Human Growth and Development / Unit 5 HGD 0639 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Features of Language
The idea
Language can be described in layers. Phonology is its sound system, built of phonemes. Morphology is its units of meaning, the morphemes that make up words. Semantics is meaning in context. Syntax is the rules for ordering words, and grammar is the whole rule system, including syntax and morphology. Pragmatics is how language is used with real people in real settings. Preschoolers make progress in every layer at once.
In practice
One sentence from a four-year-old read layer by layer: its sounds, its word parts, its meaning, its word order, and whether it suited the listener.
Where people slip
Exam questions often describe a child's error and ask which layer it belongs to. "Goed" is grammar, a rule overapplied. "Doggie" for every animal is semantics. Talking over a teacher is pragmatics. Egocentrism fading helps pragmatics in particular, as children learn to adjust what they say to what a listener already knows.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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