LESSON 1

Definition of Language and Views

 LANGUAGE DEFINED
• Language is defined as linguistic communication, speech
communication, cognitive ability, and culture-based.

Verbal Communication
While many are particular with the arrangement of sounds and
symbols, others also look language as verbal communication
where the production of sound matters.
Verbal Communication
• As speech communication, language is about the production and
reception of sounds. Through the use of the speech organs, humans are
capable of transferring information, even in the shortest amount of time.
• Whenever language is used, humans use the articulate mechanism of the
vocal tract to produce strings of oral sound. These sounds are transported
through the air in wavelength. The sound received, translated, and
interpreted by the brain.
• Language indeed is a remarkable s to communicate. It is innate to
humans.
Mental Process
“Language most shows a man, speak that I may see there.” – Ben Johnson
• Language is a conductive ability is processed as an instrument of
thinking, where language mirrors the mind.
• Language as a cognitive process is often illustrated as the workings of the
brain, especially when we are alone. The more we think further, the more
we consciously think loud. This is because language is a central part of
human consciousness.
• The brain is such a gift that is capable of decoding abstract symbols and
translating them into concrete symbols of sounds and structures of words.
Linguistic Communication
Language, as linguistic communication, is perceived as sets of signs and a
system of symbols grounded on pure arbitrary concords.
In English language syntax, each word is labeled into a syntactic category
called the parts of speech. Each category is arranged in a logical system to
form a meaning.
Consider the sentence:
The people are advised to stay home during the pandemic.
The syntactic configuration in this sentence is subject + predicate; where “the
people” is the subject and are “advised to stay home during the pandemic” is
the predicate. The subject consists of an article the and a noun, while the
predicate is made up of an auxiliary verb + main verb in the past participle +
infinitive + noun + propositional phrase (proposition, article and noun)
Culture-shaped
• Language is a man of communicating the culture of a particular
community or members of society. A particular expression could be
acceptable to a specific community of people but not to others whose
practices are formed from different orientations.
• For an instance, in terms of honorifics, in the Philippines, we address
teachers generally as “Ma’am” or Sir “then followed by the last name
such as Ma’am Perez, Sir Smith. We also emphasize the civil status and
genders such as Miss, Mrs. Mr., and the last name of the teacher.
• Language indeed is culture-defined as Saussure (1916), “it is time to
return to viewing language as cultural because language is a social
institution”.
 LANGUAGE VIEWED
Several groups of linguists views language as follows:
• Structuralists
• Transformationalists
• Functionalists
• Interactionists
Structuralists
• The structuralists believe that language is a structure system of components, an idea
with a specific framework. For them language, as a system, possess a structure that
governs the aspects of every element of a whole.
• A structuralist teacher provides drills and activities where students are required to
analyze the patterns of sounds, the configuration of word formation, the arrangement
of the words in the sentences. Structuralist teachers focus on the students’ matter of
codes and system of language.
• The structuralist assert that Learning language is putting all the pieces together
because they are interrelated. They describe language is consistencies, patterns, and
rules. To them, language is semiotic. It is composed of speech sounds randomly
assigned to the object and ideas to which they pertain for human communication.
 Transformationalists
• Language is transformationalists is a generative and creative process. Language
pervades activity 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 the language atmosphere is provided.
• Transformationalists see language creativity as competence and transformation. They
believe that humans are naturally inventive, which allows them to creativity produce
new combinations of words.
• Human language, according to Chomsky (1980) “is a system for free expression of
thought, essentially independent of stimulus control, need ratification or instructional
purpose.”
• Transformationalists 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 utilized
language.
 Functionalists
• The functionalists view language as an instrument for communication and a
vehicle for expression. They argue that structures 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 structures for
interactions.
• A functionalists language teacher provides authentic tasks that will allow
her/his students to use the language and attain the function of the interaction.
• Michael Halliday, a functionalist, confirmed that language potentially creates
not only meaning but also society, which is fully achieved when it is used in
functional communication.
Interactionists
• Interactionists 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 an individual the capability to produce language
and his/her social interactions make him/her master the language.
• Interactionists teacher, who target the master of his or her students in a second
language, will allow his/her students to communicate and interact with each other
to practice the use of the target language.
• According to Vygotsky (1962), language is developed through social interaction.
When a child interacts with adults, he /she potentially learns the language. For
adults, as Vygotsky noted communication is the primary purpose of using the
language but once it is mastered it becomes inner speech and internalized.
• This view is supported by Bruner. He believed that language is a symbolic
illustration of a person’s intellectual development.
 LESSON 2
Nature and Characteristics of
Language
 THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
In its basic constitution, the nature of language is described as
• learned
• related to the culture of society
• species-specific, uniformed and unique to humans
• system
• vocal
• skills subject
• means for communication
• arbitrary
Language as something to learnt
• Language could be programmed and coded in our genes as human beings, but
mastering the system of Language programming off far being able to produce it.
Every time we read is an opportunity to learn the language codes. When we watch
our favorite shows, when we read Media posts we are learning the language.
• 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 (Perry 2020).
• Language learning, therefore, is behavioral, imitative, and learned through effort.
 Language as related to the culture of society
• Language influence culture: the values, the practices, and the interests of people.
Similarity, culture influenced language. This is the reason why the longer you
watch Kdrama and get very familiar with their verbal and non-verbal cues you
tend to get Koreanized, or when you watch Hollywood films you become
