Language and speech

The distinction between language and speech was Speech

made by Ferdinand de Saussure, the Swiss scholar
usually credited with establishing principles of
modern linguistics.
Speech is closely connected with language, as it is the
result of using the language, the result of a definite act of
speaking. Speech is individual, personal while language is
common for all individuals.

One of the dictionary meanings of speech is the act of

expressing or the faculty of describing feelings and
thoughts or perceptions by words, something spoken or
vocal communication. It is a specifically human capacity to
communicate verbally or vocally with the use of syntactic
combinations from diverse vocabularies.
Each word spoken has a phonetic combination of certain
sound units. Speech is created by vocabularies, syntax,
and a set of sound units. It is the verbal way of
communicating. The following components are a part of
speech:

Articulation, which means the way speech sounds are

produced.
Voice, the breathing process and the vocal folds used to
produce sounds.
Fluency, the rhythm required to speak without hesitation.

Simplifying the whole concept, speech expresses how a

spoken message needs to be communicated.

Language
Language is a collective body of knowledge, it is a set of
basic elements, but these elements can form a great
variety of combinations. In fact the number of these
combinations is endless.

One of the dictionary meanings of language is the

communication of feelings and thoughts through a
system of particular signals, like sounds, voice, written
symbols, and gestures. It is considered to be a very
specialized capacity of humans where they use complex
systems for communication. The study of languages is
called linguistics.
There are many languages spoken today by humans.
Languages have some rules, and they are compiled and
used according to those rules for communication.
Languages can be not only written, but sometimes some
languages are based on signs only. These are called
sign languages. In other cases, some particular codes
are used for computers, etc. which are called computer
languages or programming.

Language has four different rules which are shared

socially. First, what a word means, the meaning of the
words which is called vocabulary; second, how to make
up new words; third, how to put the words together in a
sequence and, finally, how to use the sentence in a
particular situation. Does it need to be a statement, or
does it need to be interrogative, etc.
Language can be either receptive, meaning
understanding of a language, and expressive language,
which means the usage of the language either orally or in
writing. If we simplify everything, language expresses an
idea communicated in the message.
 Language as a
structural system
Language is regarded as a system of elements (signs, units) such as sounds,
words, etc. These elements have no value without each other, they depend on
each other, they exist only in a system, and they are nothing without a system.
System implies the characterization of a complex object as made up of separate Each level has its own system. Therefore, language
parts (e.g. the system of sounds). Language is a structural system. is regarded as a system of systems. The level units
Units of language are divided into: are built up in the same way and that is why the
units of a lower level serve the building material for
1) segmental (phonemes, which form phonemic strings of various status – the units of a higher level. This similarity and
syllables, morphemes, words, etc.) likeness of organization of linguistic units is called
isomorphism. This is how language works – a
2) suprasegmental (intonations, (intonation contours), accents, pauses, patterns small number of elements at one level can enter into
of word-order). thousands of different combinations to form units at
the other level.
The segmental units of language form a hierarchy of levels where units of any
higher level are formed of units of the immediately lower level (morphemes are
decomposed into phonemes, words are decomposed into morphemes, phrases
are decomposed into words, etc).

1) The lowest level of lingual segments is phonemic (phonological). The

phonemic level unit is the phoneme. The phoneme has no meaning, its function
is differential (a distinctive unit bag – back). Since phoneme has no meaning, it is
not a sign.
Units of all the higher levels of language are meaningful; they may be called
‘signemes’ as opposed to phonemes.

2) The level located above the phonemic one is the morphemic

(morphological).The unit of this level is the morpheme (the elementary Any linguistic unit is a double entity. It unites a
meaningful part of the word: teach – teacher). The morpheme expresses concept and a sound image. The two elements are
abstract, ‘significative’ meanings which are used as constituents for the formation intimately united and each recalls the other.
of more concrete, ‘nominative’(naming) meanings of words. Accordingly, we distinguish the content side and the
expression side. The forms of linguistic units bear
3) The third level is the lexemic level. Its level unit is the word. The word names no natural resemblance to their meaning. The link
things and their relations so it is a directly naming (nominative) unit of language. between them is a matter of convention, and
This kind of nomination effected by separate words can be called conventions differ radically across languages. Thus,
‘mononomination’. the English word ‘dog’ happens to denote a
particular four-footed domesticated creature, the
4) The next level is phrasemic level (the level of phrases/word-groups). Its level same creature that is denoted in Ukrainian by the
unit is the word-group (notional phrases) – a combination of two or more notional completely different form. Neither form looks like a
words which has a nominative function. These combinations represent the dog, or sounds like one.
referent of nomination as a complicated phenomenon (a concrete thing, an
action, a quality, a whole situation): a picturesque village; to start with a jerk;
extremely difficult; the unexpected arrival of the chief. This kind of nomination can
be called ‘polynomination’.
 Systemic relations in language

