a blue moon) also count as lexemes because their meaning changes if you break them down into smaller parts. It can also be noted that, as with pretty much all linguistic topics, there is debate over what should count as a lexeme. For the average person, though, all you really need to know is that a lexicon contains all the basic words and phrases that make up a language.

There are various types of Lexicons as below:

1. a) Sentiment Lexicons

In this type of lexicon,  work is done to define the feelings associated with a particular word or phrase. It specifies a degree or label for each word indicating whether it is negative, positive, or neutral. This information is used to work on sentiment analysis, after which it determines the general feeling of a part of the text, so we can see that in the part of the product review or a post on the media, The social media that is published and this part that we are talking about applies to, and we can also see it in the topic of celebrities and so on. Examples of sentiment lexicons include the AFINN lexicon and the SentiWordNet dictionary.

1. b) Emotion Lexicons

This type of lexicon is  used in the special and specific part associated with words, as they are often used in emotion detection applications, such as chatbots or virtual assistants to understand the emotional state of the user who works on them and speaks to them or listens to them. Examples of emotion lexicons  are EmoLex and NRC Emotion.

1. c) WordNet

This is a lexical database that groups English words into groups of synonyms, called synsets, which they associate with conceptual relationships. These also include definitions, usage examples, and other semantic information for each synchronization. WordNet is often used as a reference for those NLP-specific tasks, such as recognizing named entities and also categorizing proposed text.

1. d) PropBank

This lexicon links verbs with their semantic arguments, as it provides information about the grammatical structure of the sentence and the roles that the different words play in that sentence. PropBank is used in many tasks such as classifying semantic roles and extracting information

Applications of Lexicons in NLP

1. Sentiment Analysis:

Here, dictionaries are used to classify the text based on feelings or emotional tone, as it contains a dictionary of feelings on words and phrases associated with positive or negative feelings. By matching words in the lexicon with words in the text, sentiment analysis algorithms can determine the general feeling of the text being worked on.

2. Named Entity Recognition:

This dictionary contains lists of named entities such as people, organizations, and locations. Named entity recognition algorithms to use these lexicons to identify and categorize named entities in localized and highly searched text.

3. Part-of-Speech Tagging:

The dictionaries that we are explaining now can be used to work on assigning signs of speech to the words in the sentence. A part-of-speech lexicon contains lists of words and their associated parts of speech (eg, noun, verb, adjective). Marking a part of speech is an important step and is greatly appreciated in popular applications such as parsing and machine translation.

4. Word Sense Disambiguation:

Dictionaries can also be used to clarify multisensory words. The word meaning dictionary contains lists of words and their associated meanings. As it uses algorithms to remove ambiguity in the meaning of these dictionaries to determine the correct meaning of the word in a specific context.

5. Machine translation:Glossaries can be used in machine translation systems to map words and phrases from one language to another. A bilingual dictionary contains pairs of words or phrases in two languages and their corresponding translations.
6. Information retrieval: Dictionaries are used in information retrieval systems to improve the accuracy of search results. An index dictionary contains lists of words and their associated documents or web pages. By matching search queries to comments in the index dictionary, information retrieval systems can quickly retrieve relevant documents or web pages.

In general, lexicons play an important role in many NLP applications by providing a rich source of linguistic information that can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of text analysis and processing.

Example about the company using lexicon:

IBM Watson: IBM Watson is one of the cognitive computing systems as it uses natural language processing technologies as well as machine learning techniques, including lexicons, to understand and analyze the language of ordinary humans and also contains all languages that in themselves are considered one of the most difficult things facing the private part Learning a model.

Amazon: Sentiment Analysis Lexicons, which help companies analyze customer feedback and social media sentiment about their products.

Google: Google uses the lexicon in its natural language processing tools, including the Google Cloud Natural Language API, which can analyze text and extract sentiment and other linguistic features.

Social media analytics companies: Companies such as Brandwatch, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite use product analysis and sentiment around it, as this works to develop an opinion about their product segment, and so on.

Customer service companies: Companies such as Zendesk and Freshdesk use dictionaries to classify tickets in the customer service part, as it analyzes their sentiments, as this explains the customer satisfaction part of the service that was provided to them.

