Words to express the importance of language

From casual conversations shared between friends to political speeches, business meetings,
and media productions, language pervades all aspects of real-world life. It is the vehicle of
thoughts and emotions, and the means to get things done, it is the tool that bridges thoughts,
feelings, and experiences, and connects humans to one another. Language has got the ability
to shape humans’ lives and experiences. In addition to that, the way we use language defines
us to the people around us. As such, language is not just a tool for communication but an
intrinsic aspect of our identity.
Why Study Language in Real-Life Practice
1- All languages vary, and they reflect the speaker’s individual identity as well as social and
cultural aspects of a society: Consciously or subconsciously, people speak differently
depending on where they come from, whom they talk to, where the conversation is carried
out, what purposes they have, etc.
2- Not only does studying language reveal interesting facts about human society, but there are
also many practical applications of the study of language that can have a significant effect on
people’s everyday lives. For example:
- studying language allows humans to understand the methods for improving their
communication skills which would lead to better gains in life.
-It also contributes to developing better teaching tools for language instruction
- design computers that can interact with humans using language
3- Language is a distinctive human characteristic, and part of human biology. It is not only
reflected in the structure of humans’ speech organs, but it also has a profound and complex
connection with humans’ thinking.
4-Language is involved in the development of other cognitive abilities, as well as with cognitive
disorders.
5- Language is the primary means by which human history is preserved. It is the prism through
which humans can understand the past, and thus build a better future.
6-Language is central to all human development. It enables people to develop, shape and
sustain ideas, artefacts, communities, ideologies, cultures, art, and games and a lot more.
 7- Language is central to the creation, maintenance, and negotiation of identities and
relationships. It can be used in a variety of ways to influence what others think and do.
8- Language is neither simple nor transparent. It is infinitely creative, and largely produced
with little conscious awareness.
Trying to define language
Difference between ‘language’ and ‘a language’
-Language: The term ‘language’ refers to the innate ability of humans to engage in verbal
communication, facilitating the exchange of information to interact with one another. This
exchange can occur through speaking or writing or any other mode of communication, and it
can be done in any of the approximately 6,900 languages that are recognized worldwide.
-A language: is the particular form of verbal communication used by a specific group of
speakers. It is characterized by its specific pronunciation, grammatical structure, and
vocabulary. Furthermore, it is defined by the fact that its speakers can understand each other
but are not understood by speakers of other languages and do not themselves understand
speakers of other languages.
‘What makes up a language?’
Language components including sounds, words, grammar, meaning and the principles that
guide combining these features.
The Characteristics of Language
They are number of features of language that all the languages of the world share each and
every one of them:
1-Arbitrariness
Definition: Arbitrariness of language refers to the principle that the connection between a
linguistic sign (such as a word or a symbol) and its meaning is arbitrary. In other words, there is
no inherent or logical connection between the sound or appearance of a word and the
concept it represents.
2- Displacement:
The second characteristic of human languages is displacement. It refers to the ability of
language to express information about entities and events that are remote in time and space
(those which happened in the past and the future) and objects that are not physically present.
Humans can also talk about abstract concepts that do not actually exist in any physical sense,
such as truth, justice, evil, and wisdom.
3- Productivity
Another important characteristic of human languages is productivity. It refers to the ability of
applying linguistic processes, rules, or patterns freely to create new and often complex forms
and sentences that have never been uttered before and to generate innovative uses for
familiar words.
Animal Communication and Other Communication Systems
Human language possesses a number of significant qualities that as yet have not been found
as part of any other animal communication system.
Animal's communication lake the 3 identifying characters of a language as follow:
1- productivity
For example, human speech sounds can be arranged in infinite sequences to create new
meanings. No animal species have been identified that can combine the sounds or gestures of
their system to add new meanings in an ongoing and productive way. Language is an open
system with almost limitless potential for creativity and innovation as long as the basic system
rules are followed. As far as scientists have determined, animal communication systems are
generally confined to a very limited set of topics that are significant to the animals’ survival;
for example, finding food or shelter, protecting territory from invaders, identifying themselves,
or keeping the group together when travelling.
