One of many helpful ways to view language is to see it as a fusion of the abstract (EMIC) with the tangible (ETIC). Think of a word in your head. Now think of an entire sentence. Think of a few more things you could say. No one knows what you have just thought. This emic realm of language is abstract, not tangible, existing only in your mind. The emic is the conceptual realm of language. Now say aloud what you had in your mind, or take a pen and write it down. This etic realm