ELE 121: Introduction to Linguistics

Chapter 1:

The Foundations on the Study of Language

Lesson 1: Definition and Design of Language

Language is defined as speech communication, cognitive process, linguistic

communication, and culture-shaped.

Speech Communication: Language is about the production and reception of

sounds. Through the use of speech organs, humans are capable of transferring
information, even in the shortest amount of time.

Cognitive Process: Language as a cognitive process is professed as an

instrument of thinking where language mirrors the mind.

Linguistic Communication: Language, as linguistic communication, is perceived

as sets of signs and a system of symbols grounded on pure arbitrary concords. The
configuration of language is complex yet methodical.

Culture-shaped: Language is a means of communicating the culture of a

particular community or members of society. Language is cultural because it is a
social institution.

Various Views of Language

Structuralists:

They view language as a structured system of components, an idea with a

specific framework. Language, for them, is a system, possesses a structure that
governs the aspects of every element of a whole. A structuralist language teacher
provides drills and activities where students are required to analyze the patterns of
sounds, the configurations of word formations, the arrangement of the words in the
sentences. They focus on the students’ mastery of the codes and system of language.

Transformationalists:

They view language as a generative and creative process. Language pervades

creativity since it is more abstract and has more reflective elements. They maintain
the sight of language as an actual knowledge and use, that language is internalized
when language atmosphere is provided. A transformationalist language teacher
allows students to use the language in a creative way by using their innate multiple
intelligences to be creative and at the same time utilize language. Major Proponent:
Noam Chomsky

Functionalists:

They view language as an instrument for communication and a vehicle for

expression. They argue that structure can be best analyzed when referred to the
functions they carry-out in a communicative context. They believe that language is
acquired, produced, used, and structured for interactions. A functionalist language
teacher provides authentic tasks that will allow students to use the language and
attain the function of the interaction, and eventually transmit order in society. Major
Proponent: Michael Halliday

Interactionists: T

hey view language as a product of a human desire to communicate with

another and acquire the language which one desires to learn. They believe that
human genetics provides and individual the capability to produce language and his/
her interactions makes him/her master the language. An interactionist language
teacher targets the mastery of the students in a second language and will allow
students to communicate and interact with each other to practice the use of the
target language believing that language is developed through social interaction.
Major Proponent: Vygotsky

The Design of Language: Communication

All human beings use language to communicate. Linguists call this the communicative
function of language. 


Structuring the Ingredients of Communication

Whenever linguistic communication takes place, four ingredients are present:

1. users

2. message

3. code

4. signal

In particular, users transmit messages to each other by encoding them into a signal.
These four ingredients expand into the 14 design features listed below:

Design Features of Human Language

Ingredient Design Feature Definition

Specialized Speech is specialized for communication

Interchangeable Users send and receive messages

User Sensitive to Users monitor and adjust their production as necessary
Feedback

Interactive Users learn language by interacting with other users

Meaningful Language specifies meanings—i.e.semanticity

Productive Language creates new messages—i.e. productivity

Message
Displaced from the Language talks about things that are located elsewhere in time
here and the now and space—i.e. displacement

Discrete Messages consist of smaller parts or units

Arbitrary There is no intrinsic (built-in) connection between the signal

Code and the meaning it conveys

Hierarchical Small units (individual sounds) combine to form larger units

(words)—a.k.a. duality of patterning

Modality-specific Spoken language uses the airways to produce acoustic and

visual signals, keeping the hands free for other tasks

One-to-many One sender broadcasts speech signals to many receivers at

Broadcast the same time
Signal
Directional Perceivers identify speech signals as coming from a single
Reception direction and source

Rapid fading Speech signals disappear as soon as they are produced

Additional Design Features of Language by Hocket (1968)

Prevarication: the ability to tell a lie

Learnability: the ability to learn another language

Reflexiveness: the ability to use language to talk about language

Lesson 2: Characteristics and Nature of Language

Characteristics of Language

Conventionality and Non-instinctiveness

Language is brought about by evolution and strengthened with

convention. It is a silent pact that each generation transmits to the next. Like all
human institutions, language flourishes and perishes, it expands and transforms. It
adapts with the change of time. Language is non-instinctive since none is born with
the spontaneity to speak any language. It is learned through interaction and
socialization. Language is not biologically automated but culturally determined.