2- Arbitrariness
In addition, the relationship between the sound of a word and its meaning is almost always
arbitrary in human languages, which is why words for the same objects differ from one
language to another. This is evidenced by the fact that even though all humans are of the
same species, they speak over 6,000 different languages. This is contrary to animal
communication where animals belonging to the same species all use the same system
regardless of where in the world they are. This is not to say that there is no learned
component or variability in any animal communication system; but the range of variability is
quite small when compared to human language.
3- Displacement
Finally, humans do something quite significant with their languages that animals do not which
is related to the feature of ‘Displacement’, humans communicate in the abstract, discuss the
future or past, talk about things and people not in the immediate environment, and develop
concepts and ideas that have no physical form. Although some animal communication systems
may deal, in a very limited way, with items not in the immediate environment, animal
communication is generally limited to reacting to the environment in some way.
Conclusion
‘Language’ is therefore a major attribute distinguishing humans from the rest of the animal
kingdom.
Genie
Despite intensive efforts, Genie faced significant challenges in acquiring language. Her severe
social isolation had deprived her of the critical period for language development and she never
fully acquired fluency. While she did make some progress and learned a limited vocabulary,
her ability to use language for communication remained severely impaired. Genie's case
contributed valuable insights into the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) for language
development suggesting that exposure to language during a specific window in early childhood
and before puberty is crucial for acquiring linguistic competence. More about the CPH will be
presented later.
Chomsky’s Hypothesis
Several theories have been proposed to explain how first language acquisition occurs. One of
those theories is the Innateness Hypothesis which was proposed by the linguist Noam
Chomsky which offers a distinctive perspective on the nature of language acquisition and an
understanding of how children acquire their first language.
The Innateness Hypothesis is a theory which suggests that the ability to acquire language is
biologically innate to humans. Chomsky argues that humans are born with a Universal
Grammar, which is a set of inherent linguistic principles or structures that underlie all human
languages. Chomsky also argues that the brains of all children are biologically set up to
recognize the patterns of whatever human language to which they are exposed. This ability to
intuitively figure out the principles and constraints of a language is guided by resources of the
brain that Chomsky called Universal Grammar (UG).
Universal Grammar consists of a set of principles or rules that are common to all languages,
and it serves as the foundation for language learning. Chomsky’s views challenged the idea
that language acquisition is solely a result of environmental factors and learning. According to
Chomsky, UG is an integrated part of the brain, concentrated in the left hemisphere, which
linguists sometimes refer to as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). It is this Language
Acquisition Device that enables the innate learning of language by all humans from the
moment of birth.
Chomsky declared that the human brain is ‘hard-wired’ for language acquisition, this means
that language is part of the normal abilities that all humans possess similar to the ability to
walk. Chomsky asserted that language acquisition is not a behavior that is modified by
environmental or social variables that are radically different for each child. He proposed that
UG takes the highly inconsistent input that each child receives and extrapolates from it the
basic patterns of the parents’ language. Thus, language is a result of the interaction of the
child’s brain with input from the environment.
Universal Grammer (this section is of high importance)
The central idea of Chomsky’s Linguistic Theory is that language is a unique feature of humans,
and it consists of a set of abstract principles which are found in a specific place in the brain.
According to Chomsky, every child is equipped from birth with an internal system that resides
in the brain and is responsible for language acquisition which is called ‘Universal Grammar’.
UG definition: Universal Grammar is usually defined as the system of categories, mechanisms
and constraints shared by all human languages; a system that is considered to be innate, in a
broad sense, UG is a collection of all grammatical rules and syntactic structures that could exist
in any language, and every language in the world consists of a selection of the rules and
structures contained in UG.
How UG works: Children are exposed to the language that their parents speak; thus, they learn
the basic formal patterns of that language. This would be rules such as, in English the
adjectives come before nouns and most plurals are formed by adding a word final -s
Chomsky suggested that children learn their L1 through activating the innate knowledge they
are born with, and this process is governed by the rules of Universal Grammar. Accordingly,
language acquisition is a process that occurs as a result of the interaction of Universal
Grammar (the internal set of constraints inside the brain) with external language data (input) a
child is exposed to.

