The Nature and Functions of Language Properties of

The Nature and Functions of Language Properties of Language

In any communication system, a code is used to transmit messages. A code is a complex pattern of association of the units of a communication system. Humans have a highly elaborated code called language, made up of words and the rules that combine them.

(In language those units could be sound units; meaningful units, such as words, or meaningful units that are larger than words, such as phrases, clauses and sentences). The study of language has identified several features of properties of langauge that differentiate human and animal codes.

1. Arbitrariness means that human languages use neutral symbols. There is no connection between the linguistic form and its corresponding linguistic meaning/ the thing being referred to / concept. For example, something as large as a ‘whale’ can be referred to by a very short word. Similarly, there is no natural connection between the word ‘dog’ and the four-legged animal it symbolises. It can be called by other names in other languages.

Onomatopoeic words such as "meow" or "bark“, “cuckoo”, “pop”, “bang”, “slurp”, and “squish”are often cited as counter-examples, based on the argument that they are pronounced like the sound of the objet they refer to. However, the similarity is very loose. Give one example.

2. Cultural transmission and tradition indicates that human beings hand their languages down from one generation to another. Human language is not something inborn. However, the potential to acquire a language is innate. Humans have the genetic potential to learn to encode their messages by acquiring the rules or grammar of their language

4. Duality of patterning /(double articulation) Language is organised in 2 layers, the basic sound units of speech or discrete sounds e. g. /p/, /e /, /n/, - only meaningful when combined. The discrete parts of a language can be recombined in a systematic way to create new forms. Duality of patterning refers to the ability to recombine small units in different orders.

5 Displacement the ability to refer to things far removed in time and place. The speaker can talk about things which are not present, either spatially or temporally. For example, human language allows speakers to talk about

the present, the past and the future. They can also talk about things that are physically distant (such as other countries, the moon, etc. ). They can even refer to things and events that do not actually exist (not present in reality) like Santa Claus or the destruction of Tara in Gone with the Wind. Animal communication is almost exclusively designed for this moment, here and now

7. Productivity is the ability to produce and understand virtually unlimited number of utterances ( novel sentences) from a limited number of words. A person can talk about anything he likes because of the ability to generate novel meanings 8. Openness is the ability to add new words, phrases or other meaningful units to a language. Humans can coin new words at will, hence adding new lexical items. Both properties are part of the creativity aspect of human language.

11. Reciprocity/ Interchangeability Any speaker or sender of a linguistic signal can also be a listener or receiver. The speaker can both receive and broadcast the same signal.