A linguistic unit of language can enter into relations of two

fundamental kinds: syntagmatic and paradigmatic

Syntagmatic relations are immediate linear relations between units in a segmental sequence (string). In other words a
Paradigmatic relations (PR) are opposed to syntagmatic. They exist between elements of the system outside the strings
linguistic unit enters into syntagmatic relations (SR) with other units of the same level it occurs with. SR exist at every where they co-occur.
language level.
In other words PR are relations based on the principles of similarity. They exist between the units that can substitute
E.g.: one another. E.g.:

1) in the word-group A PINT OF MILK the word PINT has SR with A, OF, MILK; 1) in the word-group A PINT OF MILK the word PINT is in paradigmatic relations with the words bottle, cup, etc.

2) The article A can enter into PR with the units the, this, one, same, etc.
2) The spaceship was launched without the help of a booster rocket.
According to different principles of similarity PR can be of three types: semantic, formal and functional.
In this sentence syntagmatically connected are the words and word-groups 'the spaceship', 'was launched', 'the
spaceship was launched', 'was launched without the help', 'the help of a rocket', 'a booster rocket'. 1) Semantic PR are based on the similarity of meaning: a book to read - a book for reading. He used to practice English
every day - He would practice English every day.
Morphemes within the words are also connected syntagmatically.
2) Formal PR are based on the similarity of forms. Such relations exist between the members of a paradigm: man - men;
play - played - will play - is playing.
3) E.g.: space/ship; launch/ed; with/out; boost/er.
3) Functional PR are based on the similarity of function. They are established between the elements that can occur in
Syntagmatic
Phonemes are connected syntagmatically within morphemes and words, as well as at various juncture points (cf. the
processes of assimilation and dissimilation). Paradigmatic the same position. For instance, noun determiners: a, the, this, his, Ann's, some, each, etc.

relations
As it was mentioned SR are linear relations, that is why they are manifested in speech. The combination of two words
relations These relations and dependencies find their expression in the fact that each lingual unit is included in a set or series of
connections based on different formal and functional properties.
or word-groups one of which is modified by the other forms a unit which is referred to as a syntactic 'syntagma'. There
are four main types of notional syntagmas: In the sphere of phonology such series are built up by the correlations of phonemes on the basis of vocality or
consonantism, voicedness or devoicedness, the factor of nazalisation, the factor of length, etc.
1) predicative (the combination of a subject and a predicate), In the sphere of the vocabulary these series are founded on the correlations of synonymy and antonymy, on various
topical connections, on different word-building dependencies.
2) objective (the combination of a verb and its object),
In the sphere of grammar series of related forms realise grammatical numbers and cases, persons and tenses,
3) attributive (the combination of a noun and its attribute), gradations of modalities, sets of sentence-patterns of various functional destination, etc.

Unlike syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations cannot be directly observed in utterances, that is why they are
4) adverbial (the combination of a modified notional word, such as a verb, adjective, or adverb, with its adverbial
referred to as relations 'in absentia' ('in the absence'). Therefore, PR are identified with 'language' while SR are
modifier). identified with 'speech'.

Since syntagmatic relations are actually observed in utterances, they are described by the Latin formula as relations Paradigmatic relations coexist with syntagmatic relations in such a way that some sort of syntagmatic connection is
'in praesentia' ('in the presence'). necessary for the realisation of any paradigmatic series.

