What is language? Characteristics of Human Language
Definition of language :
"Language in its widest sense means the sum total of such signs of our thoughts and feelings as are capable of external perception and as could be produced and repeated will"
A. H Gardiner, Speech AND language
"Language is purely human and non instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols."
Language : an introduction to speech sounds (Sapir 1921)
"Language is a communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals such as voice"
(Chevron Garrard)
Characteristic of Human Language
1.Language is means of communication:
Language is the best means of self expressions.
One can share his ideas, feelings, emotions , beliefs through language.
2.Language is Arbitrary:
By the arbitrariness of language we mean there is no inherent relation between the words of language and their meanings and ideas conveyed by them.
3.Language is a system of systems:
There is no reason why book is called book in English liver in French and shu in Chinese.
Selection of these words in language mentioned here is purely arbitrary, an accident of history.
4.Language is vocal:
Language is made up of vocal sound only produced by a physiological articulatory mechanism in the human body
6.Language is social phenomenon :
Language exists in society, it’s a means of nourishing and developing culture and establishing human relations.
7.Language is non instinctive, unconventional :
Language is the outcome of evolution and convention. Each generation transmits this convention on to the next.
No language was created in a day.
8.Productivity:
The structural elements of human language can be combined to produce new utterances.
9.Displacement :. Displacement which means the ability to talk across timez and space.
We often talk about events that happened long time ago and at distant place.
10.Language is symbolic:.
Language consists of various sound symbols and their graphological counterparts that are employed to donate some objects , or meanings.
11.Culture Transmission
A process through which beliefs, behavioral norms, preferences, traditions and such other aspects of culture are passed from one generation to other.
You can get material on this topic from the following books:
1.George Yule, The Study of language
www.academia.e...
2.Linguistics for Beginners by Tariq Rehman
vdocuments.mx/...
3. English as a Global Language
b-ok.asia/book...
4. On Language and Linguistics (Collected Works M. A. K. Halliday)
b-ok.asia/book...
5.An Introduction to Linguistics (7th edition)
b-ok.asia/book...
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