OVERVIEW OF THE INTRODUCTION

TO LINGUISTICS

LESSON 2: DEFINTIONS OF LANGUAGE ACCORDING TO FAMOUS LINGUISTS

LESSON 3: MACRO SKILLS OF LANGUAGE

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

At the end of these lessons, you should be able to state and explain a definition of
language from a famous linguist, compare and contrast these definitions and understand
the interrelatedness of the macro skills in language.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

To understand better the lessons, use the following questions as guide to process
the bits of information in the following section:

1. What definitions of language are given by famous linguists?

2. How are these definitions compare and contrast?
3. What are the macro skills of the English language?
4. How are these macro skills interrelated?

EXPLORING CONTENT

Definitions of Language

Definitions of language are not difficult to find. Each of the following statements
about language, whether it was intended as a definition or not, all come from classic works
by well-known linguists. Taken together, they will serve to give some preliminary indication
of the properties that linguists at least to think of as being essential to language.
1. Aristotle
Language is a speech sound produced by human beings in order to express their
ideas, emotions, thoughts, desires and feelings.
2. Sapir
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced sounds. The
definition of Sapir expresses that language is mainly concerned with only human
beings and constituted a system of sounds produced by them for communication.
3. Bloomfield
The totality of the utterances that can be made in a speech community is the
language of that speech community. Bloomfield’s definition of language focuses on
the utterances produced by all the people of a community, and hence overlooks
writing. Besides, he stresses form, not meaning, as the basis of language.
4. Bloch and Trager
According to Bloch and Trager, a language is a system of arbitrary vocal sounds by
means of which a social group cooperates. In their definition of language, they point
out that, language is an arbitrary system, vocal sounds, way of communication, and
collectivity.
5. Finnegan and Besnier
Language is a finite system of elements and principles that it is possible for speakers
to construct sentences to do particular communicative jobs.
6. Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky says the language is the inherent capability of the native speakers to
understand and form grammatical sentences. A language is a set of (finite or infinite)
sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. This
definition of language considers sentences as the basis of a language. Sentences may
be limited or unlimited in number, and are made up of only limited components.
7. Derbyshire
Derbyshire says the language is undoubtedly a kind of means of communication
among human beings. It consists primarily of vocal sounds. It is articulatory,
systematic, symbolic and arbitrary. This definition of Derbyshire clearly utters,
language is the best source of communication. It also portrays how human language
is formed and what are the fundamental principles of language.
8. Lyons
According to Lyons, languages are the principal systems of communication used by
particular groups of human beings within the particular society of which they are
members. Especially Lyons points out that, language is the best communicative
system of human beings by particular social groups.
9. Wardhaugh
A language is a system of arbitrary vocal sounds used for human communication. This
definition of language by Wardhaugh mainly insists on arbitrariness, vocal sounds,
humans and communication.
 10. Patanjali
Indian linguist Patanjali says that language is that human expression which is
produced by different speech organs of human beings. Through speech organs,
humans produced several expressions which are converted to language.

These definitions of language provided by linguists and theorists introduce to

learners what to them are the essential properties of language.

Macro Skills of Language

Learning a language requires learning four language skills, namely: listening,

speaking, reading and writing which are essential in communication. These four language
skills comprise what is commonly termed as the macro skills of language.

Alcantara, Espina, Villamin and Cabanilla (1988) state that skill in each area depends
upon understanding of phoneme-grapheme correspondence, lexicon, and syntactical
structure of the language. The communication arts are interrelated in developmental
sequence.

According to them the need for considerable attention to the development of listeni
ng and speaking skills in the elementary grades stems from the interrelatedness of the
communication arts in developmental sequence. The native speaker first acquires language
through listening. Then he learns to speak. Later he recognizes and utilizes the written
representation of his oral language, as he learns to read and, soon after, to write. The child
learns to speak by listening and imitating. His ability to acquire skill in recognition,
interpretation, and use of language in its graphic form is affected by the extent of his grasp
of spoken language.

They added that listening and speaking have a reciprocal relationship. In language
communication, speakers address listeners, and listeners become listeners when they are
attentive to speakers. Both listening and speaking are essentially phonological skills; both
are based on the meaningful sound patterns and sequences, lexicon and syntax. Auditory
acuity, clarity of enunciation, accuracy of pronunciation, comprehension of sentence
structure, organization of ideas, are requisite to competence in both listening and speaking.
This reciprocal relationship implies the desirability of providing instruction and practice in
both skills.

Furthermore, they said that reading and writing are commonly based on the
graphological structure of language and are likewise reciprocal as communication skills.
Recognition of phoneme-grapheme correspondence, knowledge of written word formation
(spelling), comprehension of sentence structure, and ability to organize ideas in a
paragraph, and in more complex literary forms are in both reading and writing.
 They also stated that the communication arts are likewise interrelated with the
learner’s behavioral and mental processes. Listening and reading are receptive forms of
communication. Through these means, the learner gains information. Similar
comprehension skills are required of the learner as a listener and as a reader. These two
receptive communication activities differ in pace. In reading the learner sets his own pace. In
listening the pace is controlled by the speaker.

In addition, they also stated that speaking and writing are the productive modes of
language. Both areas require skills in organizing words and ideas in meaningful sequence.
Speech is the more fluid form of expression, with less structure of formal patterns than
written expression. However, the communicative purposes of speech and writing are
similar. Instruction in the common elements of the expressive or the receptive form is
important.

An important area of difference among the four communication modes according to

them is the child’s command of vocabulary. In his preschool years the child has an extensive
listening vocabulary. He understands far more words and sentence forms than he can utilize
in his own oral expression. In the primary grades his speaking vocabulary is extended. It
exceeds his slowly developing vocabulary of recognized written words. As he attains greater
skill in reading at the level of the upper elementary grades, his reading vocabulary becomes
second in extent to his listening vocabulary. Both exceed his expressive vocabulary. In the
early grades, experience with oral vocabulary leads to comprehension of written vocabulary.
In the upper elementary grades, the learner’s oral and written vocabulary may be extended
by words and meanings encountered in reading.

Finally, they said that the child’s progress in any communication art depends upon his
growth in the others. Thus, instruction that facilitates improvement in one communication
art is likely to strengthen the gains in the other three communication arts.

EXPANDING SKILLS

After going through the lesson, answer the following questions:

1. State a definition of language and explain.
2. Identify two definitions of language which are quite similar and explain their
similarity.
3. State simply how the macro skills of language are interrelated.
 ENRICHING LEARNING

For added learning, open the link below and watch the material intelligently.

http://www.bchmsg.yolasite.com/skills.php

After viewing the video, write a reaction paper on the topic emphasizing your
agreement or disagreement to the presentation. State new learnings if there are any.

References

Denham, K. and Lobeck, A. (2013). Linguistics for everyone: an introduction. second edition.
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Alcantara, R., Espina, F., Villamin, A., and Cabanilla, J. (1988). Teaching strategies 1: for the
teaching of the communication arts: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Katha
Publishing Co., Inc.

https://englishfinders.com/definition-of-language-by-scholars/