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  • Publishing English Literacy Workbooks for Spanish-Speaking Teens and Adults for Over 30 Years

Fisher Hill Publishers

Elements of Language

Elements of Language (Part Two)

Elements of Language (Part Two) 150 150 fisherhilladmin

speaking03According to Dr. Eric Q. Tridas there are seven elements of language.  Dr. Tridas is the director of The Tridas Center for Child Development. He is a board certified pediatrician who specializes in the diagnosis and management of developmental and behavioral conditions such as ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and other neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems.  In Elements of Language Part One, I wrote about four of those elements:  phonology, morphology, semantic, and syntax. Now, I will share his information about the other three.

Pragmatics:  He defines this element as the ability to use language for the purpose of socially interacting with others.  The listener must understand what the speaker meant by what he said. In order to have appropriate pragmatic skills, a person must understand that language is used for different purposes:  greetings, requests, demands, informing or promising.  Pragmatics also refers to the need to modify language according to the listener or situation.

Metalinguistics:  He defines this term as the ability to have language awareness.  This includes the ability to recognize that words can have multiple meanings.  It is the ability to understand puns, riddles and humor.  It includes a person’s ability to understand metaphors, figurative language, sarcasm and paradox.

Speech/Articulation:  Dr. Tridas defines speech as the ability to form and string sounds together.  The most common types of articulation disorders include omissions, substitutions, distortions, and additions of speech sounds.

Understanding the basic elements of language and speech can allow parents, teachers and other professionals to decide what type of intervention services are needed for a student who has difficulty with one or more of these elements of language.

Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to learn about our workbooks that help Spanish-speaking teens and adults read, write and speak English.

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