LANGUAGE

It is a system of communication by written or

spoken words, which is used by the people of a
particular country or area.

LINGUISTICS
It is a science that involves the scientific study of
language and how it works. It includes the
following branches: Phonetics, Phonology,
Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics.

GRAMMAR
- The rules by which words change their forms and are
combined into sentences, or the study or the use of these rules
(Longman, Dictionary of Contemporary English)
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- The systematic study and description of language in
terms of either syntax or morphology alone or these
together with aspects of phonology, orthography,
semantics, pragmatics and word formation.
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MORPHOLOGY
It studies the internal structure of words, of how
words are formed out of, morphemes.

SYNTAX
 It studies how words are combined to form phrases,
clauses and sentences.
SEMANTICS

It studies meanings.
In the English language there is a grammatical hierarchy made
up of five grammatical units.

THE MORPHEME
It is the minimal unit of language with meaning. It may be a word
or part of it. E.g.: car, unhappy, goes

THE WORD
It is a part of speech formed out of morphemes. E.g.: woman,
typical, cars.

OPEN CLASS OF WORDS

They are constantly changing in the language and thus admit and
incorporate new members. These words are also called lexical or
content words.

CLOSED CLASS OF WORDS

They relatively fixed and unchanging in the language. They are also
called “grammatical”, “function” or “structure words”.

THE PHRASE
Generally, it is a group of words. The phrase is defined by its “head
word”. We have the following phrases: noun phrase, verb phrase,
adverb phrase, adjective phrase and prepositional phrase.

THE CLAUSE
It is a group of phrases. It has at least one NP and one VP. E.g.
Maria is tall

THE SENTENCE
It represents the highest level in the hierarchy. There are three types
of sentences.