Functions Of Language And Scope

Of Psycholinguistics.
Manvi Jain
Cognitive Science, UG
 Language
Definition of language:
A language is a system of communication which consists of a set of
sounds and written symbols which are used by the people of a particular
country or region for talking or writing

According to Geoffrey Leech( 1974 ), there are five main functions of humans
language:
1. Informational 
2. Expressive 
3. Directive 
4. Aesthetic
5. Phatic
Description of functions of language
Informational function of language:
Informational function concentrates on conveying the
message/information to the listener.
For example- “The bus is crowded.”

Expressive function of language:

Language can have an expressive function that is, it can be used to
express its originator’s feelings and attitudes – swear words and
exclamations are the most obvious instance of this
For example – “I am very happy today.”
Directive Function of language:
The third function of language is the directive function whereby we aim to influence the
behavior or attitudes of others. The most straightforward instances of the directive function
are commands and requests.
For example – “Shut the door.”

Aesthetic function of language:

The use of language for the sake of the linguistic artefact itself, and for no purpose. This
aesthetic function can have at least as much to do with conceptual as with affective
meaning
For example- “Such a beautiful house!”
Phatic function of the language:
According to Leech(1974), the fifth function is the phatic function.
The function of keeping communication lines open, and keeping social
relationships in good repair (in Britain culture, talking about the weather is a
well-known example of this) is termed as phatic function of language
For example- “How do you feel today?”
Functions of language in children
According to Halliday(1978), there are 7 types of functions of language in
children:
1-Instrumental function
2-Regulatory function
3-Intrectional function
4-Personal function
5-Represtetive / informative function
6-Heruistic Function
7. Imaginative function.
Instrumental function - language that is used to get a need fulfilled which
may be to obtain food, drink or comfort. This typically includes
concrete nouns.

Regulatory function - language that is used to influence the behavior of

others including persuading, commanding or requesting. 

Interactional function - language that is used to develop relationships and

ease interaction. This could include phrases like "I love you mummy" or
"Thank you". 

Personal function - language that expresses personal opinions, attitudes and

feelings including a speaker's identity. 
Representational/Informative function- language that is used
to relay or request information.

Heuristic function - language that is used to explore, learn and discover.

This could include questions or a running commentary of a child's
actions. 

Imaginative function - the use of language to tell stories and create

imaginary constructs. This typically accompanies play or leisure activities. 
Scope of Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics is a relatively new field for the study of psychology of
language (came into picture in 1960s) and there are limited researches in
the field depicting its less scope in the earlier times

In the present Cognitive Science period, research in the field has boosted,
highlighting several fields:
1. Comprehension
2. Language acquisition
3. Speech production
 Comprehension:
Most research in psycholinguistics relies on online measures such as reading time
to inform and test theories of language comprehension.
However, the value of offline measures such as question-answering performance is
sometimes overlooked in sentence processing work.
Consequently, psycholinguists do not yet understand how the tasks and measures
used in online experiments might reflect the content of the representations that are
formed by the subject and how our comprehension tasks might influence subjects’
reading strategies.

 Language acquisition:
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive and comprehend language 
(in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as
well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.
 Speech production:
Speech production is the process by which thoughts are translated into speech.
This includes the selection of words, the organization of relevant grammatical
 forms, and then the articulation of the resulting sounds by the motor system using
the vocal apparatus.
 Some scope of Psycholinguistics: