Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics Definitions With Examples

Phonology

According to All About Linguistics, “Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages. Put more formally, phonology is the study of the categorical organization of speech sounds in languages; how speech sounds are organized in the mind and used to convey meaning.”

Phonology deals with the,

“study of sound patterns of language. It also includes the distribution and pronunciation. It can be considered as the study of distinctive words in a language. It deals with the concept of a phoneme which is a distinctive or contrastive sound in a language.”

Morphology

Morphology is the, “study of minimal units of meaning which includes morphemes and word formation process. It deals with the study of forms and also deals with the ways in which words possess a relationship with some other words of the same language.”

Syntax

Syntax refers to, “the study of the structural aspect of language by dealing with the phrase and sentence formation. It basically deals with seeing ways through which words combine to form grammatical sentences.” Syntax involves the set of rules, processes, and principles that govern the sentences of any language. The basic sentence structure of English is Subject-Verb-Object. For example, the girl read a book.

● Girl – Subject

● Read – Verb

● Book – Object

Semantics

The study of meaning in terms of linguistics is called semantics which begins from the ending point of syntax and ends from where pragmatics begins. Semantics is a separate discipline in the study of language and has existed for decades. In 1987, Breal first used the term ‘semantics’ and it does not suggest that there had never been speculations about the nature of meaning. In natural languages, words, phrases, and sentences are used to convey messages. Semantics is the “study of meaning systems in language”. Language is systematic in nature if the meaning is a system.

Pragmatics

Pragmatics refers to, “the study of language by considering the context in which it is used. It is not concerned with the way language is structured. Speech is looked at as a social act which is ruled or governed by many social conventions.”