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September 30, 2005
Morphology: The Words of Language
• Based on the specific examples above, do you have evidence that your brain might handle/learn/store function words different than content words? This question holds great validity and truth for me. After reading this chapter, I am convinced that the brain may handle/learn/store function words differently from content words. It just seems to make sense. We can turn content words upside down; add prefixes and suffixes to change the word into a completely different one with a completely different meaning. Function words do not have this ability. They are words that we know cannot be changed and switched. They always have the same meaning. These words must belong to a part of our brain that has to deal with memorization or logical thinking. When words are put together in a sentence, a function word helps to give the sentence grammatical structure as well as fluidity. Content words, on the other hand, seem to belong to a part of our brains that is responsible for part of our lexicon, but also our creativity. Having the ability to change words to form different meanings definitely has to deal with rearrangement and knowing what sounds right and wrong. This chapter of the open class of content words and the closed class of function words further solidifies the hypothesis that separate parts of the brain control each group. -Christina
Posted by lcisgancarz at September 30, 2005 10:03 PM
Comments
Christina--
I really enjoyed and agreed with your blog about the way the brain stores content words versus the way it stores function words. I had a little bit different reasoning, though, that led to the same conclusion as you.
I definitely believe that this our brain handles function words differently than content words. Content words have a distinct purpose in our brain; we can attach a picture to the content word in our head. However, function words are much more ambiguous, and it is difficult for most people to attach a distinct meaning to function words. In the same way, function words are very difficult to translate into other languages. In my French course, that is one of the things I struggle with most because function words do not follow any finite rules, instead they are used interchangeably and without pattern. Thus, I think our brain does store these two types of words differently, simply because content words are easier to attach a concrete idea onto.
Its weird cause we came to the same conclusion, but almost for opposite reasons.
--Brenna DeCotis
Posted by: Brenna at October 2, 2005 10:52 PM