why imitation is not a convincing explanation for L1 acquisition

At the beginning of research on first language (L1) acquisition, it was claimed that the two
activities of repetition and reinforcement done by parents are the most significant factors that
lead to children’s acquisition of language.
However, later research pointed out that these processes- repetition and reinforcement- could
not explain the complexity of the task that very young children confront for the following
reasons:
1- There is great uniformity in the end product of L1 learning which is acquiring native speaker
proficiency of the language. Except for children with very severe mental issues, all children
learn to speak their parents’ language regardless of reinforcement, parental teaching style,
individual variability, or type of language that they are learning.
2- One of the clear problems with these views is that as children grow up, parents’
reinforcement generally decreases and becomes inconsistent, yet children acquire first
language despite that.
3- Another reason why imitation is not a convincing explanation for L1 acquisition is the
phenomenon of what is called ‘Caretaker talk’. Many parents use a different voice and style to
talk with children. This speech is characterized by extreme variations in pitch and tone,
simplifications of grammatical forms and a great deal of repetition. If imitation is crucial for L1
acquisition, then children would end up speaking in a similar way to caretaker talk.
4- Also, if imitation of adults and older children is the key, then children would first learn the
most frequently used items in the parent’s language. If that was true, children would have
acquired words such as ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, ‘and’, before other words as these are the most
common words to occur in the conversations of adults. Yet, these words appear late in the
vocabulary used by children.
Conclusion:
Imitation does play a role in L1 language learning; however, numerous studies have shown
that it accounts for only between 10 to 20 per cent of children’s early utterances

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Jean Berko study
Berko (1958) assumed that children were active learners of language and not just observers or
imitators of the actions of others or copying the language around them driven by the incentive
of a reward; rather they were constructing and applying rules. In Berko’s data, this was
obvious in children’s use of forms such as ‘toy breaked’, ‘mommy goed’, and ‘baby seeped’.
According to Berko, the results indicated that children did not just imitate the speech around
them. Instead, children created and produced new sentences that they have never learnt
before. Children seemed to be relying on some sort of internal mechanism to extract rule-like
knowledge from the examples they were storing in their brains and using that knowledge to
guide their language production.
Second Language Acquisition
Second Language definition: The language which is learned after acquiring the first language
(L1) is called a second language (L2) even though it may actually be the third or fourth to be
acquired. It is also commonly called a target language, a term that is used to refer to any
language that is the aim or goal of learning. Learning a second language can happen at any
stage in a person’s life, either as a young child or as an adult.
Difference between a second language and a foreign language
A second language is the target language acquired in contexts where it is spoken as a first
language, and is used as a means of wider communication in everyday life outside the
classroom. Learning English in the United Kingdom or learning Spanish in Spain are examples
of second language learning
On the other hand, foreign language learning refers to language learning that typically takes
place in a classroom through instruction in contexts where the language is not normally
spoken outside the classroom. It is the learning of a non-native language in the environment of
the learners’ native language where there are no, or only limited, opportunities to use the
target language in daily life. For example, learning Farsi in Egypt or learning German in Canada.
It is learned for purposes other than daily communication such as for 29 future travel or for
work or as a curricular requirement in school or university, but with no immediate or
necessary practical application outside the classroom.
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In the next section, the role of age in SLA will be explored.
Different theories and hypotheses have been formulated in the search for answers to these
questions. This section overviews the most prominent views on the relationship between age
and SLA, and the different arguments that have been presented to address these questions.
- Does UG operate in learning a second language in the same manner as in learning an L1?
1-some point of views believe that all structural properties related to any human language
must be contained in Universal Grammar. Accordingly, when learning a second language, any
new language property that is not part of the learner’s L1 would still be part of the learner’s
UG.
2- However, this is not always the case. Research on second language learners has revealed
that UG only has a facilitating effect on L2 learning and partly contributes to the construction
of the learner’s underlying knowledge about the L2, but it does not lead to native-like
acquisition of the target language.