1. Pragmatics – Context and usage

pragmatics is a specialized branch of study, focusing on the relationship between natural language and users of that language. Pragmatics focuses on conversational implicatures—or that which a speaker implies and which a listener infers. To define pragmatics, experts sometimes compare and contrast it with linguistic semantics (the meaning of a sentence) or compare it to syntax (word order) or semiotics (the study of symbols), all of which are distinct terms. Pragmatics dates back to antiquity when rhetoric was one of the three liberal arts. The more modern idea of pragmatics arose between 1780 and 1830 in Britain, France, and Germany. Pragmatism saw a rise in popularity between 1880 and 1930 when linguists studying the philosophy of language agreed on a point of view that language must be studied in the context of dialogue and life, and that language itself is a kind of human action. Today, linguistics is a multidisciplinary realm of study spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics—the study of language—that focuses on implied and inferred meanings. This branch of linguistics involves many concepts, including these major areas:

• Conversational implicature: This concept is based on the idea that people in a conversation are cooperating to reach a common conversational goal; therefore, implications can be derived from a speaker’s responses to questions. For example, if a parent asks a child whether they finished their homework and the child responds that they’ve finished their math homework, the parent might infer that the child still has homework in other classes to finish. Philosopher Paul Grice is credited with developing both the term and concept of implicature around 1975, and other scholars have since refined his ideas.
• Cognitive pragmatics: This area focuses on cognition or the mental processes (also called cognitive processes) of human communication. Researchers studying cognitive pragmatics may focus on language disorders in those with developmental disabilities or those who have suffered head trauma that affects their speech.
• Intercultural pragmatics: This area of the field studies communication between people from different cultures who speak different first languages. Similarly, interlanguage pragmatics works with language learners who are acquiring a second language.
• Managing the flow of reference: In conversation, listeners track syntactic (relating to syntax) clues to understand what happened or who performed an action—this is called managing the flow of reference. For example, if someone were to walk up to you and say, “John is inside. He told me to greet you,” you will likely understand that John is the person who told the speaker to greet you.
• Relevance theory: One major framework in pragmatics is relevance theory, which Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson first proposed. The theory, inspired by Grice’s ideas about implicature, states that a speaker’s every utterance conveys enough relevant information for it to be worth the addressee’s effort to process the meaning of an utterance.
• Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics focuses on how native speakers of the same language may speak differently from one another simply because of the different social groups to which they belong.
• Speech acts: In linguistics, the phrase “speech acts” is more philosophical in concept and is not related to phonology (the branch of linguistic study concerned with the specific phonetic sounds or dialects of a language). Speech act theory states that people use language and the rules of language to accomplish tasks and goals. While a physical act would be drinking a glass of water, and a mental act would be thinking about drinking a glass of water, a speech act would include things like asking for a glass of water or ordering someone to drink a glass of water.
• Theory of mind: David Premack and Guy Woodruff originally proposed this theory in the 1970s. Theory of mind centers on how understanding someone’s mental state may also help explain their use of language. Some scholars see overlap between the theory of mind and pragmatic competence, which deals with language and its use in a given linguistic context.

Examples of Pragmatics

The definition of pragmatics and the use of pragmatics can be tricky to grasp without studying examples. Here are three examples that can help illustrate pragmatics in use in everyday conversation:

1. 1. “How are you?” This everyday greeting is rarely met with a response that involves discussing every medical and personal detail that may affect how the person is feeling on a given day (which would make up a literal response to the question). Instead, you might respond to the question with: “Fine, how are you?” This would be a pragmatic response since you are making a presupposition that the speaker’s intention was for the question to be an implied greeting and not a literal question about how you are doing at that exact moment.
2. 2. “Luggage must be carried on the escalator.” This sentence on a referential sign in an airport is linguistically ambiguous, although not usually pragmatically ambiguous. Someone who has never gone to an airport before might misinterpret the semantic, literal meaning as a command that everyone must rush over to the escalator while carrying their luggage. But thanks to pragmatics (the inclusion of context with the sign), you know that the sign only applies to people who are actively taking luggage onto the escalator, not to everyone. The context of the situation determines the sentence’s meaning.
3. “I have two sons.” While not necessarily ambiguous, this sentence contains an implication that the speaker has no more than two sons; however, it’s possible the speaker could have more than two sons and the statement would still be truthful. Pragmatics incorporates the context of an utterance to determine meaning. Therefore, a preceding question of “Do you have any children?” would change the response’s implication to be that the speaker only has two children—two sons. Furthermore, a preceding question of “Do you have any sons?” would change the response’s implication to be that the speaker might have one or more daughters in addition to having two sons.

VII. Discourse – Connected speech and writing

“Discourse in context may consist of only one or two words as in stop or no smoking. Alternatively, a piece of discourse can be hundreds of thousands of words in length, as some novels are. “Discourse is the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. The study of discourse is entirely context-dependent because conversation involves situational knowledge beyond the words spoken. Often, one cannot extrapolate meaning from an exchange merely from verbal utterances because many semantic factors are involved in authentic communication. “The study of discourse…can involve matters like context, background information or knowledge shared between a speaker and hearer,” .

