SOME IDEAS ABOUT LANGUAGE

• All children learn their native languages swiftly, efficiently, and largely without instruction.
• Language operates by rules.
• All languages have 3 major components: a sound system, a vocabulary, and a system of grammar.
• Everyone speaks a dialect.*)
• Speakers of all dialects employ a range of styles and a set of subdialects and jargon.
• Language changes are normal.
• Language is intimately related to the societies and individuals who use them.
• Value judgments about different languages or dialects are a matter of taste.
• Writing is a derivative of speech.

*)Dialects are different from accents. Accents include intonation and stressing. Dialects include pronunciation based on geographical aspect.