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What is Language?
Speech-language pathologists work across many areas of communication. While most people are familiar with “speech,” language is broader and sometimes more complex to explain. This overview explores what language is, how it is organized, and examples of language skills addressed in speech-language therapy.
Language is a system of rules that allows us to understand and express messages so we can communicate and connect with others. Language is not limited to speech; it can also be expressed through writing, sign language, and alternative systems such as AAC boards or speech-generating devices.
One way to organize language is by dividing it into two areas: receptive language and expressive language.
Receptive and Expressive Language
Receptive language refers to comprehension of language that is received (e.g. when following directions, understanding a reading passage, or understanding a question to respond to it). Therapy activities working on receptive language might focus on skills such as:
- Following directions
- Answering questions (e.g. about general knowledge or a story)
- Showing understanding of vocabulary, basic concepts, or grammatical structures
Expressive language refers to how language is created and conveyed to other people (e.g. when making a response, creating phrases or sentences, or telling stories). Therapy activities working on expressive language might focus on skills such as:
- Expanding utterances produced
- Naming or using vocabulary, basic concepts, or grammatical structures
- Telling stories
Building blocks of language
Another way to understand language is through three “building blocks”: form, content, and use. These areas describe how language is structured, what it means, and how it is used in social situations.
Form:
Phonology is the set of rules for how sounds are used and put together to form syllables and words. This area of language is often worked on in the context of speech sound disorders, as challenges with phonology often impact overall speech intelligibility. Examples of therapy activities for phonology may include using minimal pair activities, a complexity approach, multiple oppositions, maximal oppositions, or a cycles approach.
Morphology is the set of rules for how the smallest units of meaning, called morphemes, are put together to form words. Prefixes, suffixes, and word roots are all examples of morphemes. For example, the word "unmanageable" has 3 morphemes: the prefix "un," the root "manage," and the suffix "able." Therapy activities may look at morphology when focusing on specific structures such as plurals and regular/irregular past tense verbs.
Syntax is the set of rules for how words are ordered, put together, and agree with each other to convey meaning. For example, in a simple sentence like "The dog chases the ball," syntax determines the order of words in the sentence and that the verb "chases" agrees with a singular subject "the dog." Morphology and syntax are often put together when we think about the rules of grammar in a language. Therapy activities for syntax may focus on overarching grammatical rules when making sentences, such as subject-verb agreement, correct pronoun forms (e.g. when to use her instead of she), and how to make longer sentences (e.g. compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions, complex sentences with subordinating conjunctions).
Content:
Content refers to meaning in language, including vocabulary and how words relate to one another.
Semantics is the area of language related to meaning. This covers meanings of words, relationships between words, and overarching ways word meanings are organized and connected in language. Some examples of semantics that might be worked in on in language therapy include:
- Vocabulary & word retrieval
- Categories
- Word relationships (e.g. synonyms & antonyms, compare/contrast)
- Homonyms/Multiple meaning words
- Attributes/characteristics
Use:
Pragmatics: Pragmatic language refers to how we use language for social communication functions with others (e.g. to initiate/change/end social interactions, to ask for things or express needs/preferences, to navigate social situations and problem-solve challenges). Some examples of pragmatic language skills that can be worked on in therapy include:
- Using language for social functions (e.g. greetings & farewells, asking & answering questions, informing, requesting)
- Rules of conversation (e.g. starting & ending a discussion, taking conversational turns)
- Transitioning to different conversation topics
- Changing language depending on the conversation partner or communication partners
Summary
Language is a vast system with many areas that speech-language pathologists assess and treat. Receptive language looks at comprehension, and expressive language looks at expression of information. The form of language is made of rules around how sounds, units of meaning, and words are put together. The content of language is what gives language its meaning. And the use of language influences how we use language to socially interact with each other. Together, these frameworks help describe how language works and how communication skills can be supported across different contexts.
-Ian Quillen, M.S., CCC-SLP
References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Language in brief. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/spoken-language-disorders/language-in-brief/?srsltid=AfmBOopN8c_bc82lImaGWZH7nj4PY47tM0XTqTXowrsMcQ19JO7kmFqv
Date
Share
What is Language?