Uses of  Discourse

“Discourse can be used to refer to particular contexts of language use, and in this sense, it becomes similar to concepts like genre or text type. For example, we can conceptualize political discourse (the sort of language used in political contexts) or media discourse (language used in the media). In addition, some writers have conceived of discourse as related to particular topics, such as an environmental discourse or colonial discourse.Such labels sometimes suggest a particular attitude towards a topic (e.g. people engaging in environmental discourse would generally be expected to be concerned with protecting the environment rather than wasting resources. “Within social science discourse is mainly used to describe verbal reports of individuals. In particular, discourse is analyzed by those who are interested in language and talk and what people are doing with their speech. This approach studies the language used to describe aspects of the world and has tended to be taken by those using a sociological perspective”. Discourse is a joint activity requiring active participation from two or more people, and, as such, it depends on the lives and knowledge of two or more people and the situation of the communication. Herbert Clark applied the concept of common ground to his discourse studies as a way of accounting for the various agreements that take place in successful communication.

“Discourse is more than a message between sender and receiver. In fact, sender and receiver are metaphors that obfuscate what is really going on in communication. Specific illocutions have to be linked to the message depending on the situation in which discourse takes place…Clark compares language in use with a business transaction, paddling together in a canoe, playing cards or performing music in an orchestra. A central notion in Clark’s study is common ground. The joint activity is undertaken to accumulate the common ground of the participants. With common ground is meant the sum of the joint and mutual knowledge, beliefs and suppositions of the participants,” (Renkema 2004).

VIII . Orthography – Spelling and writing

Orthography is the study of letters and letter combinations in a language. Most alphabetic languages have an established set of rules governing how words are spelled; these rules are what we refer to when discussing “correct” spelling. Following these rules allows readers to sound out unfamiliar words using their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. This also enables them to correctly guess the spelling of new terms they encounter based on their existing knowledge of spelling patterns.

Components of Orthography

The components of orthography are the building blocks of written language, each serving a distinct role in the conveyance of meaning:

Spelling: Perhaps the most recognized aspect, spelling involves the correct arrangement of letters to form words. Spelling conventions help standardize language, making it possible for words to be recognized and understood by readers.

• Punctuation: Punctuation marks, such as commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points, guide the reader through sentences, indicating pauses, stops, and the tone of the text. Effective punctuation is crucial for conveying the intended message.
• Capitalization: The use of uppercase letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns is not just a matter of formality but also aids in distinguishing specific names and titles from general nouns, enhancing readability.
• Word Breaks: This includes rules for hyphenation and the separation of words at the end of lines, ensuring that the division does not obscure the meaning of the text or disrupt the flow of reading.

Why Orthography Matters for Reading Development

One reason orthography matters for reading development is that it helps readers understand the connection between spoken and written language. In other words, it helps them know that spoken words are made up of smaller units of sound (phonemes) that can be represented by specific letters or letter combinations (graphemes). This understanding is critical for sounding out unknown words, an essential strategy for beginning readers. By familiarizing yourself with the rules of spelling and helping your child to understand the connection between spoken and written language, you can give them the tools they need to become skilled, independent readers.

Why Orthographic mapping is important ?

Orthographic mapping refers to the process of linking a letter or group of letters to a specific sound. Instead of trying to learn or memorize words as a whole, skilled learners take the words they see and break them down into their sounds and spellings. Studies show that strong readers do this automatically as they read. With orthographic mapping, students connect something new with something they already know. Through listening and speaking, young students store a word’s pronunciation and meaning in their long-term memory. Students turn a written word into a sight word by attaching the phonemes in the word’s pronunciation to the letter sequence of the word. Strong phonemic awareness skills are essential because they can help you break down words into their individual sound units or phonemes. This lets you recognize words by sight since you already know how they sound. It’s important to remember that orthographic mapping happens in your mind when you store and remember words. This is different from memorizing what a word looks like. You can’t teach it directly to students, but you can teach skills like phonemic awareness and phonics, which will help them with orthographic mapping.

The knowledge of orthographic rules can help readers predict the spelling of unfamiliar words, even if they have never seen them before. For example, children who know that adding an -ed to the end of a word usually signals that the word is now in the past tense can make an educated guess as to how to spell words like “walked” or “jumped.” These spelling patterns complement phonemic awareness skills and phonics instruction to give young readers multiple strategies for decoding new words.