3-Other points of view have ruled out completely the role of UG in SLA and stated that UG
does not contribute in any way to language learning after acquiring the L1. In other words, UG
works differently for the L1 and the L2.
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the Critical Period Hypothesis, which was first proposed by Penfield and Roberts (1959) and
followed up by Lenneberg (1967).
Is there a critical period for learning L1?
1-The main contention of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) is that humans are born with
biological mechanisms (Universal Grammar) that allow for language learning to happen, and
these mechanisms are only operative for a specific period of time which starts at the moment
of birth and ends around the age of puberty. The ability to acquire a language spontaneously
through exposure to naturally occurring input and without instruction reduces significantly, if
not disappears completely, after this age, which make it almost impossible to acquire the L1 or
any other language
2-According to another view, it would be more difficult to learn a language with any success
after puberty, and it would only be through explicit instruction and sustained conscious efforts
that language could be learned after the critical period.
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Is there a critical period for learning a second language?
The first position states that there is a critical period for learning L2; the second is that there is
no critical period for learning a second language; while the third position argues that there
might be critical periods for certain aspects of language but not others.
Related to the third position is the view that age, and not necessarily a specific critical period,
has a significant impact on the process and the end-state of learning an L2.
1. There is a critical period for learning L2
According to this view, L2 learners would find it difficult, if not impossible, to learn a language
to an acceptable level of proficiency if the learning took place after the onset of the critical
period because they do not have access to the same language acquisition mechanisms that
children have and the only way for them to learn a language is by resorting to other cognitive
capabilities and to dedicate their efforts to conscious methods of language learning.
The evidence to support this claim was drawn from the observation that, contrary to children
who all acquire the L1 equally successfully and with ease, L2 learners vary considerably in the
proficiency levels they achieve, this indicates that there is at least one specific factor which
renders the learning process is not uniform across all learners.
Evidence for the claims presented above has been explained as follows: Children who learn
the L1 prior to the CP (pre-CP learners) must be relying on innate or internal mechanisms to
support their language acquisition which adults (post-CP learners) cannot exploit. As such,
post-CP learners would have to resort to a different type of mechanism to guide the learning
process which is distinct from the mental faculties utilized by children learning the L1. Also, the
success of child L1 learning does not seem to be affected by external factors, yet with adults it
is clear that aspects related to psychological factors and the socio-communicative contexts of
learning shape the L2 learning outcomes.
2. There is no critical period for learning L2
The second position holds that a critical period for learning a second language does not exist.
Scholars rejecting the CPH support their claims with evidence derived from cases of learners
who accomplished native-like competence in the L2 despite starting the learning process after
the CP. This was interpreted as evidence that, similar to pre-CP children, adult learners can
have access to internal mechanisms that guide language acquisition beyond the critical period
age.
However, scholars in this camp did not deny completely the role of age in language
acquisition. They argued that the loss of language-learning abilities is not linked to a particular
period. Instead, the ability to learn language declines steadily over time. They state that
starting to learn any skill, such as riding a bicycle earlier in life yields significant positive results.
Some people manage to retain the function of the internal mechanisms involved in learning
languages for an extended period after the biological age of the CP while others lose that
function at an earlier age. The term ‘sensitive period’ was proposed as an alternative to the
‘critical period’ to describe the age at which language learning abilities start to decline
gradually. The suggestion of a ‘sensitive period’ as a less restrictive term allows for variation in
the age at which language learning abilities wane, and partly explains the variance in the levels
of ultimate attainment learners reach when learning post-CP.
There are other two point of views to why the critical period doesn’t exist, the two views
provide reasons to why the acquisition of L2 is harder than that of L1, the reasons are as
follows:
1- The suggestion is that the presence and dominance of a complete linguistic system (the L1)
in the brains of adult L2 learners could be the factor preventing the complete acquisition of a
new linguistic system (the L2) because of the clash between the existing language system (the
L1) and the new system (the L2) trying to find its way into the brains of the learners. This
mental clash between the two language systems blocks the learning process to some extent.
