Introduction to Linguistics: Language Functions and Structures
Introduction to Linguistics
Functions of Language
Emitter
Expressive or emotional function: Manifests feelings, emotions, and opinions.
Concerning
Referential or representational function: Reports objectively on a reference.
Receiver
Appellate or conative function: The receiver awaits a response.
Code
Metalinguistic function: The benchmark is the actual code.
Channel
Phatic function or Contact: Expresses that contact is made.
Message
Poetic function or aesthetics: Focuses on the message’s linguistic artistry.
Linguistic Signs
The linguist Saussure characterized the linguistic sign as an entity with two sides: signifiant (acoustic image) and signified (concept).
Unity and Variety in Language
A language’s history, despite the unity that characterizes and distinguishes it from other languages, always has differences or internal varieties.
Diatopic Variety
Diatopic varieties occur across the geographical extension in which a particular language is spoken. Dialects are manifested in the Spanish state, considered varieties of northern and southern varieties. In Spain, there are varieties in contact. Outside of Spain, we should mention the Spanish-American varieties.
Diastratic Variety
Diastratic varieties depend on the sociocultural level of speakers and are specified in social or sociolects. We differentiate:
- Level of Education: Educated speakers have greater control and accuracy in language use, allowing them to specify more effectively the relationship between language and thought.
Diaphasic Variety
Diaphasic varieties occur between various types of expressive modes and are constituted by the language registers. Different styles and factors influence registers:
- Activity and Topic: A doctor, for example, uses different styles to refer to a disease and to discuss a football game.
- Identity of Participants, Relationship Between Them, and Communicative Situation: A teenager does not use the same register with a friend as with a professional.
- SMS: Represents a transitional form, especially significant in the distinction between oral and written language.
- Jargon Varieties: Members of certain groups use a specific variant, hardly understandable to people outside their group, known as professional jargon (e.g., medical jargon). The term jargon also refers to marginalized groups, like prison slang.
Word Formation
Composition
Composition refers to the procedure by which a new word is formed by the union of two or more words. The compound word forms a unitary concept that allows for the designation of a specific reality (e.g., coasters).
Derivation
Derivation is the procedure of word formation that creates new morphemes by incorporating a lexical base (e.g., flower > flower vase).
Prefix
Prefixes are derivative morphemes that are prefixed to the base and usually do not change the grammatical category of the base.
Parasintesis
Parasintesis is the procedure of word formation by which both a prefix and a suffix are incorporated into a lexical base (e.g., trap > entrap).
Other Procedures
In addition to composition, derivation, and parasintesis, other procedures contribute to word formation:
- Lexical Shortening: Professor > teacher
- Acronyms: Acronyms are formed from the initials or first letters of other terms (e.g., AVE, Renfe).
- Acronymy: This term refers to acronyms pronounced as they are written, as well as special cases of composition where parts of two or more words are combined to form a whole (e.g., telenovela, ecotourism).
Phrases
Coordination
- Copulative: Students picked up their grades and left.
- Adversative: I saw many books, but did not find the data.
- Distributive: Some students spoke, others studied.
- Disjunctive: Do you stay at home or come with us?
- Explanatory: Juan is laconic, or he is of few words.
Denotation and Connotation
Denotation is the basic, objective meaning of a term for a linguistic community. Connotation, however, refers to the supplemental meaning, expressive or added, in the use of speakers and in different contexts.
Polysemy
Polysemy refers to the multiplicity of meanings that a sign has. For example, “menu” can mean a set of dishes or a fixed-price meal.
Homonymy
Homonymy is a relation where signs have the same signifier but different signifieds. There are two types: absolute homonymy (e.g., band [ribbon], band [musical group]) and partial homonymy (e.g., fence [noun], fence [verb]).
Synonymy
Synonymy designates the relationship between two or more words of the same grammatical category that have identical or similar meanings.
Antonymy
Antonymy is the relationship between words with opposite meanings. There are different types:
- Gradation: high/low
- Complementarity: male/female
Patrimonial Words
Patrimonial words passed from Latin into Castilian orally, undergoing significant phonetic and morphological changes (e.g., filium > son).
Cultisms
Cultisms are terms that come from Latin and Greek roots and are transmitted in writing, without suffering significant alterations.
Neologisms
Neologisms are newly introduced words that name new realities and concepts or incorporate new meanings into existing words (e.g., DVD).