COMMUNICATION

STUDIES
LANGUAGE & COMMUNITY
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
LANGUAGE
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
• To define the concept of language
• To discuss the purposes of language
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
• Language is a system of made of arbitrary
symbols and rules (grammar) that humans use
to communicate with each other.

• Language can also be specific to a particular

community.

• It is also a broad term which refers to the use

of thousands of all such systems as a general
phenomenon.
What is Language?

• Its is spoken as well as written.

Other definitions.

• A system of representing things, actions, ideas

and states.
• A tool that people use to communicate their
concepts and reality.
• A set of grammatically correct utterances
• A set of utterances that could be understood by
a linguistic community.
The characteristics of Language
• Dynamic
Language is dynamic as it tends to change
through time according to the needs of society
or randomly.

• Creative
There is no clear cut limitation for the
creativeness of human language.
Characteristics of language
• Interpersonal
Language is the primary source for the
continuation of a society and each individual
uses language to be part of any social group or
to build interpersonal relations and rapport.

• Verbal & Non Verbal

In addition to verbal signs, human language
includes non verbal signs which we generally
name as body language.
Characteristics of Language
Arbitrary
The nature of the linguistic sign is arbitrary in to any that any
symbol can be mapped onto concept because there is no
relation between the signifier. In linguistics, arbitrariness is
the absence of any natural or necessary connection
between a word's meaning and its sound or form.
When we learn a language, we must learn each
word individually, for example Sun, moon, rat,
table. There is no linguistic relation to the object,
but we learn these words to speak the language.
Characteristics of Language
Systematic
Structural: A system of rules

Symbolic
Sound symbols and graphics to make a reality.
Language
• Language can also be:

instrumental regulatory interactional

personal Imaginative Heuristic

informative

Resource used for PowerPoint - Communication Studies by Edlin Rochford(2008)

Terms to review

register
colloquial vernacular

Linguistics
dialect Language
Variation

Standard Creole
lexicon English English