Productivity and Creativity

Language is productive. It is creative. It keeps on sprouting that with

one word emerges another. As the needs of people change, language evolves as a
means of adapting to the demands of the people who use it. The structural features
of of human language can be fixed to create new expressions, which are understood
by both speakers and listeners. Man uses concurrent linguistics to produce complete
novel ideas and expressions.

Duality

The duality of patterning is the double articulation and semiotic.

Language duality is what gives language expressive power since meaningless sounds
are combined according to rules to form meaningful words. Significantly in speech
production, the individual sounds of p,e,n do not have intrinsic meaning, but when
combined as in ‘pen’, it now has a distinct meaning. The combination of sounds is
based on fixed rules that no word starts with zl, lr, bz, or ng in the English
language. This makes language dual.

Displacement

Human language is context-free. Human beings are capable of narrating

events and situations without actually living them at the moment. For human
language, a stimulus is not directly induced, objects may not necessarily be tangibly
present at the place and time of speaking. This is called displacement. Only humans
are capable of recounting events that occurred before the vision of what happens
next. This explains why humans are capable of recalling stories that happened or
even creating stories that may not be realistically posiible, such as fiction.

 Humanness

Language is innate to human beings. No species other than humans are

gifted with language. Humans are endowed with physical attributes for them to
acquire language. Language has complex structures of sounds and meanings, which
animals could not comprehend. A cow’s moo today is similar to the moos centuries
ago. Human language is changeable and extendable. Humans could clearly distinguish
concrete identifiable symbols through the use of language, however, animal
communication is often non-discrete. Indeed, human language is way more intricate
than animal communication.

Universality

Although each language has a unique style of functions in terms of

sounds, vocabulary, and structures, language is equal in all the parts of the universe.
A linguistic universal is a systematic occurrence of the linguistic patterns across
national languages. All languages have nouns, although the structural arrangement
may vary in the same way that all languages have vowels and consonants. Linguists
identified two universals: the absolute, where all elements apply to every known
language; and the implicational, where only particular features apply to different
languages.

Nature of Language

Language as something learnt

Language is something that is learned through exposure and practice.

Although the language is genetically programmed in our brain to make distinctions of
the different sounds, things, activities, and notions, language acquisition is produced
through active learning and repetitive interactions. Language learning, therefore, is
behavioral, imitative, and learned through effort.

Language as related to the culture of society

Language influences cultures; the values, the practices, and the interests of
people. Similarly, culture influences language. There is always a cyclical association
among language, society, and culture that is produced due to the interaction.
Language is culturally defined. They are inseparable in a way that culture affects
language, and language affects the mental state of society. It creates a vital
foundation in the development of a society.

 Language as species-specific, uniformed, and unique to humans

The ability to use and respond to language is genetically inherited by humans.

It is species-uniformed since only human beings are capable of acquiring language,
set in the right environment. All animals communicate, however, language is an
important tool for communication, hence, it is tough to think of a society without
language. Language functions in the left hemisphere of the brain, seated on the
cerebral cortex, different from the rest of the animals.

Language as a hierarchically-organized system

Learning a language is similar to learning mathematics. It needs analysis. This

is in reference to the fact that language is a system of systems. It is a system of
sounds and symbols. There are two distinguishing systemic categories of language:
the sound system, structures, and meanings; and the system of symbols and non-
verbal signals. The receiver of the message who shares the common codes interprets
and arrives at the intended meaning. Language is composed of units that are
assembled according to the rules of grammar. All languages systematically combine
units to form larger units, arrange units in a particular order, and substitute units for
each other.