Challenges in Orthography

Designing an orthography that accurately represents the sounds and nuances of a language is a complex task. This complexity is compounded when a language has a wide range of dialects or when it borrows extensively from other languages, each with its own phonetic and grammatical rules. Additionally, languages are dynamic and evolve over time, posing a challenge to orthographic conventions that may become outdated or inadequate to capture new sounds, words, or meanings.

Examples of these challenges include:

• English Orthography: Notoriously irregular, English spelling reflects the language’s history of borrowing from other languages, resulting in a system where similar sounds can be spelled differently (e.g., “night” vs. “knight”) and the same spelling can represent different sounds (e.g., “read” in present and past tense).
• Orthographic Reforms: Some languages undergo reforms to simplify or modernize their writing systems. For instance, German underwent a major orthographic reform in 1996 to standardize spelling and punctuation, a move that sparked considerable debate.

Trends in Orthographic Reform

Orthographic reforms are being considered or implemented in various languages to respond to contemporary needs and challenges:

• Simplification and Standardization: Some languages are undergoing orthographic reforms aimed at simplification and standardization, making them easier to learn and use both domestically and internationally.
• Adapting to Digital Communication: The impact of digital communication on language is leading to informal and sometimes formal adjustments in orthography. These changes reflect the need for scripts to be easily typed on digital devices and understood across diverse platforms.

The future of writing systems and orthography is not set in stone but is a dynamic landscape shaped by human innovation and cultural values. As we continue to develop technology that affects how we write and communicate, the challenge will be to balance the efficiency and global reach of digital communication with the preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity. This balance is not merely a technical issue but a reflection of our values as a global community, emphasizing the importance of access, equity, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

The evolution of writing systems in the digital era offers an opportunity to reimagine global communication, ensuring that it is inclusive, diverse, and reflective of the rich tapestry of human culture. As we look to the future, the role of technology in shaping writing systems and orthography is clear, but equally important is our collective commitment to preserving the unique identities and histories that these systems represent.

Practical Applications

The study and understanding of writing systems and orthography extend far beyond academic curiosity. They have profound practical applications in education, linguistic research, and technology, impacting how we learn, communicate, and interact with digital devices. This section explores the relevance of writing systems and orthography in these areas, highlighting their importance in a globalized and digitally connected world.

Learning and Education

The foundation of literacy is understanding the writing system and orthography of one’s language. As the primary tool for recording and disseminating knowledge, mastery of writing is crucial for academic success and lifelong learning:

• Language Learning: For learners of both first and second languages, understanding the orthography of the language is crucial. This includes not only the ability to read and write but also an understanding of spelling rules, punctuation, and grammar.
• Multilingual Education: In our increasingly global society, the ability to communicate in multiple languages is highly valued. Familiarity with different writing systems is essential for learning new languages, fostering cross-cultural communication and understanding.

Linguistic Research

Writing systems provide key insights into the phonetic, syntactic, and semantic aspects of languages, making them a rich field of study for linguists:

• Historical Linguistics: The study of ancient scripts and their evolution helps linguists understand the development of languages over time, revealing insights into human migration, cultural interchange, and the cognitive aspects of writing.
• Sociolinguistics: Writing systems and orthography also reflect social norms and changes. The way language is written can indicate social identity, group membership, and linguistic innovation, offering a window into the societal dynamics of language use.

Technology and Computing

In the digital age, writing systems and orthography have significant implications for technology development and use:

• Text Encoding Standards: The digital representation of global writing systems relies on standardized text encoding, such as Unicode. This ensures that text can be accurately and consistently displayed across different devices and platforms, enabling global communication.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Understanding and processing written language is a key challenge in artificial intelligence. Knowledge of orthography and writing systems is essential for developing algorithms that can accurately interpret, translate, and generate human language.
• User Interface Design: For technology to be accessible and user-friendly, it must support the diverse writing systems of its users. This includes not only displaying text correctly but also allowing for input in different scripts, a crucial consideration in global software and app development.

The practical applications of writing systems and orthography are vast and varied, touching every aspect of our lives from education to technology. As we continue to navigate the complexities of a multilingual, multicultural world, the importance of understanding and accommodating diverse writing systems cannot be overstated. It is through this understanding that we can build more inclusive, effective, and enriching learning environments, conduct more insightful linguistic research, and develop technology that meets the needs of all users.   By embracing the diversity of writing systems and the rules that govern them, we open up a world of possibilities for communication, education, and technological innovation. In doing so, we not only preserve the rich tapestry of human language and culture but also ensure that our global society remains connected and understood.