What is language?
Linguistics July, 11th 2015 Licda. Milvia Rosales
Dictionary definition • It is a system for the expression of thoughts, feelings etc. by the use of spoken sounds or conventional symbols.
• The faculty for the use of such systems, a distinguishing characteristic of humans as compared with other animals. • The language of a particular nation or people.
• Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and a language is any specific example of such a system. • The English word "language" derives ultimately from Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s "tongue, speech, language" through Latin lingua, "language; tongue", and Old French langage "language"
• Language is a unique and organic communication system. It is unique because it is only humans who possess it. • It is organic because it grows and changes all the time, just like a plant or any organism.
• It is unique because of its close relationship with the human mind, the brain and society.
Five functions of language • Social interaction: It is a way of easing relationships with others; to help build bridges between people. For example use of slang amongst members of a particular social group. • Expression of identity • Emotional expression: To explore how we feel about ourselves and the world.
• Recording of facts: Information stored for future use; to organize facts and data; to teach and learn. • Naming the world.
What is lingua franca? • A language used for communication among people of different mother tongues: English is the lingua franca for many business people in many countries. • The use of lingua francas may be almost as old as language itself. Certainly they have existed since antiquity. • Latin and Greek were the lingua francas of the Roman empire; and then Aramaic, remained the common languages of a large part of Western Asia through several earlier empires. The most obvious example today is English.
Difference between human and animal language • Human language is unique in comparison to other forms of communication, such as those used by non-human animals. Communication systems used by other animals such as bees or non-human apes are closed systems that consist of a closed number of possible things that can be expressed.
• In contrast, human language is open-ended and productive, meaning that it allows humans to produce an infinite set of utterances from a finite set of elements and to create new words and sentences.
Similarities of Human and Animal Language • They can be find in the definition of the word communication. • Communication includes the use of both signals and symbols. (signals are noises or gestures that have a clear meaning). • For example: Animal and baby cries or laughing are a good example of signals in both humans and animals.
• com·mu·ni·ca·tion noun \kə-ˌmyü-nəˈkā-shən\: the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else merriam-webster dictionary.
How can communication be possible?
• This is possible because human language is based on a dual code, where a finite number of meaningless elements (e.g. sounds, letters or gestures) can be combined to form units of meaning (words and sentences).
Comunication
FEATURES
ANIMAL
HUMAN
Uses signals
Uses symbols
X
Has duality of pattern
X
Different types of languages: • Isolating Chinese.
languages
(analytical/root
languages)
• Agglutinating languages, examples: Uralic languages, Turkish, Japanese, Swahili, Etruscan.
• Inflecting languages: (Semitic) languages
Indo-European, Latin, Arabic
• Polysynthetic or incorporating languages: languages and Australian languages
Indian
• Analytic languages: the development of the Latin language as inflecting to its daughter languages.
Features of communication • Channel: the messages are primarily transmitted via the vocal-auditory channel. • Linearity: the message is extended temporally (speech) and locally as a string (writing) and is produced and analyzed as a sequence. • Redundancy: the same information may be given several times.
Body language • Body language is a form of mental and physical ability of human non-verbal communication, consisting of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously. • It may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication.
Parts of the body used • Eyes • Hands • Legs and Feet
Eyes • Looking right: Indicates the person is creating, fabricating, lying. • Looking left: the person is recalling facts, remembering. • Direct eye contact: this can be an indication of honesty. • Widening eyes: This indicates appeal, interest and invitation. Interest in someone or something you look at. • Rubbing eyes: Can be associated with disbelief about something. Or a person may be tired or bored. • Pupils dilated: when someone sees something that is appealing to them or attractive. • Blinking: frequent blinking it is a sign of excitement or pressure.
Arms • Arms can indicate many things to a person, when they are across the body it can be a defensive barrier and when they are by your side it can mean you feel open and secure. • Crossed arms: Usually associated with protective barrier. This could be boredom or feeling threatened. • Gripping own upper arms: This can be seen as insecurity in some males and females. It is a way of self hugging, and attempt to reassure one self. • Arms held behind body with hands clasped: This is a signal of authority or confidence.
Legs and feet • Uncrossed legs, sitting-general: When legs are uncrossed that generally means they have an open attitude no matter if it is male or female. • Parallel legs: Legs together generally mean properness when it is concerning a female, this is a very unusual stance in males. • Shoe-play: Usually seen in females, this can mean relaxation or flirting.
What is linguistics? • The scientific study of language is called linguistics. • It is also the study of the way language is used in everyday life, the way it is employed.
Branches of Linguistics • • • • • • • •
Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics.
Curious Facts about the language • The most spoken language in the word is the Chinese (Mandarin) language it has 1,075,000,000 speaker. English is second with 514,000,000. • How are the world's languages organized? They can be organized alphabetically, genetically, and geographically. • How many languages exists? At the present time, there are about five thousand languages and dialects spoken in the world. 850 are practiced in India.
• What are the top language to speak in the business world? Mandarin, English, Japanese, German and Spanish.
• What are the 3 top dead languages? Latin, ancient Greek,+ Sanskrit, are studied by large numbers of people because of their literary or historical importance.
• How many countries have Spanish as the official language? 21 countries where Spanish is an official language, with the biggest being Mexico
Answer the following questions: 1-
Is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and any specific example of such a system?
Possible answers: Phonetics
Linguistics
Language
• Lingua Franca is a language used for communication among people of different mother tongues.
TRUE
FALSE
• Name the five functions of language :
1- Social interaction 2- Expression of identity 3- Emotional expression
4- Recording of facts 5- Naming the world
What are the differences between human and animal languages?
• Humans use symbols to communicate
• Human language has duality of pattern
• Animals uses symbols to communicate • Animals use sygnals to communicate
• Humans have a limited number of utterances
E-graphy • http://www.u5d.net/Linguistics/8-types-of-languages.html. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language • http://www.tuchemnitz.de/phil/english/chairs/linguist/independent/kursm aterialien/introling/introling-complete.pdf • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_language • http://www.chacha.com/question/how-many-countrieshave-spanish-as-the-official-language%3F-how-manycountries-have-spanish-as-the-official-language • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_language • http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Body-Language