This is especially evident in a classical grammatical paradigm which presents a productive series of forms each
consisting of a syntagmatic connection of two elements: one common for the whole of the series (stem), the other
specific for every individual form in the series (grammatical feature - inflexion, suffix, auxiliary word).
 Morphology and Syntax
Morphology
Morphology helps linguists understand the structure of
words by putting together morphemes. A morpheme is
the smallest grammatical, meaningful part of language.
There are two different types of morphemes that form the
basis of the words they structure. They are known as a
free morpheme and a bound morpheme. A free
morpheme is a single meaningful unit of a word that can
stand alone in the language.
Bound morphemes that are part of the beginning of a
word are known as prefixes and at the end of a word they
are known as suffixes. Bound morphemes can also be
grouped into into a further two categories.
Derivational – added to the base form of the word to
create a new word. Look at the word able and let it
become ability. In this instance the adjective becomes a
noun. The word send as a verb morpheme becomes
sender and a noun with the addition of er. While stable to
unstable changes the meaning of the word to become the
opposite meaning. In other words the meaning of the
word is completely changed by adding a derivational
morpheme to a base word.
Inflectional – are additions to the base word that do not
change the word, but rather serve as grammatical
indicators. They show grammatical information.
For example:
Laugh becomes the past tense by adding ed and
changing the word to laughed.
Dog to dogs changes the word from singular to plural.
Swim to swimming changes the verb into a progressive
verb.
All these examples show how morphology participates in
the study of linguistics.
Syntax
Syntax looks at sentences and how words perform in a sentence.
Syntax looks at the rules and process of building a sentence and it
looks at the word order and structure of a sentence. The meaning of a
sentence in any language depends on the syntax and order of the
words. A very simple basic sentence in English is made of a subject
with a verb and a direct object.
For example:
The dog chased the cat. Change the word order to The cat chased
the dog.
Now the word order has changed and so has the meaning of the
sentence. Both sentences have the same words, but the meaning is
different. It is by studying the proper order of words in phrases and
sentences that the linguist gains a better understanding of the
language as a whole. Native speakers of the language will intuitively
know why a word sounds out of place or an incorrect tense has been
used. A native speaker of a language learns the language from birth
and is immersed in that language as the child grows and develops
using this native ‘birth’ language.
Understanding how syntax works helps the linguist look at different
categories of the sentence from the simple subject and predicate to
more complex combinations. These different classes of words in
syntax are known as parts of speech. Nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs and so on all define words and the role they play in
sentences. Studies of syntax are based on the sentence and the
minimal portion of study being the clause, with the words that
contribute to this part of language. The sentence can be broken down
or analyzed further by a study of tenses, noun or verb phrases and
how they work orally and literally.
Syntax comes from Greek, meaning ‘to arrange together.’ In studying
the sentence construction there are different complexities of words
being used to create the sentences.
A simple sentence is made of a subject and a verb. The boy ran.
A compound sentence is made of a subject, verb, object, conjunction,
subject and verb.
The boy ran a race and his sister did too.
A complex sentence has a dependent clause, subject, verb, object.
Although they were tired after running the race, the boy and his sister
decided to go to the park for their picnic lunch.
In this way studying the parts of the sentence contribute to
understanding the language and the value of words used in these
types of sentences.

The morpheme is analyzable into phonemes.
The smallest morpheme may include only one
phoneme: table-s, work-s.
Morphemes, in their turn, make up words. The
shortest word may coincide with the
morpheme when it gets a naming power.
The ideal complete morphemic structure of the
word may be presented the following way:
prefix + root + lexical suffix + grammatical
suffix (ending, inflexion).
The
morpheme
The morpheme is defined as the smallest
meaningful unit and an elementary part of the word.
The meaning of the morpheme is purely
significative. We mustn’t mix up morphemes and
syllables. The difference between them lies in the
fact that morphemes are always meaningful, while
syllables, as units of phonology, lack this feature
though they may coincide with morphemes and then
seem meaningful.
Roots and affixes (prefixes and lexical suffixes)
make up the stem of the word. They are word-
building morphemes. Grammatical suffixes stand
outside the stem of the word and function as
form-building morphemes expressing such
abstract grammatical categorical meanings as
number, tense, degrees of comparison etc.
 The word is a structural and semantic entity within the
language system. The word is the basic unit of the language
system, the largest on the morphological level and the The identity of the word manifests itself in
smallest on the syntactic level of linguistic analysis. As any the ability of a word to exist as a system and
language unit the word is a two facet unit possessing both its unity of all its forms (grammatical forms
outer form (sound form) and content (meaning) which is not creating its paradigm) and variants: lexical-
created in speech but used ready-maid. As the basic unit of semantic, morphological, phonetic and
language the word is characterized by independence or graphic.
separateness , as a free standing item, and identity.

Word

The structural integrity of the word

combined with the semantic integrity and
The word as an independent free standing
morphological uninterruptability makes the
language unit is distinguished in speech due
word different from word combinations.
to its ability to take on grammatical inflections
which makes it different from the morpheme.
 Lexical aspect of a
word
Lexical meaning is a complex
thing based on the procedure
of reflecting the reality in a
person’s mind. It is a specific
kind of “content” produced
(or engendered) by the
reverberation of objective
reality in the human
consciousness which
constitutes the inner structure
of linguistic units with respect
to which their material form is
the outer structure; the
material meaning of a word,
i.e. the meaning of the main
material part of the word,
which reflects the concept
the given word expresses
and the basic properties of
the thing (phenomenon,
property, state, etc.) the word
denotes.
Grammatical aspect
Improvements Evaluation
of a word
Grammatical meaning is very
abstract, very general. Thus,
the grammatical form is not
confined to an individual word,
but unites a whole class of
words, so that each word of the
class expresses the
corresponding grammatical
meaning together with its
individual, concrete
semantics.Grammaticalmeaning
is a general abstract meaning of
classes of words which finds its
expression through formal
markers thus placing a linguistic Improvements needed Update the product?
unit in a grammatical category
or a grammatical class of words • What improvements will • Are updates necessary or
make the product better? needed?
• What steps need to be • Is there value in creating
taken to make those product type 2.0?
improvements?