Speech-language pathologists work across many areas of communication. While most people are familiar with “speech,” language is broader and sometimes more complex to explain. This overview explores what language is, how it is organized, and examples of language skills addressed in speech-language therapy.
Language is a system of rules that allows us to understand and express messages so we can communicate and connect with others. Language is not limited to speech; it can also be expressed through writing, sign language, and alternative systems such as AAC boards or speech-generating devices.
One way to organize language is by dividing it into two areas: receptive language and expressive language.
Receptive and Expressive Language
Receptive language refers to comprehension of language that is received (e.g. when following directions, understanding a reading passage, or understanding a question to respond to it). Therapy activities working on receptive language might focus on skills such as:
- Following directions
- Answering questions (e.g. about general knowledge or a story)
- Showing understanding of vocabulary, basic concepts, or grammatical structures
Expressive language refers to how language is created and conveyed to other people (e.g. when making a response, creating phrases or sentences, or telling stories). Therapy activities working on expressive language might focus on skills such as:
- Expanding utterances produced
- Naming or using vocabulary, basic concepts, or grammatical structures
- Telling stories
Building blocks of language
Another way to understand language is through three “building blocks”: form, content, and use. These areas describe how language is structured, what it means, and how it is used in social situations.
Form:
Phonology is the set of rules for how sounds are used and put together to form syllables and words. This area of language is often worked on in the context of speech sound disorders, as challenges with phonology often impact overall speech intelligibility. Examples of therapy activities for phonology may include using minimal pair activities, a complexity approach, multiple oppositions, maximal oppositions, or a cycles approach.
Morphology is the set of rules for how the smallest units of meaning, called morphemes, are put together to form words. Prefixes, suffixes, and word roots are all examples of morphemes. For example, the word "unmanageable" has 3 morphemes: the prefix "un," the root "manage," and the suffix "able." Therapy activities may look at morphology when focusing on specific structures such as plurals and regular/irregular past tense verbs.
Syntax is the set of rules for how words are ordered, put together, and agree with each other to convey meaning. For example, in a simple sentence like "The dog chases the ball," syntax determines the order of words in the sentence and that the verb "chases" agrees with a singular subject "the dog." Morphology and syntax are often put together when we think about the rules of grammar in a language. Therapy activities for syntax may focus on overarching grammatical rules when making sentences, such as subject-verb agreement, correct pronoun forms (e.g. when to use her instead of she), and how to make longer sentences (e.g. compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions, complex sentences with subordinating conjunctions).
Content:
Content refers to meaning in language, including vocabulary and how words relate to one another.
Semantics is the area of language related to meaning. This covers meanings of words, relationships between words, and overarching ways word meanings are organized and connected in language. Some examples of semantics that might be worked in on in language therapy include:
- Vocabulary & word retrieval
- Categories
- Word relationships (e.g. synonyms & antonyms, compare/contrast)
- Homonyms/Multiple meaning words
- Attributes/characteristics
Use:
Pragmatics: Pragmatic language refers to how we use language for social communication functions with others (e.g. to initiate/change/end social interactions, to ask for things or express needs/preferences, to navigate social situations and problem-solve challenges). Some examples of pragmatic language skills that can be worked on in therapy include:
- Using language for social functions (e.g. greetings & farewells, asking & answering questions, informing, requesting)
- Rules of conversation (e.g. starting & ending a discussion, taking conversational turns)
- Transitioning to different conversation topics
- Changing language depending on the conversation partner or communication partners
Summary
Language is a vast system with many areas that speech-language pathologists assess and treat. Receptive language looks at comprehension, and expressive language looks at expression of information. The form of language is made of rules around how sounds, units of meaning, and words are put together. The content of language is what gives language its meaning. And the use of language influences how we use language to socially interact with each other. Together, these frameworks help describe how language works and how communication skills can be supported across different contexts.
-Ian Quillen, M.S., CCC-SLP
References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Language in brief. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/spoken-language-disorders/language-in-brief/?srsltid=AfmBOopN8c_bc82lImaGWZH7nj4PY47tM0XTqTXowrsMcQ19JO7kmFqv
