What is language?

1. Language is a communication tool.

2. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
3. The way of communication is called language.
4. Language operates in a speech community or
culture.
5. The decoding and encoding of massage is called
language.
6. Communication of thoughts and feelings through a
system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds,
gestures, or written symbols is called Language..
7. Body language
8. A characteristic style of speech or writing:
Shakespearean language...
9. Verbal communication as a subject of study.
10. When we study human language, we are
approaching what some might call the “human
essence,” the distinctive qualities of mind that are,
so far as we know, unique to man. Naom Chomsky,
Language and Mind Speaking, we produce Sounds
and our hearers hear sound.
Human language
"Human system of communication that uses
arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or
written symbols."
1. Language is often viewed as a vehicle of thought,
a system of expression that
mediates the transfer of thought from one person
to another.
2. It serves equally important social and emotional
functions.
SIGNS: Arbitrary & Nonarbitrary
Nonarbitrary signs– have a direct, causal
relationship to the things they indicate... e.g.: smoke,
clouds.
2. Arbitrary signs: have no causal or inherent
connection can be changed. The arbitrary indicators
can be present even when the thing indicated is
absent e.g. traffic lights.
Onomatopoeic words
It is known as sound symbolism – words whose
pronunciation suggests the meaning is one or more
words that imitate or suggest the source of the
sound they are describing. Common occurrences
include animal noises, such as "oink" or "meow" or
"roar". Onomatopoeia are not universally the same
across all languages; they conform to some extent to
the broader linguistic system they
are part of; hence the sound of a clock may be tick
tock in English and tik tak in Dutch or tictac in
French.
Language is the expression of human communication
through which knowledge, belief, and behavior can
be experienced, explained, and shared. This sharing
is based on systematic, conventionally used signs,
sounds, gestures, or marks that convey understood
meanings within a group or community. Recent
research identifies “windows of opportunity” for
acquiring language—written, spoken, or signed—that
exist within the first few years of life.Between 6 and
8 million individuals in the United States have some
form of language impairment? Disorders of language
affect children and adults differently. For children
who do not use language normally from birth, or who
acquire impairment during childhood, language may
not be fully developed or acquired. Many children
who are deaf in the United States use a natural sign
language known as American Sign Language (ASL).
ASL shares an underlying organization with spoken
language and has its own syntax and grammar. Many
adults acquire disorders of language because of
stroke, head injury, dementia, or brain tumors.
Language disorders also are found in adults who
have failed to develop normal language skills
because of mental retardation, autism, hearing
impairment, or other congenital or acquired disorders
of brain development.
A Language is a coding system and a means by
which information may be transmitted or shared
between two or more communicators for purposes of
command, instruction or play. Not every coding
system is a fully-featured language like human
speech, yet it will have some of the features of all
languages. A coding system may be artificial or
natural. Computer languages are artificial languages
modeled partly on human language. The 'helix of life'
- DNA - has many of the hallmarks of a language in
the way that it carries codes for the production of the
chemicals of life. It even has components which may
be called 'words', and it has stop codes which
correspond to our written punctuation. In every
transmission system there is at least one element of
language. An ordinary lighthouse can be thought of
in terms of language: it is part of the maritime
signaling system and it conveys at least one
message. The simplest message is "keep clear!", but
other information can be transmitted. Where the
height of the light is given on charts it allows a
navigator to determine the ship's distance from the
coast by use of the dipping range or a sextant.
Colour, flashing, or occulting applied to the light can
be used to identify the lighthouse by name and by
geographical location. Any means by which a signal
is communicated, where the signal can be received
and acted on as a command, instruction, or element
of play qualifies as use of language. A visual,
chemical, auditory or mechanical event does not
alone count as an instance of language. If the wind
causes a tree to tap on your window, it isn't
language. But if you see a large plant tapping on
your window where there is no breeze - and you have
no garden - you may need to read up about
triffids.Until about the start of the 20th century,
language study was mainly concerned with grammar.
Since that time, linguistics has grown many
branches, and overlaps with many other disciplines.
Grammar still remains a core area of study, with its
components of word sounds - phonology, written
word 'shapes' - morphology, letter and word
sequences - syntax and the meanings behind the
words semantics. Linguistics has had to expand its
horizons because there is more to language use than
just the spoken or written word. To take part fully in
a conversation we need to take advantage of every
clue offered as to a speaker's intended meaning. We
need to understand the speaker's body language, the
speaker's beliefs about what words mean and the
speaker's agenda. Absent any of these and a listener
may well 'get hold of the wrong end of the stick',
which is a really bad idea.
1.Semiotics: the study of signs.
Spoken language is merely the most common form of
human language, other forms are possible. An
established sign language is a true communal
language independent of spoken language. It has its
morphemes, words and syntax, and these are not
just gestural equivalents of spoken words. But even
hearing people supplement spoken language with
body movements. Some gestures are conscious and
some are subconscious, but alongside the gestures
that we all recognize is body language. In order to
fully understand someone in conversation, we must
understand the gestures and body language of the
community. By way of example, in England, an
upwards and backwards jerk of the head with a click
of the tongue in response to a question is considered
rude, and may mean: "What did you say?"or"What a
stupid question!In Iran, it is a socially normal and
acceptable gesture, and simply means "no."
2.Hermeneutics: old world knowledge.
Hermeneutics deals with the relationship of parts of a
text with the whole of a text. We cannot understand
the parts, except within the context of the whole
text, but we cannot understand the whole text and
thus derive its context without knowledge of the
parts. By applying various insights we can break out
of this hermeneutic circle. For example, in order to
find out what Shakespeare meant by a specific word
or phrase we can look at contemporary documents to
see how the term was used by others in
Shakespeare's day.
3.Pragmatics: real world knowledge.
Pragmatics deals with common knowledge. Or rather,
it deals with language users who have real-world
knowledge, wants and needs. When we write or talk,
we rarely feel the need to explain all or indeed any of
the physical, chemical or biological processes implied
by our words. If a child says: "I fell from a tree and
hurt my leg.”, it is a plausible statement. It is
plausible to the hearer because we humans tend to
share our experiences, either by word of mouth or by
attempted defiance of gravity. Evolution teaches us
that learning by word of mouth tends to be more
survivable. Unless we are inhumanly antisocial, we
take the child's statement of injury as a request for
assistance, an expression of a need. There is
nothing in the grammar of English that identifies the
statement as a request, but we pragmatic humans
still manage to understand the intent behind the
words.
4.Philosophy: the pursuit of knowledge.
A study of philosophy is not essential to a study of
linguistics. However, if not pursued to excess it can
give insights into how the mind works. Human
language may be viewed as a means by which an
idea in one mind can be transmitted with minimal
distortion into another mind. Philosophy especially in
its historical shifts is a useful tool for helping to
understand how the mind works. Please note: mind,
not brain.
5.Psychology: language as behavior.
The function of the brain as regards language
acquisition and use is a major area in its own right:
cognitive science. But that must remain a subject
for another article. For general linguistic purposes it
is enough to learn something about the psychology
of how language interfaces with emotion. Rather
than make this article overlong by talking about
emotions, I shall attempt, by way of demonstrating
my point, to stir some up:

Speech:
Humans express thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally
to one another through a series of complex
movements that alter and mold the basic tone
created by voice into specific, decodable sounds.
Speech is produced by precisely coordinated muscle
actions in the head, neck, chest, and abdomen.
Speech development is a gradual process that
requires years of practice. During this process, a
child learns how to regulate these muscles to
produce understandable speech. However, by the
first grade, roughly 5 percent of children have
noticeable speech disorders; the majority of these
speech disorders have no known cause. One
category of speech disorder is fluency disorder, or
stuttering, which is characterized by a disruption in
the flow of speech. It includes repetitions of speech
sounds, hesitations before and during speaking, and
the prolonged emphasis of speech sounds. More than
15 million individuals in the world stutter, most of
whom began stuttering at a very early age. The
majority of speech sound disorders in the preschool
years occur in children who are developing normally
in all other areas. Speech disorders also may occur in
children who have developmental disabilities.
Voice:
Voice (or vocalization) is the sound produced by
humans and other vertebrates using the lungs and
the vocal folds in the larynx, or voice box. Voice is
not always produced as speech, however. Infants
babble and coo; animals bark, moo, whinny, growl,
and meow; and adult humans laugh, sing, and cry.
Voice is generated by airflow from the lungs as the
vocal folds are brought close together. When air is
pushed past the vocal folds with sufficient pressure,
the vocal folds vibrate. If the vocal folds in the larynx
did not vibrate normally, speech could only be
produced as a whisper. Your voice is as unique as
your fingerprint. It helps define your personality,
mood, and health. Approximately 7.5 million people
in the United States have trouble using their voices.
Disorders of the voice involve problems with pitch,
loudness, and quality. Pitch is the highness or
lowness of a sound based on the frequency of the
sound waves. Loudness is the perceived volume (or
amplitude) of the sound, while quality refers to the
character or distinctive attributes of a sound. Many
people who have normal speaking skills have great
difficulty communicating when their vocal apparatus
fails. This can occur if the nerves controlling the
larynx are impaired because of an accident, a
surgical procedure, a viral infection, or cancer.
Syed Alam M.A English from National University
of Modern Languages Peshawar Campus (NUML).
Email: syedalam.khan@gmail.com
Contact No +923329423721.