To put it differently, adult L2 learners have extra baggage in their brains (the L1) which makes
it difficult to carry more new baggage (the L2), whereas children start the L1 learning journey
with no burdensome baggage at all. They suggested that to be the reason rather than the loss
of access to Universal Grammar .
2- Another interesting view according to Pinker (1994) suggests that language acquisition is a
skill that is part of the genetic formation of humans, and it only exists to support the
acquisition of the L1. When that process is complete, the language learning skill is not needed
and thus it is lost.
The learning processes and results are usually strongly influenced by the social, cultural,
economic, and affective factors that are inherent to the language learners.
3. There is a critical period for some aspects.
Only this group argues that the effect of the critical period varies depending on the aspect of
language under examination. They support their claims with the fact that a language is not
learned as one indivisible block. Rather, the target language is acquired in terms of the various
components it consists of. This could provide evidence for the suggestion that the timeframe
for language learning reaches an end for L2 phonology first (probably as early as four-years-
old), then for lexis and collocations afterwards (at around nine or ten years old), and finally (at
the age of thirteen or fourteen) for grammar. Thus, there is no critical period for universals
(principles inherent to all languages) but there is a critical period for some aspects of the
target language because once parameters are set for the L1, they are often lost and cannot be
retrieved in adult SLA

To end this discussion on a positive point, it is fair to suggest that with motivation and
perseverance, successful second language learning could be achievable at any age yet with
varying degrees of success from one learner to another. While age undoubtedly influences the
language learning process, it isn't a deterministic factor, and individuals can thrive in acquiring
a second language regardless of when they start the L2 learning process.
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This chapter will discuss the role of individual differences in SLA focusing on two factors. These
are: attitude, and motivation. The selection of these two factors in particular has been driven
by the fact that they are crucial in all language learning contexts, and also because of the
claims of scholars’ that these two factors determine the extent of a learner’s active
involvement in learning.
The relationship between individual learner characteristics and SLA can be traced back to the
1950s in a series of studies conducted on L2 learners in instructional settings. Those learners
shared almost all the linguistic, social, and educational elements of the learning context. As
such, the impact of learners’ internal (cognitive and psychological) characteristics emerged as
one possible explanation for such variance in L2 development and performance. These early
studies took as a starting point the hypothesis that every learner brings to the task of learning
an exclusive set of qualities that predetermines and directly influences how quickly he/she
learns

Attitude
The role of attitude in language learning is concerned with three main aspects: the first is the
attitude of the learner to the target language itself; the second is the attitude towards the
language community and the culture which is associated with the target language; while the
third refers to the learner’s approach towards the demands and requirements of the language
learning process.
for example:
 How do learners feel about the status and prestige of the target language?
 How do learners perceive the value and usefulness of the target language?
 How do learners deal with difficulties they encounter in learning the target language, and
how do they respond to the challenges inherent in the process?
Results indicated that learners with favorable attitudes towards the target language have
achieved better results than others who displayed negative attitudes.

Motivation
 What is the relationship between motivation and SLA success?
 What are the different types of motivation that influence SLA?
Motivation has been defined as 'the combination of efforts plus desire to achieve the specific
goal’. Within the context of SLA, motivation has been conceptualized as ‘The extent to which
the individual works or strives to learn the target language’. In simple terms, having an
inherent desire for something would encourage pursuing it and would lead to higher chances
of attainment and heightened levels of satisfaction.

Two types of motivation in language learning have been identified:

integrative motivation and instrumental motivation (Gardner and Lambert1972).
-Integrative motivation refers to the internal impetus that propels language learning. It is
related to psychological or emotional factors such as the learner’s self-esteem, perception of
success, and willingness for achievement in life. It is also connected to the learner’s disposition
towards the target language and culture.
