Chapter 1 Introduction: Language and Linguistics
What is language?
Different definitions of language
Language is a system whose parts can and must be considered in their synchronic solidarity. (de Saussure, 1916)
[Language is] a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky, 1957)
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.
Each of the definitions above has pointed out some aspects of the essence of language, but all of them have left out something. We must see the multi-faceted nature of language.
As is agreed by linguists in broad terms, language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
Features of human language
Creativity
Language provides opportunities for sending messages that have never been sent before and for understanding brand new messages.
The grammar rules and the words are finite, but the sentences are infinite. Every speaker uses language creatively.
Duality
Language contains two subsystems, one of sounds and the other of meanings.
Certain sounds or sequences of sounds stand for certain meanings.
Certain meanings are conveyed by certain speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds.
Arbitrariness
The relationship between the two subsystems of language is arbitrary.
There is no logical connection between sound and meaning.
Displacement
There is no limit in time or space for language.
Language can be used to refer to things real or imagined, past, present or future.
Cultural transmission
Culture cannot be genetically transmitted. Instead, it must be learned.
Language is a way of transmitting culture.
Interchangeability
All members of a speech community can send and receive messages.
Reflexivity
Human languages can be used to describe themselves.
The language used to talk about language is called meta-language.
Functions of language – three meta-functions
The ideational function
To identify things, to think, or to record information.
The interpersonal function
To get along in a community.
The textual function
To form a text.
Types of language
Genetic classification
Typological classification
Analytic language – no inflections or formal changes, grammatical relationships are shown through word order, such as Chinese and Vietnamese
Synthetic language – grammatical relationships are expressed by changing the internal structure of the words, typically by changing the inflectional endings, such as English and German
Agglutinating language – words are built out of a long sequence of units, with each unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning, such as Japanese and Turkish
The myth of language – language origin
The Biblical account
Language was God’s gift to human beings.
The bow-wow theory
Language was an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo.
The pooh-pooh theory