Language as vocal

Language is oral. Speech is primary, writing is secondary. Speech is the

fundamental expression of language. A language without speech is unimaginable.
Language is spoken first before it is written. Through generations, language has been
passed on verbally and eventually in written form. Writing preserves language.

Language as a skill subject

Learning a language is acquiring skills. The macro skills—i.e. listening and

viewing, speaking, reading, and writing, are categorized into receptive and expressive
language skills. Receptive skill is the ability to understand information represented in
words and sentences either through visual or auditory, while expressive language
skill is the facility to put forth sensible ideas into visual and acoustic symbols such
as writing and speaking, with accurate grammatical representations.

Language as a means for communication

Language is a linguistic and speech communication purposively designed to put

intended messages across either spoken or written. It is a tool to express feelings
and ideas. Language is used to communicate concepts and intentions. It is a social
phenomenon, programmed with sets of conventional communicative marks, that allows
human to communicate with precision. As a whole, language serves as an
intermediary between the individual and the community.

 Language as something produced and perceived

Human languages are expressed using the human body. When you speak, you
use your lungs, voice box, mouth, tongue, jaw, and even your nose. Of course, it
doesn't stop there- you also move your head, do funny things with your eyebrows,
wave your hands, and change your body posture. In perceiving language, you use
your hearing and vision, and even touch, to take in the linguistic information coming
your way. It helps that you are both a producer and a perceiver of language
because you are constantly producing signals that have never been made before.

Language as arbitrary

Language is arbitrary in the sense that language meanings existed as they

are. There are no plausible explanation or inherent relation as to how meanings are
assigned to each other. It is a structure of conventional symbols. Each symbol
embodies a stretch of sounds with which a sense could be associated. There's no
intrinsic relation between a particular set of sounds and a particular meaning. The
sound-meaning relation differs from language to language: that's a fancy way of
saying that different languages have different words to express the same concept. If
language was not randomly created, there could only be one language in the entire
world; fixed and unchanging.

Language as genetically endowed to humans

All humans are born with a roughly equal capacity to acquire language.
Evidence for this genetic, inborn, feature of language includes these facts: a)
Language doesn't depend on intelligence: Someone with a severe cognitive impairment
can still use language; b) The acquisition of language and speech Is fast and easy for
humans: Young children learn their mother tongue rapidly, from babbling at 6 months
to speaking sentences by the age of three. Not even the most sophisticated
computers today can learn to use language at anything like the level of a small child;
and c) In learning language, children everywhere follow the same sequence of steps,
no matter which language they're learning or which cultural group or social class
they belong to. And children acquire language much, much better than adults do.

Lesson 3: Language Functions

People use language for specific reasons, whether that is to inform, to

apologize, or express desires. Language is always used to meet certain functions. The
purpose of each interaction using language is called language functions.

General Functions of Language

Interpersonal

The interpersonal function of a language fulfills the human needs to exchange

experiences since humans are social beings. It is interpersonal when the
communicators use grammatical preferences that enable them to perform their
interpersonal relations. This is based on the assumption that a human being does not
only talk but is in constant conversation with others.

Informative

Declarative statements are used in informative languages. Informative language

is often seen in analytical reports, arguments, and directions, or most everyday
speeches. Language then functions as a means in illustrating observable and
confirmable reasons.

Performative

When language is used to do things or perform or reports an action, the

language function is performative. The performative function of language holds
power that can guarantee the deed or performance of an act. For example, the
newly wed couple who just said ‘I do’ during the ceremony manifested a binding
statement of their commitment to each other.

Expressive

When one uses language to express feelings, the language function is

expressive. The expressive language function reports attitudes and emotions. The
expressive language of a speaker if oftentimes a way of understanding the speaker’s
personality and emotions.

