Reflection on Chapter 2 “Components of Language”

Reflection on Chapter 2 “Components of Language”

2.1 The Sound of Language

SWORD—What is the correct pronunciation of this word? Is it pronounced as the way it is written /svord/? The point of this simple example is that it is not an easy task to pronounce words correctly if without any specific symbols used to represent those sounds. Indeed, I usually pronounced words based on their physical appearances. But after learning Chapter 2 entitled “Components of Language” under the first main point “The Sound of Language”, I realized that the method I applied for pronouncing those words was totally inappropriate. 

To learn how to pronounce words, the newly-met-words, correctly, one needs to learn how to read phonetic alphabets, a set of symbols that represent each sound. As mentioned earlier, the word SWORD is not pronounced as it is written but with the absence of the consonant W. Here is the correct pronunciation of this word: /sɔːd/ or /sɔːrd/. Nod only have I learnt about what phonetic alphabet is, but many key concepts such as Phonetics, Voiced and Voiceless Sound, Place of Articulation, and Manner of Articulation are also precisely illustrated. These key concepts are really useful in helping me understand clearly about the text. For instance, before studying this chapter, I hadn’t any faintest ideas what voiced and voiceless sounds are.  I could not differentiate between /t/ and /d/ sound—I mean whether I should pronounce t or d with the verbs in past tense which end in –ed. On the other side of the coin, with the understanding of the lesson, I have come to know that we should pronounce with /t/ when the ending sound of the verb is voiceless or else it is pronounced with /d/ sound.

 
With the clear illustrating points, this chapter should be recommended to use as a reading material for the younger generations who wish to learn about the sound of the language. However, it will be better if some more examples or extra reading materials are included in this lesson.  And I am also deeply appreciative for my lecturer’s clear and precise explanation on the subjects matter. Had it not been for him, I would not be able to understand all the key points like this. All in all, I can say that from day to day I can absorb the lesson more clearly and store it in my mind with confidence. I sincerely hope that the next coming lessons will be clearly illustrated as in the point I have mentioned above. It is an interesting subject, Applied Linguistics

"What is Language?" reflection writting

I have been hearing incessantly that amongst all of the subjects lectured at IFL for the teacher trainees in year 4, Applied Linguistic is the most difficult one. Some students, who studied this subject in the previous years, said that they could not top up their score and some of them even said that they failed the exam on this subject and needed to take the supplementary test because it was very difficult for them to catch the meaning of the subject. However, after having attended the Introduction to Applied Linguistics session during my first class with my lecturer Sim Siden, a Fullbright winner and a highly knowledgeable professor at IFL, and read the first chapter titled “What is language?”, I have come to believe that what I have heard is true. It is complicated but not impossible to understand. I think that it takes time and needs commitment if we are to fully understand about the content of this subject. After having been reading through a few pages of this subject, I would like to say that Applied Linguistics is one of the most interesting subjects ever.

In chapter 1 titled “What is language?”, the definition illustrated in this chapter is quite abstract and also hard for me to understand. I have read three times, but I could only understand a small segment of what is stated in this chapter. It is not a great surprise for me because I think that it is because I am a new comer to come into this philosophical discipline—I call it so because it is a content based subject. However, I believe that I will be able to understand its concept clearly after reading several times and attending the lectures given by my lecturer.

One of the most interesting things in chapter 1 is the question “What is language?” I always thought that language is merely something we use to communicate. I thought it was just so simple that I had never taken it for serious. But everything is different. I’ve just learnt, after reading this chapter, that language is defined differently from individual to individual. Some people define it as a social fact while others view it as a mental reality. And some people even give more complicated definition to language. Therefore, we can say that there is no fixed answer to what language is, but there are some common characteristics of the aspect of language. It can not be far beyond the ability of people to understand. That common characteristic is its structure. To illustrate this, let take a glance at the example taken from the book on page 11. It writes “We can say Kim kissed the crocodile or The crocodile kissed Kim, be we cannot choose to say, as a meaningful English, Kissed crocodile Kim the.”

To sum up, my comment on this subject is that it is a difficult subject but interesting and beneficial for us as teacher trainees. And the above illustration is my first comment on chapter one or the subject as a whole. I hope that I will be able to fully understand the concept of this subject clearly by attending this course.