ABSTRACT
Language is built up out of parts, which linguists study via a range of concepts and tools: phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, grammar, and syntax. The practical use of language in speech and writing depends on these tools, although speakers may not be consciously aware of them. Metapragmatics has reemerged as a focus of study, possibly in part because the proliferation of media forms conduces toward an increase in self-consciousness. Language began in human prehistory as speech. It is also marked by the initial primacy of speech as children learn it. A general point that underlies the topics broached in this chapter is that cultural preferences and values shape or influence language practices, including the ways in which literate and oral domains are put to use and what usages constitute illocution or perlocutionary effects.
