FREE ESSAY ON COGNITION

COGNITION

) I chose to find the entomology of a word that most people can usually not go through a
day without using at least once, computer. With the explosion of the personal computer in
the last ten years, most households in America own at least one. However, the meaning of
the word computer has changed in the last century. The word itself is found in text as
far back as 1646 when Sir T. Brown said, The calendars of these computers. The use of
computer in this sense, as defined by the OED, is one who computes; a calculator,
reckoner; a person employed to make calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc.
Then, around 1897, the use of computer began to change. In the January 22 edition of
Engineering, this usage appeared: This was... a computer made by Mr. W. Cox. He described
it as of the nature of a circular slide rule. This usage began the change of the
definition. In the supplement to the OED, computer is now defined as a calculating
machine; an automatic electronic device for performing mathematical or logical
operation.
The word computer stems from the verb compute which came from the French comput-r and the
Latin computa-re. It was formed by adding com - together and putare - to clear up,
settle, reckon. Together, compute means to estimate or determine by arithmetical or
mathematical reckoning; to calculate, reckon, count. Then from the word compute, the
suffix er was added giving us the definitions we have for computer today.
2) In an effort to further understand language, the field of psycholinguistics formed to
study the psychological side of language. Language has many different functions such as
communication, expressing emotion, explaining ideas, to create relationships, and
recording ideas. Without the use of language, it would be nearly impossible to explain
the history of anything. Language allows for the communication that is necessary for
survival. It is not only humans who benefit from language either. Bees use a complex
system of a dance and buzz to show the hive where to find food, and birds use different
chirps to communicate.
One psycholinguistic, Hockett, said that all languages have some aspects that are the
same at some level which he called Linguistic Universals. One aspect of Linguistic
Universals is the broadcast transmission, which says that language is public and that
anyone around the message will pick it up. Another aspect of language is that it is rapid
fading, or if you don't get it right away, you won't get it at all. Hockett also said
that language is arbitrary. An object could actually be called anything anyone wants to
call it. In all, Hockett came up with nine aspects that all languages have in common.
In order to understand language, Chomsky believed that there were four levels needed. The
first of his four levels was the Lexicon. He described the Lexicon as a mental
dictionary. It allows for recognizing words in context, knowing how to pronounce the word
in its context, and how the word is used in different parts of speech. 
Chomsky's second level was called the Phonemic level. This described the phonemes or the
smallest unit of sound in the language. For every language there are a countable number
of sounds that make it up. For example, the Chinese language has no sound for the English
L or R. The English language is made up of 40 to 50 distinct sounds while the Hawaiian
language has only eleven.
His third level needed for understanding language is the Morphemic level. This level
consists of morphemenes, which are the smallest unit of meaning of an utterance. This
explains the usage of prefixes and suffixes such as the use of an s to make a word
plural.
The last level Chomsky used to understand language was the Syntactic level. This level
consisted of the syntax or the structure of the utterance. This level was used to explain
the understanding of how a sentence was put together. Chomsky said that there were two
parts to every sentence, the surface structure and the deep structure. The surface
structure contains the words that are used to create the utterance and syntax. The deep
structure was the meaning of the utterance. Chomsky said that a sentence can consist of
two different surface structures and still have the same deep structure. The meaning of
the sentence is transcendent of the words used to make it. So, for a sentence such as,
The horse raced past the barn fell, is still understood as The horse that was raced past
the barn fell.
I think that the levels of linguistic approach to understanding language does help
explain and breakdown language. It makes sense that all these parts are necessary to
understand the usage of language in general. Chomsky's four levels for understanding
language breakdown and map out language pretty good. Hockett's Linguistic Universals do
show the aspects that language has in general. Together, the two theories do seem to show
an appropriate framework.