We will start by providing different definitions of language to defend the idea that languages are means of communication as the title of the topic affirms.
The word language has prompted innumerable definitions, among which we could find the ones focused on the general concept of language or on the specific notion of a language.
This way, Trager (1949) said that “a language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which the members of a society interact in terms of their total culture”, which is a definition focused on the general concept of language.
By the other side, when focusing on the specific notion of a language, Hall (1964) defined language as “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols”.
However, we did not suggest that humans are the only creature that is capable of communicating, and we could find six different properties that may be taken as the core features of human language as they differentiate human communication from other kinds of communication. These are:
1. Communicative versus informative. Communicative signals make reference to the language intentionally used to communicate. Nevertheless, Informative signals are the unintentionally way of communicating.
2. Displacement. Allows the users of a language to refer to past and future time and other locations.
3. Arbitrariness. Saussure was the first to recognize this arbitrariness in the development of the words, stating that words are not the things they attempt to represent.
4. Productivity. Utterances are continually being created, since the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.
5. Cultural transmission. Refers to the process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next and it is crucial in the human acquisition process.
6. Discreteness. The sounds used in language are meaningfully distinct, and each of those sounds is treated as discrete.
Nevertheless, in human language we could find many other features such as the use of the vocal-auditory channel, reciprocity, specialisation or rapid fading.
Kommentare