Jakobson’s Functions of Language

Referential Function

It is associated with context. This language function is concerned with the

content. Language describes a situation or an object. It is referred to as denotative,
cognitive function since it pronounces a mental state. It involves both deictic words
and specific descriptions to show things or facts.

Emotive Function

It focuses on the sender, similar to expressive language. This is best illustrated

with interjections, which are phrases spoken to express a burst of emotions or
surprise, excitement, or frustration. It is an expression of the speaker’s internal state.

Conative Function

It is directive and oriented towards the receiver. This is used when the
speaker expresses purposively to persuade or influence the receiver. It used for
causing or preventing an action. It used for commands and requests. The linguistic
expressions are evocative and imperative sentences, which will direct the receiver to
act out and do something.

Phatic Function

It is socio-linguistic function used for the sake of interactions. This is set for
the ‘channel or contact’ that establishes, suspends, or prolongs the communication.
This function is used to keep the communication open and maintain contact with the
person one is talking with.

Metalingual Function

Also called reflexive, it is the use of language to describe itself (self-

referential) or use of the code as Jakobson calls it. It is used when a language talks
about its features. The metalingual function usually develops from an interruption in
the communication process. This happens when two or more people speak different
languages or use different codes within one language such as dialects, sociolects, and
idiolects, or when a language is used to discuss about a language.

Poetic Function

It focuses on the message and its aesthetic presentation. It is associated with

how the message reflects itself. This refers to the descriptive language used to
create a picture in the mind. It is an aesthetic manipulation of the intrinsic linguistic
elements, which focuses primarily on the splendor of the language itself. The words
are arranged and crafted strikingly using sounds and linguistic features.

Halliday’s Functions of Language

Ideational Function

It involves the natural world and human consciousness. This is concerned with
creating and maintaining a notion of experience, which is both experiential and
logical. It denotes the speaker’s choice of linguistic elements that will help him to
make meaning. It also denotes logical-semantic associations, where the relationship
between one clausal unit and another is established.

Interpersonal Function

It is about the world of people working together. This function seeks to

create and uphold social relationships. This includes sentences and grammatical
choices that allow a person to enact interpersonal relations. This is grounded on the
assumption that a speaker always communicates with another, which shows that
language does not only interpret experiences but also as a vehicle with which to
interact.

Textual Function

It comprises all the grammatical systems needed to create relevance to

context, through which ‘language creates a semiotic world of its own’. A text is
created that coheres the context of the situation within itself.

Halliday’s Micro-functions of Language

He proposed 7 functions of language based on the premise that interaction in

society is necessary to master the language. He categorized the 7 functions of
language. The first four are what he referred to as pragmatic, which is to fulfill a
child’s social, physical, and emotional needs. The remaining three functions are what
he calls ‘mathematic’, which are used to help a person come to terms with his
physical atmosphere.

Instrumental Function

It refers to the use of language to communicate needs, express desires,

choices, and preferences. Using language as an instrument, the child could get things
done. Halliday illustrates instrumental function as a child’s instrument such as sounds
to get what he wants even before learning a concrete language.

Regulatory Function

It refers to the use of language to control and regulate behavior. It is

concerned with influencing people to do things for the child.

Interactional Function

It is used to develop a relationship and smoothen interaction. This includes

greetings and responding to calls.

Personal Function

It is demonstrated when it is used to convey information based on a personal

level such as emotions and attitudes and the identity of the speaker.

Heuristic Function

It is used when children explore and desire to learn from their environment.
Once a boundary between them and the environment is established, they start to
explore the environment.

Imaginative Function

It is used by children to generate imaginary construct. This is observed when

they talk to themselves, create a story, and converse with an imaginary friend. The
imaginative function of language is fulfilled when children create and modify the
place and the situation that they are in by using the language.

Representational Function

It used to convey facts, explain ideas, relay, and request information. This is
when the child accurately captures how the world works which usually happens
when they start going to school.