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Chapter Four |
| << Module Two Overview | > Assignments Ch. Four | > Assignments Ch. Five | > Assignments Ch. Six |
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Language is discussed in our chapter as a powerful tool of expression. To know how to use that tool well, we need to explore what makes up a language. Chapter Four outlines four parts of language as a system: sounds, words, grammar and meaning. For this chapter, there will be one discussion topic. |
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Describe your speech community. Linguists use that term to define a group of people who speak a distinct variety of a language. Informally, we refer to this as our "accent" or "dialect." For when we grow up in a particular speech community, we learn the rules for making the sounds of the language, we develop rules for the meanings of words and we master the grammar for constructing phrases and sentences. Along with reading the discussion of language in our text, you might also draw on some of the Weblinks that are summarized in the section on language in the Interpersonal Web and some of the specialized dictionaries that can be found on the Allyn and Bacon Public Speaking Website. |
Verbal Communication <http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli /spd110td/interper/message/ messageverbal.html> Explore this whole page and make special note of the page for Language and Speech Communities <http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli /spd110td/interper/message/ messagespeechcomm.html> Look it Up <http://www.abacon.com/ pubspeak/organize/dict.html> This is a collection of dictionaries that you may find useful for looking at word meanings in a wide range of contexts and communities. |
| In addition to the Web resources, I will place a video on
reserve at the Learning Resource Center at the Annandale campus entitled
"American Tongues." Viewing it is optional.
The film does an excellent job of providing concrete examples to demonstrate its claim that everyone has an accent. For, we all grow up in a speech community and learn a "variety" or "accent" that distinguishes our style of speech. |
| Accents differ in the way that sounds are produced; in the use of semantic rules to establish the denotative and connotative meanings of words; and the grammatical rules for creating phrases and sentences. How would you label your speech community? What is distinctive about its dialect? Use examples to illustrate how members of your speech community have a unique way of sounding words or share unusual meanings for words. As you describe your speech community in topic 10 of our discussion board on Blackboard, use some of the key terms and provide concrete examples. |
speech community dialect semantic rules denotative meanings connotative meanings phonetic rules grammatical rules |
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Copyright, 2001 by Terrence A. Doyle, Ph. D |