Author: Yessy Marzona

Meaning seems at once the most obvious feature of language and the most obscure aspect to study. It is obvious because it is what we use language for—to communicate with each other, to convey ‘what we mean’ effectively. But the steps in understanding something said to us in a language in which we are fluent are so rapid, so transparent, that we have little conscious feel for the principles and knowledge which underlie this communicative ability. Questions of ‘semantics’ are an important part of the study of linguistic structure. They encompass several different investigations: how each language provides words and…

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Meaning seems at once the most obvious feature of language and the most obscure aspect to study. It is obvious because it is what we use language for—to communicate with each other, to convey ‘what we mean’ effectively. But the steps in understanding something said to us in a language in which we are fluent are so rapid, so transparent, that we have little conscious feel for the principles and knowledge which underlie this communicative ability. Questions of ‘semantics’ are an important part of the study of linguistic structure. They encompass several different investigations: how each language provides words and…

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Listening comprehension encompasses the multiple processes involved in understanding and making sense of spoken language. These include recognizing speech sounds, understanding the meaning of individual words, and/or understanding the syntax of sentences in which they are presented. Listening comprehension can also involve the prosody with which utterances are spoken (which can, e.g., change intended meaning from a statement to a question), and making relevant inferences based on context, real-world knowledge, and speaker-specific attributes (e.g., to what information the speaker has access and about what he/she is likely to be talking). For longer stretches of language or discourse, listening comprehension also…

Listening comprehension encompasses the multiple processes involved in understanding and making sense of spoken language. These include recognizing speech sounds, understanding the meaning of individual words, and/or understanding the syntax of sentences in which they are presented. Listening comprehension can also involve the prosody with which utterances are spoken (which can, e.g., change intended meaning from a statement to a question), and making relevant inferences based on context, real-world knowledge, and speaker-specific attributes (e.g., to what information the speaker has access and about what he/she is likely to be talking). For longer stretches of language or discourse, listening comprehension also…