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Peculiarities of the English LanguageThe English language is unique in that it contains four language systems: the Phonologic System, the Syntactic System, the Semantic System, and the Pragmatic System. These four different systems present many difficulties for a student learning English as a second language. An esl teacher must have knowledge of these systems in order to facilitate the language acquisition. The Phonological System is the first and most basic system and is the sound system of English with approximately forty-four sounds. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound while a grapheme is the written representation of a phoneme using one or more letters. This system is used in pronouncing words, detecting regional and other dialects, decoding words when reading, using invented spelling, and reading and writing alliterations and onomatopoeia. The second system is the Syntactic System. This is the structural system of English that governs how words are combined into sentences. Simply put, it is the word order that is used. This word order or the structure or grammar can change a sentence from a statement to a question. For example, ?She is going to the party.? versus ?Is she going to the party?? This system deals with morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of language; free morphemes, morphemes that can stand alone (root words); and bound morphemes, morphemes that must be attached to a free morpheme (prefixes and suffixes). Learning this system enables a student to add prefixes and suffixes to root words, combine words to form compound words, add inflectional endings to words, and to write simple, compound, and complex sentences. The Semantic System is the meaning system of English that focuses on vocabulary. In this system, a student learns about multiple meaning words and homonyms. Context clues become very important at this stage. For instance, ?The king reigns over all the land? could be confusing to an ESL learner. In the Semantic System, emphasis is put on learning the meanings of words; discovering that some words have multiple meanings; studying synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; and reading and writing comparisons. This would include figurative language such as metaphors and similes. The last, and most difficult, system is the Pragmatic System. This deals with the idiosyncrasies of the English language. This system of English varies language according to social and cultural uses. For example, if one is calling on the phone and asks, ?Is your mother home?? native english speakers would culturally and socially know that it really means that person would like to speak to her or, ?Get your mom on the phone.? The caller?s question is not strictly literal. Different terms that would be taught in this system include: function, the purpose for which a person uses language; standard English, the form of English used in textbooks and by television newscasters; and nonstandard English, other forms of English. In usage, this would be seen by varying language to fit specific purposes, reading and writing dialects, and comparing standard and nonstandard forms of English. esl teachers? knowledge and awareness of these four language systems is vital to the success of students and should give an appreciation of the complexities of learning English to the instructor. This appreciation would foster a stronger relationship between the teacher and student and thereby increase a successful learning environment.