-Instrumental motivation, on the other hand, refers to a practical need or a specific purpose
the learner has for learning and using the target language. This could include learning a
language to pass an exam, to enroll in an advanced programme of study, to obtain a job, to
travel, or to immigrate. As such, learning the language has a functional purpose
-comparison between the two types of motivation
Whether a learner is motivated by integrative or instrumental purposes, it has been found that
any type of motivation keeps learners oriented to their long-term learning goals. However,
instrumental motivation is a much weaker predictor of L2 achievement than integrative
motivation as learners with an integrative motivation is less likely to abandon learning a
second language, contrary to instrumental motivation learners who would cease learning once
their functional purpose has been achieved. It has been claimed that learners can derive
motivation from their successful learning experiences which would prompt them to pursue
higher levels of proficiency than they initially aimed for. This indicates that motivation is not
static
The Role of Instruction in SLA
Since the 1970s, scholars have debated to what extent instruction makes a difference in
acquisition of the formal properties of language. By formal properties, we mean morphological
and syntactic aspects of language such as verb forms, word order, rules on question formation,
nominal inflections, and so on.
In response to the question of whether instruction does have an effect on second language
learning, four possible positions have been suggested:
(1) Instruction makes no difference
(2) Instruction has limited effect
(3) Instruction is beneficial
(4) Instruction is necessary.
The following sections will present each of these four views in detail.
1. Instruction makes no difference
It is claimed that formal instruction contributes to the learning of explicit knowledge only and
is unrelated to the acquisition of implicit knowledge which is gained incidentally through
unconscious and unintentional processes such as exposure to input and actual usage of the
language. Thus, aspects of the target language are learned not because they are taught, but
because the available evidence in the input leads learners to acquire them when that input
connects to UG.
Explicit knowledge is conscious awareness of the rules and the underlying structure of the
target language; it is metalinguistic understanding of the target L2 features that a learner is
aware of possessing and can describe.
Implicit knowledge, however, is knowledge that the language learner has but is not
consciously aware of and cannot describe except under reflection and introspection. As such,
the main difference between implicit and explicit knowledge lies in learners’ awareness of the
language knowledge they possess. In the case of explicit knowledge, learners have this
awareness, but in the case of implicit knowledge, they do not, even though their language
behavior may demonstrate that they have such knowledge. For most language learners and
users, L1 knowledge is implicit; L1 speakers would use the rules of their native language
competently, yet they would find it difficult to describe the rules governing their language use

Evidence for instruction making no difference emerges from studies conducted to investigate
the effects of formal instruction on the order that learners follow towards acquisition and
accuracy. Order refers to the particular morphemes such as plural -s, past tense -ed, and third
person –s and how they are acquired by learners over time. Also A few long-term studies on
the effects of instruction have been conducted. In these studies that have examined the effect
of instruction after a long time, e.g. six months or a year later, results indicated that the gains
made from instruction is minimal as the effects of instruction were no longer evident.
2. Instruction has limited effect
It has been argued that instruction will not enable learners to acquire any developmental
features out of order because aspects of any target language are acquired in a particular
hierarchy. This means that acquisition order constrains the ability of learners to speed up the
learning process and thus it would minimize the effect of any instructional efforts. However,
instruction could enable learners to acquire particular features provided that the processing
operations required to produce the features that precede it in the acquisitional sequence have
already been acquired.
For example, here is the developmental sequence for English question formation.
Stage 1 = SVO (He live here?)
Stage 2 = wh− + SVO (Where he is?)
Stage 3 = Copula inversion (Where is he?)
Stage 4 = AUX (Where has he been?)
The structures become learnable only when the previous steps on the acquisitional path have
been acquired. Thus, a learner at stage 2 cannot be taught to make the output processing
procedures for stage 4, for example. However, instruction can promote language acquisition in
that if the learner is at stage 2 and has successfully acquired the ability to produce the
structure at that stage, the learner can be taught to produce the structure in stage 3.
Because instruction cannot alter the order or learning or development in any real way but it
can help learners in the application of particular rules when they are ready to use them, this
view states that instruction is not completely useless; instead, its effect is limited.
3. Instruction is beneficial in order to examine the role of instruction on L2 learning, a group of
researchers reviewed a number of studies in which classroom only, naturalistic exposure only,
and classroom plus naturalistic exposure were compared. results indicated that instruction
and a combination of instruction and naturalistic exposure were more beneficial than
naturalistic exposure alone, as instruction seems to have an effect on the rate and success of
SLA.
