Language As It Relates To Cognition

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Language As It Relates To Cognition
Psychology helps people in understanding some of the most important aspects of the human nature that incorporate the ability to learn, understand, differentiate language, as well as produce language. In psychology, language is a systematic way through which people convey meaning by the use of sounds, as well as symbols (HubPages Inc., 2013). The study of human psychology depends on the major integral parts of the human nature, which include language and communication. Despite the fact that there are many languages spoken today, these languages use similar basic characteristics. Lexicon is defined as an individual’s internalized cognition of the properties composed in words (Lexicon & Language, 2010). Simply put, lexicon is the vocabulary of a specific language. It provides a lead into what written symbols mean in the subject language. Almost all cultures have their own lexicon and language. A complete communication system must have a language where this language has four key features, which represent the subject communication system.
Although languages are different in diverse cultures, all languages have similar features. According to these features language is dynamic, has dialect, is idiolect, is communicative, flexible, and is structured. The world has experienced a critical period of development where humans are predisposed towards the assimilation of the syntax, as well as the grammar of the language. This shows that language has flexibility and is dynamic. Research indicates that at the age of 16, individuals’ capabilities to learn new languages decrease drastically. Specifically, an individual’s capability to become fluent in the English language syntax reduces. This shows that language is idiolect (Stoker, 2009). Language appears to be a human attribute that excludes even the close genetic relatives known as primates. Although it is believed that primates use some form of symbolic communication, the fact remains that they do not use any form of communication that is close to what humans use. Moreover, primates are not capable of learning grammatical language. Nevertheless, they are good at memorizing the surface structure of language and even use it in rare circumstances. However, they are not capable of understanding or transforming the underlying meaning of language or words. Simply, primates can understand words but not the language. Therefore, the grammatical comprehension and the reproduction of words are innate in humans and deficient in animals. This indicates that language is a dialect. The idea of language being structured and communicative is shown by the fact that it is only meant for humans, and it comprises the only way of communicating between individuals. Just as language has features, it also comprises of different levels.
The chief levels of language and processing, as far as psychology is concerned, include phonemes, words, sentences, and text. Without these features, language would not be complete and would be incomprehensible. First, phonemes represent one of the key features of a language that makes a language unique and different from other languages. In linguistics, phonemes represent speech sounds, which play a significant role in a specific language. Moreover, a phoneme is conventionally indicated by the use of slash symbols. Furthermore, it is not examinable as smaller meaningful sounds. Individuals say that a speech sound is meaningful if its contrast among other sounds is applied to mark differences in meaning. In the same way that linguistics helps in the study of the physical properties of a speech, from the linguistic perspective, a phoneme helps in comprehending the different properties of speech, as well as the physiological ways through which the speech sounds are not only produced but also perceived. With regard to showing how speech sounds are produced, phonemes show that an alphabetical letter such as ‘a’ can be used in different ways. For instance, the words ‘back’ and ‘baby’ show the usage of ‘a’ in different instances. This indicates that there are letters in the alphabetical order that play double duty. Second, words are also important in a language since they represent the main part of a conversation (Lexicon & Language, 2010). In the absence of words, a language would be nonexistent. Words can be expressed in additional ways besides being spoken. In most cultures, words can also be signed in a sign language, as well as being written. A word is an element of language, which consists of one or even more spoken sounds or written representations. The words function as the principal carriers of meaning, which is conveyed. Words are comprised of either single or more morphemes. Additionally, they represent the smallest units capable of independent use. Words can also comprise of two or more units combined under specific linking conditions where they also ferry the required meaning. Simply put, words are the phonemes that fit together to form the words in the English language. When words are linked together to form a different meaning, they are referred to as a sentence.
Third, sentences comprise the grammatical element of either one or even more words, which bear a minimal syntactical relation with the words that follow or precede it. In speech, sentences usually precede and follow pauses comprising of one of a limited number of feature intonation patterns and a typical expression of an independent statement, request, question, or even a command. Therefore, sentences represent the grammatical placements of words, which help people in constructing thoughts when they try to speak or write (HubPages Inc., 2013). This shows that words are central to communication. Lastly, text is the use of related sentences in groupings, which help in the formation of paragraphs that explain a specific subject (Lexicon & Language, 2010). It represents the principal body matter in a newspaper or a book. The words and sentences of a written paper represent the text and carry the meaning of a specific subject. However, the text in a paragraph is usually related with regard to the meaning and the subjects being communicated. The whole conversation is the text. While words comprise the sentences and sentences comprise conversations, a conversation is comprised of text.
Since psychology is mainly concerned with cognition, language processing plays a major role in this factor. Processing of language helps in determining the comprehension of a specific sentence. Moreover, processing helps in not only understanding what the sentence says, but also how it was constructed. This also helps in removing ambiguity in order to allow for better understanding of what is being communicated. Language seems to have some form of a biasing effect on specific cognitive functions that incorporate memory representations, as well as color naming. With respect to color naming, research indicates that language has huge significance in determining the type of color mismatch that people from different language backgrounds make. Deteriorated color naming vocabulary causes color ambiguity when the colors are placed close together. On the other hand, languages that have clear enumeration of terms that identify different colors reduce the level of ambiguity (Stoker, 2009). This shows that difference in language processing might increase the level of ambiguity in determining different things such as colors. Moreover, in the case of reducing ambiguity, language acts as a way of filtering and categorizing people’s perceptions with ease. In addition, with respect to memory representations, language helps in determining the descriptive words that people choose to associate with specific nouns. Hence, language helps people in determining the most appropriate words to use in order to communicate a specific meaning. For instance, language may prompt an individual to prefer material to a shape where the individual describes a tree as made of wood instead of being tall. Additionally, language structure and language competency appear to possess a significant effect on cognitive development in adolescents and children. For instance, there are similarities in attribute representation, as well as difference relations. Generally, there is a correlation between language and color differentiation, cognitive development, and choice of words.
In conclusion, language is the only way in which people communicate. It can be spoken, signed, or written. Language is flexible, idiolect, communicative, and dialect. Although languages are different, they have similar aspects. Additionally, there are different levels of language including words, sentences, phonemes, and text. All levels of language collaborate in facilitating communication or in making sense. Generally, human cognition depends on the psychology of language where individuals differentiate diverse languages.

References
HubPages Inc. (2013). Psych-cognition of language. Retrieved from
http://jdec.hubpages.com/hub/Psych-Cognition-of-Language
Lexicon & Language. (2010). Retrieved from
http://sadurst.hubpages.com/hub/Lexicon-Language
Stoker, C. (2009). Language paper (PSY360). Retrieved from
http://stokercg2913.blogspot.com/2009/08/language-paper.html