FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

Hasan, A. and Jabbar A. (2018). Functions of language

 Referential Function It is denotative, cognitive function which is

oriented toward the ‘context’. To show things or facts, the referential
function is the most obvious function of language
 Emotive Function It is also known as “expressive function”. This
function focuses on the ‘addresser’. This function comes out when we
want to express our emotions although we don’t speak to give an
information.
 Conative Function The conative function is an orientation toward
‘addressee’. This function finds its purest grammatical expression in
evocative and imperative sentences, and it helps us to make people do
something and it includes orders and prayers.
 Phatic Function The phatic function which sets for ‘contact’ establishes,
prolongs or discontinues the communication. We use this function to
know whether the channel works or whether the contact is still there.
Our purpose in this function is first to maintain contact with the person
we are talking to. It is also the first verbal function which is acquired by
infants before they
 Metalingual Function ‘Code’ performs the “ metalingual function” which
is used whenever the addresser and the addressee need to check
whether they use the same code and when the language is used to
speak about language.
 Poetic Function The poetic function which is orientation toward
“message” and “the focus on the message for its own sake”. This
function includes more than poetry; linguistics cannot limit itself just to
the field of poetry.
 Informative Function The informative function of language involves
information of giving and receiving. The general assumption is that the
content is believable and valuable.
 Expressive Function Language expresses and evokes ideas, thoughts
and feelings. Expressive language may or may not include any real
information because the purpose of expressive use of language is to
convey emotion
 The Aesthetic Function The use of language for the sake of the
linguistic artifact itself, and for no purpose. This aesthetic function can
have at least as much to do with conceptual as with affective meaning.
The function is associated with the message-the vehicle-as the poetic
or aesthetic function: the sign is taken as an end in itself. All art
understood as art is taken to embody this function, and any object
valued for its beauty rather than for its ideological value or usefulness-
 whether a gorgeous car, an elegant teapot, or some acreage of
untouched real estate-takes on this function.
 Directive Function Language is used a directive whereby we aim to
influence the behavior or attitudes of others. The most straightforward
instances of the directive function are commands and requests. This
function of social control places emphasis on the receiver's end, rather
than the originator's end of the message: but it resembles the
expressive function in giving less importance, on the whole, to
conceptual meaning than to other types of meaning, particularly
affective and connotative meaning" (Leech ,1974:216).
 Phatic Function It is the function of keeping communication lines open,
and keeping social relationship in good repair. This language function
correlates with the channel of communication. It is used for opening,
keeping or stopping communication line, to examine whether the
communication can take place, or to get the attention of listener and to
make sure whether the listener still follows the line of communication.
 Instrumental: This is when the child uses language to express their
needs (e.g.‟Want juice‟)
 Regulatory: This is where language is used to tell others what to do
(e.g. „Go away‟)
 Interactional: Here language is used to make contact with others and
form relationships
 Personal: This is the use of language to express feelings, opinions, and
individual identity
 Heuristic: This is when language is used to gain knowledge about the
environment
 Imaginative: Here language is used to tell stories and jokes, and to
create an imaginary environment.
 Representational: The use of language to convey facts and information.
 Physiological Function This may seem a rather trivial function but in
fact a good deal of language use has a physiological purpose. If you
are a sports fan watching your favorite sport on television you may
well feel the overwhelming urge at certain exciting moments in the
match to shout instructions to the players: Go on, do not mess about,
for God's sake shoot!
 . Phatic Function It is surprising how often people use language for no
other reason than simply to signal their general disposition to be
sociable. The technical term for this is phatic communion. The word
'phatic' comes from Greek and means 'utterance'; it's the same root
from which people get 'emphatic'.
 Recording Function This is a more obviously 'serious' use of language
than the previous two, although not necessarily more significant even
 so. People are constantly using language to record things they wish to
remember. It might be a short-term record, as in a shopping list or a
list of things to do, or a long-term record, as in a diary or history of
some kind. It's the most official use of language; bureaucracies thrive
on exact records and modern commercial life would be impossible
without up-todate and accurate files.
 Identifying Function Language not only allows people to record, but
also to identify, with consideration precision, an intense array of
objects and events, without which it would be very difficult to make
sense of the world around us. Learning the names of things allows
people to refer quickly and accurately to them; it gives us power over
them. In some cultures, the special name of god is sacred and not
allowed to be spoken except by sacrifices because that name is
strongly powerful and could be used for evil purposes. This is the origin
of many taboo words.
 . Reasoning Function All individuals have a running commentary going
on in their heads during their waking hours. For most of the time they
are not aware of it; like breathing, it's automatic. Schizophrenics are
acutely conscious of it and imagine it to be coming from someone else.
But the voices they hear are really parts of themselves which they are
unable to acknowledge. Running for the bus or train they are
constantly talking to ourselves in the form of continuous monologue.
Sometimes it takes the form of a dialogue with some imagined 'other',
but often it is simply a form of silent thinking. As an exercise you might
try thinking about something, making a conscious effort not to use
words
 Communicating Function This is probably the function that most people
would select first as the principal purpose of language. And clearly it is
an extremely important function. But as one has just seen, the
relationship between language and meaning can be problematic
 Pleasure Function There are various kinds of pleasure which people
derive from language. At the simplest level there is the sheer
enjoyment of sound itself and the melody of certain combinations of
sounds.