The study also showed that in order to acquire a language, it is necessary for learners to pay
conscious attention to forms/structures of the target language and to notice these forms in
the input, otherwise learners might just process input for meaning and fail to acquire the
specific linguistic features.
What needs to be clear from these positions and variations is that all scholars agree that the
route of acquisition cannot be altered. That is, instruction cannot change acquisition or
developmental orders. Instead, those who argue that instruction is beneficial are basically
arguing that either instruction can speed up the processes used by learners to acquire aspects
of the target language in a specific order or instruction will help learners progress faster.
4. Instruction is necessary
A final position on the role of instruction is that it is necessary for the acquisition of the formal
features of language. The idea here is that learners’ linguistic systems will fossilize without
instruction. That is, their linguistic systems will cease to develop and exhibit a variety of non-
native-like features without explicit help.

DIFFERENT DEFINATIONS OF BILINGALISM

First opinion: -‘Knowing a second language and possessing the ability to use it in a meaningful
way’.
Second opinion: ‘Being able to use two languages alternately’, so if someone goes into a
restaurant in France and only says ‘Bonjour’ they could be considered bilingual.
Third opinion: ‘Native-like control of two languages’
Fourth opinion: the ability to use the second language in a meaningful way and not necessarily
being able to use it perfectly in all circumstances.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF L2 USERS? HERE ARE SOME OF THE WAYS IN
WHICH L2 USERS ARE UNIQUE.
1-L2 users no longer see the world in quite the same way as monolinguals. For example where
an English eye sees one colour, speakers of other languages see two. this ideas presented by
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf. The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis, also known as the
Linguistic Relativity hypothesis, refers to the claim that language determines thought, and
linguistic categories entirely dictate cognitive categories. The concept behind it is that the
structure and vocabulary of a particular language will influence or determine the perception,
cognition, and view of the world of the native speakers of that language. When different
languages are used, different understandings of the world exist. For example, if a 57 language
lacks specific vocabulary to express a certain concept, speakers of that language may have
difficulty thinking about or understanding that concept. Remeber the friend example
2- L2 users have a better feel for language
For example, young children believe that long words go with big objects, short words with
small ones. Knowing another language helps bilingual children to realize that the size of a
word has nothing to do with the size of the object. In addition to that: the large number of
bilingual writers around the world who can write proficiently in more than one language.
3- Knowledge of more than one language enables L2 users to do things that monolinguals
cannot. One is that, rather than using one language at a time in ‘monolingual’ mode, they can
effectively use both at once in ‘bilingual’ mode. Most of the time, this choice of mode may be
invisible and seem unconscious. Yet the visible sign of this ability to use two languages at once
is ‘codeswitching’.
Codeswitching is defined as ‘alternating between two languages within the same situation or
conversation’. It is a complex use of language that draws instantaneously on two or more
language systems with all their formal properties including the two or more grammars, sets of
vocabulary, phonemes, morphemes, and so on.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, most of these characteristics of L2 users are undoubtedly advantages rather than
disadvantages. In fact, those advantages are not limited to the field of language learning and
use but extend beyond language. L2 users do not have any cognitive or social problems or
educational difficulties when compared to monolinguals. Claims to the contrary are usually
based, not on their bilingualism - the language aspect - but on the emotional, social and
economic problems of immigrants or minority groups, largely social and economic deprivation.

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TYPES OF L2 SPEAKERS
A deeper uderstanding of L2 speakers to answer the question: If a person speaks both Arabic
and English for example, does he/she effectively keep them in separate Arabic and English
parts in the brain or are the languages mixed up together?
-Coordinate bilingualism refers to a situation where an individual acquires two languages
independently and uses them in distinct, separate contexts. In other words, the two languages
are considered separate systems with little overlap or influence on each other. EX: the speaker
knows what ‘book’ means and they know what ‘livre’ means but they do not make a
connection between them.
