Psy 360

Language Paper

3-9-11

Charley Dewey

Cognitive psychology has complex language definitions which inhibit our minds daily. The language in cognitive psychology consists of four key features which directly relates to cognitive psychology. There are also four features that make languages separate and unique. I will discuss the meaning of language and how language involves cognitive psychology.

Language is defined as “a body of words and the system for their use common to a group of people who are of the same community and nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.”( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/language). Lexicon is the language of the vocabulary. Lexicon is the words and expressions used in a language. Lexicon is much like a container for words which relates a particular set of language to a particular culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexicon).

There are four key features in language which relates language to cognitive psychology. These key features are communicative, arbitrary, structured, generative and dynamic. Communicative is the speech between the two individuals speaking. Arbitrary is the relationship between the language and their meanings. Structured is the way that individuals order and phrase sentences. Generative are the basic words that are used to describe ourselves. Dynamic is a term used to describe the English language and it’s ever changing ways, terms and meanings.

There are four key features of language which makes each language different. The first key feature is phonemes-phonetics. This feature makes each language different. Phonemes are in linguistics, a speech sound that plays a meaningful role in a language and cannot be analyzed into smaller meaningful sounds, conventionally indicated by slash symbols. Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds and the physiological means by which these are produced and perceived...