Language

A way to use forms (sounds, words) to share meaning on purpose

System

A set of rules that organize how language works

Form-Meaning Pairings

Links between how something sounds or looks and what it means

Intentionality

Speaking or writing to achieve a goal

Linguistics

The study of language

Phonetics

The study of speech sounds

Phonology

The study of sound patterns in a language

Morphology

The study of words and their parts

Semantics

The study of word meaning

Syntax

The study of sentence structure

Pragmatics

The study of meaning in context

Discourse Studies

The study of language in conversations and texts

Embodiedness

Language depends on the body and senses

Embeddedness

Language always happens in a context

Mental Models

Internal pictures of situations

Incremental Processing

Understanding language step by step

Multimodality

Using speech, gesture, and body together

Verbal Communication

Communication using words

Non-Verbal Communication

Communication without words

Listening

Understanding spoken language over time

Reading

Understanding written language visually

Speaking

Producing language with speech

Writing

Producing language with text

Physical Context

The physical situation around the speaker

Sociocultural Context

Social and cultural influences on language

Linguistic Context

Other words and sentences around a word

Experimental Context

The task and setting of an experiment

Mental Model Updating

Changing the model when new info appears

Situation Representation

A mental view of what is happening

Non-Modularity

Language works together with other mental systems

Prediction

Guessing what comes next in language

Parallel Processing

Processing different information at the same time

Bottom-Up Processing

Understanding starting from the input

Top-Down Processing

Understanding guided by expectations

Core Assumptions

Embodiedness, embeddedness, mental models, and incremental processing