Westernized, too. This is the influence of language in shaping culture and society.
• 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. When people communicate their values, beliefs, and customs,
they use language as a tool. The interaction patterns that they create constitute
culture. Thus, language 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.
• According to Chomsky (1975), the human brain is different from the animals.
Humans learn and produce language creatively. Language functions in the left
hemisphere of the brain, seated on the cerebral cortex, different from the rest of
the animals. Language is a human species-specific since only human beings are
gifted with language.
• Language is an attribute of humans. Humans converse with others using oral
and auditory symbols, which are important characteristics and forms of human
behavior.
Language as a 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 phonological and grammatical
systems in all languages.
• Linguistic units constitute language. These units are interdependent on one
another. A language is a unit of convened speech sounds that forms into
words, phrases, to sentences and eventually become ideas, and thoughts.
• There are two distinguishing systematic categories of Language:
There sounds system, structures, and meaning
The system of symbols and non-verbal signals.
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 written. This will be traced
back how language evolved from sounds produced by the primitive days
when men used to hoot or grunt to communicate. The vocal sounds produced
by the articulatory device of the human body primarily makes up language.
Through generations language has been passed on verbally and eventually in
written form. Writing for preserves language. when you were a child you
learn to speak it first before you learn to write it.
Language as a skill subject
• Learning a language is acquiring skills. The macro skills- listening and viewing, speaking,
reading, and writing-are categorized into receptive and expressive language skills.
• Receptive skills is the ability to understand information represented in words and sentences
either through visual or auditory, while expressive language skills is the facility to put forth
sensible ideas into visual and acoustic symbols such as in writing and speaking, work
accurate grammatical representation.
• Receptive and expressive skills are intertwined; receptive language skills is an essential
foundation in developing expressive skills.
• Language mastery is acquired by learning the skills through constant practice and exposure.
• Language skill acquired is a stepping stone to gaining linguistic and communicative
competence and performance.
Language as a mean for communication
• Communication is branded as a process of conveying and exchanging
messages from person using medium, mostly fine for the society to function
cohesively. It is the basic human necessity.
• Language is the greatest form of intelligent interaction for the gifted
individuals of the universe: humans. Communication and language are
mutually linked since the beginning of time.
• Language is a linguistic and speech communication purposively designed to
put intended messages advertise either spoken or written. It is a tool to
express feelings and ideas. It is a social phenomenon, programmed with
sets of conventional communicative marks, that allows humans to
communicate with precision.
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 letter, symbol, or word. There is no
scientific principle that underlie the naming of symbols. It is a matter of
convention. The availability of the words is guided by no purpose.
• Socrates once discussed that a word assigned to an object was not based
on pure convention. It resulted from integral correctness, which related
the features of the object to the sounds used to label it.
• Language, therefore, is a structure of conventional symbols. Each symbol
embodies a stretch of sounds with which a sense could be associated.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
LANGUAGE
Language is characterized according to its distinguishing
qualities. These include conventionality and non-
instinctive, productivity and creativity, duality,
displacement, humanness, and universality.
Conventional and Non-instinctive
Just like any other conventional practices naturally acquired, language is non-
instinctive and conventional.
• Language is brought about by evolution and strengthen with convention. It is
a silent place 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. Every language is a convention in the
community, a product of corporative mind.
• 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. The language system,
symbols, structures and meanings are always products of the people’s
thoughts produced in harmony.
 Productivity and Creativity
“A rose by another nana would smell as sweet.” - William Shakespeare
Notice how Shakespeare associates the object “rose” to its distinguishing
characteristic “sweet” scent as if these two words are interchangeable yet the
description of the smell of the object is a specific attribute of a rose. The images
that he created do not only limit to the two words “rose and sweet” , but to
multifarious metaphors, which generate other words.
• Language is productive. It is creative. It keeps on sprouting that with one word
emerges another.
• The structural features of human language can be forced to create new
expressions, which are understood by both speakers and listeners. Mana uses
concurrent linguistics to produce complete novel and expressive. This makes
language productive and creative.
 Duality
• Human language comprised of two sub-systems: The sound system and the
meaning system. Predetermined sound combinations create units of
meaning. Different combinations of sounds produce syntactic categories,
units, and constituents that create more sophisticated and meaning
utterances.
• The duality of patterning of the double articulation and semiotic. Language
duality is what gives language expressive power since meaningless sounds
are combined according to rules to form meaning words (Luden,2016).
• Significantly in speech production, the individual sound of p.e.n do not have
intrinsic meaning, but when combined as in “pen” it not 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
• 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 or the
vision of what happens next. Example: I visited my cousin’s place last
week, or I am enrolling in linguistics next semester.
• The property of displacement explains why humans are capable of
recalling stories that happened or even creating stories that may not be
realistically possible, such as fiction.
Humanness
• Language is innate to human beings. No sources 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 mow today is similar to the moos
centuries ago. Human language is changeable and extendable.
• Indeed, human language is way more intricate than animal
communication.
Universality

• A linguistic universal is a systematic occurrence of the linguistics 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.
• Linguistics identified two universals: the absolute, where all elements
apply to every known language; and the implications, where only
particular features apply to different languages.