What is Language?

Language is a means of communication. It is a means of conveying our thoughts ,ideas, feelings, and
emotions to other people. Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt define the language :"the system of human
communication which consists of the structured arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into
larger units, e.g. morphemes, words, sentences, utterances. In common usage it can also refer to non-human
systems of communication such as the “language” of bees, the “language” of dolphins.

To define language is not an easy task. Different linguists tried to define language variously. However, if
we analyse the definitions closely, we will find that each of these definitions is incomplete in some respect
or the other. These definitions will raise a large number of questions.
Some of the most commonly approved definitions of language given by the experts in the field of linguistics
are given below:
Edward Sapir says: “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas
emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols”
This definition is rather incomplete because ‘ideas, emotions and desires’ are not the only things
communicated by language. The term language covers a wide range of implication such as body language,
sign language and animal language.
According to Hall, language is “the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other
by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”
Hall’s definition is narrow because it regards language purely as a human institution.
We know that animals do communicate. Animals have their own language .In the words of Noam Chomsky,
language is “a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of
elements.”
Chomsky focuses on the structural features of language. He showed how language can be investigated by
analyzing it into its constituent elements.
Each of these linguists focuses on certain aspects of language and ignores some others. However what they
have said of language is true, though not comprehensive.
As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings:
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an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French". The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de
Saussure, who defined the modern discipline of linguistics, first explicitly formulated the distinction using
the French word langage for language as a concept, langue(competence by Chomsky) as a specific instance

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of a language system, and parole(Chomsky’s performance) for the concrete usage of speech in a particular
language(Trask, 1999:92).

Unique properties of a language

When animal communicate with one another they may do so by a variety of means. Crabs ,for example,
communicate by waving their claws at one another and bees have a complicated series of 'dance' with
signify whereabouts of a source of nectar. But such method are not as widespread as the use of sounds
,which are employed by human .So our use of the sound is no way unique . Another features that make
human language unique are :
a. Displacement :a property of language whereby language can be used to refer to context removed from
immediate situation of the speaker (it can be displaced) for example if someone says I was afraid it isn't
necessary that the speaker still afraid whereas animal calls seem generally tied to specific situations such
as hunger or danger. There is no displacement in animal communication "exception bee communication has
displacement in an extremely limited form ،a bee can show the others the source of the food.
b. Arbitrariness : a property of human language whereby linguistic form are said to lack any physical
correspondence with the entities in the world to which they refer, for example " there is nothing in the word
table which reflects the shape of the thing. The relationship between sound and
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meaning is said to be arbitrary or conventional as classical tradition puts it by contrast, some words in a
language may be partly or wholly iconic, I.e they do reflect properties of non-linguistic world e.g
onomatopoeic expressions such as splash, murmur, mumble. Majority of animals have a clear connection
with the covered message. Animal communication is non-arbitrary.
c. Productivity (creativity/open-endedness) : a general term used in linguistic to refer to the creative capacity
of language users to produce and understand an indefinitely larger number of sentences. It contrasts
particularly with the unproductive communication systems of animals. Animals have fixed reference. Each
signal refers to something, but these signals can't be manipulated.
d. Cultural transmission : language passes from one generation to another. In animals there is an
instinctively produce but human infants growing up in isolation produce no instinctive language. Cultural
transmission is only crucial in the human acquisition process.(Aitchson ,1997 :13)
e. Discreteness : a property of human language whereby the elements of a signal can be analyzed as having
definable boundaries, with no gradation or continuity between them (OR) the unique sounds used in human
language. Every language use a set of different sounds each of these sounds is differ from the rest and are

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combined to form new meanings. /a/ sound can be repeated or combined with another to form a new
meaning, but animal communication don't have this feature of discreteness .
f. Duality : Organization of language as into two layers, a layer of sounds which combine into a second
layer of larger units .( languages.(Lyons, 1981: 21))
Displacement
It allows the users of language to talk about things and events not present in the inmediate
environment. Animal communication is generally considered to lack this property.
2. Arbitrariness
It is generallly the case that there is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its
meaning. For instance, the sound combination nada carries the meaning of “nothing” in the Spanish
language and also the meaning “thread” in the Hindi language. There is nothing about the word nada
itself that forces Hindi speakers to convey the idea of “thread”, or the idea of “nothing” for Spanish
speakers. Recognizing this general fact about language leads us to conclude that a property of linguistic
signs is their arbitrary relationship with the objects they are used to indicate.
3. Productivity
Also called “creativity or open-endedness” It is an aspect of language which is linked to the fact that
the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.
4. Cultural Transmission
Language is not something a person can inherit from his/her parents, you acquire a language in a
culture with other speakers and not from parental genes. A baby born in Japan to Japanese parents
which is adopted and brought up from birth by english speakers in the United States will inevitably
speak english.
5. Discreteness
The sounds used in language are meaninfully distinct. The fact that the pronunciation of the forms
back and back leads to a distinction in meaning can only be due to the difference between the “p” and
“b” sounds in english. Each sound in the language is treated as discrete.
6. Duality
Language is organized at two level or layers simultaneously. In terms of speech production, we have
the physical level of which we can produce individual sounds like “n”, “b” and “i”.
It is obvious that, although may be able to produce woof, it does not seem to be a feature of the canine
repertoire that the “w”, “oo” and “f” elements can be separated out as a distinct level of production. If
your dog could operate with the double level “i.e duality”, then you might expect to hear oowf and
even foow, each with different meanings.

What is language?
Language is the principal method of Community used by human beings. Languages consist of spoken
sounds in spoken languages and written symbols that are used for written languages. Language is the
conventional speaking system through which we can communicate with others and express our ideas,
feelings, and information. Language is the most important aspect of our life cause it allows us to create
cultural ties, friendships, and relationships by spreading our thoughts and ideas.

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PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE :

There are basically six properties of language that makes human language different from animal language.
These properties are some kind of features that are unlikely to be found in the languages of other living
creatures. Here, the properties are given below.

1. Displacement :

This property allows us to communicate about those events that are currently absent from the environment
( like I did the work yesterday, what is your plan for this vacation or I will get the job in the next month). It
allows us to make up stories and think about both the past and the future.

2. Productivity :

It resembles the infinity of unique words/sentences and the combination of the words. It is linked to the fact
that the potential number of utterances in human languages is infinite.

3. Arbitrariness :

It basically presents that no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning exists. That means
the words or symbols used to make the right perception about the objects are not inherently interconnected
to those objects they symbolize.

4. Discreteness :

This property ensures that the sounds used in languages are meaningfully distinct and those sounds are
considered our own with our distinct meaning.

5. Duality :

At one stage of language, we find two kinds of simultaneity of language, one is discrete sounds and another
is discrete meanings.

We can combine the letters l, a,k, and e in two different ways: lake and leak. These two word means two
different meanings even though they are comprised of the same four sounds.

6. Cultural Transmission :

Language is learned through culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.

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