-Compound bilingualism describes a situation where an individual has a single linguistic system
that draws on elements from both languages. Ex: the speaker have a single concept of ‘book’
that links to the two words ‘book’ and ‘livre’ in the different languages.
- A third kind of L2 user links the L2 word ‘livre’ to the L1 word ‘book’ rather than directly to
the concept. So they know what French ‘livre’ means by linking it to the English word ‘book’
which eventually leads them to the 61 meaning. Their second language connects to their first
language via translation equivalents. These are called ‘Subordinate bilinguals’.
CONCLUSION:
L2 users are all placed somewhere in between along the integration of a spectrum were at one
end come coordinate bilinguals who keep the languages quite separate, at the other end there
are compound bilinguals who have completely merged them, in addition to that a person may
succeed in integrating the languages more over time or in separating them more.
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This chapter discusses the ways in which languages vary internally and the factors that
contribute to language variation
sociolinguistics seeks to understand how language use is shaped by social factors and aims at
explaining why human speak differently in different social contexts. It also seeks to identify the
social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning.
The sections below offer a discussion on the role of social factors in language variation. The
first topic to be presented is the role of gender in language use and practice.
Robin Lakoff’s
Lakoff suggested that women’s speech was characterised by the frequent use of specific
linguistic patterns which did not emerge as often in men’s speech.
Examples of these features are:
1. Tag questions (e.g. She is very nice, isn’t she?).
2. Rising intonation on declaratives not only on questions (e.g. It is really good ➚).
3. Empty adjectives (e.g. divine, charming, adorable, cute).
4. Precise colour terms (e.g. turquoise, olive green, lavender)
5. Intensifiers such as ‘just’ and ‘so’ (e.g. I like her so much).
6. Lexical hedges or fillers (e.g. you know, sort of, well, you see).
7. Hyper-polite forms, such as the use of indirect requests and euphemisms.
8. Avoidance of strong swear words (e.g. ‘fudge’ and ‘shoot’ instead of other common swear
words)
9. Emphatic stress (e.g. It was a BRILLIANT performance).
10.Hypercorrect grammar such as the consistent use of standard verb forms.
11. Another linguistic feature that is handled differently by gender is what is called
‘backchannel support’ which could be verbal or physical. Backchannel support is when the
hearer in a conversation provides ongoing feedback and support to the other participant in the
conversation though verbal commentary. This occurs through the use of expressions such as
‘uh-huh, yeah, sure, wow, really?’, or by using a physical reaction (nodding, shaking 73 the
head) in response to a speaker’s talk.
Lakoff argued that women’s language choices depicted them as lacking in power and authority
and as seeking approval. She also suggested that little girls are socialized into these patterns of
language use, and are often scolded by their parents and other adults for not talking ‘as nice
and polite as little girls should talk’. society expects women to speak more correctly and
standardly than men especially when they are serving as models for children’s speech.
---A number of different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why this correlation
between females and standard language exist. A number of explanations are presented below.
1- According to scholars, women are more often judged by their appearance rather than their
ability. So they use standard forms to focus hearers’ attention on their talk rather than their
appearance.
2- Women have traditionally been considered inferior to men in terms of social status, they
are also more aware of the fact that the way they speak signals their social class background
or social status in the community, thus, they use more standard speech forms as a way of
claiming such status.
3- It has been suggested that women, being the primary caretakers for children in many
societies, may try to expose their children to prestige dialects in order to improve the
children’s chances of success. This seems to be an odd explanation because interactions
between a mother and her child are likely to be very relaxed and informal, and it is in such
relaxed informal contexts that non-standard forms occur most often in everyone’s speech.
4- women use questions because they perceive them as more polite than direct assertions.
Thus, a woman discussing the content of some reports with her male boss might not choose to
say: ‘The facts are accurate’, but might rather say ‘The facts are accurate, aren’t they?’
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The most obvious use of language to signal identity is when people overtly state affiliation
with or dissociation from a particular group
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LANGUAGE CONTACT
In language contact situations, two or more distinct languages or dialects come into contact
with each other. That could take place either directly through social interaction of the
speakers or indirectly through education or literature. One of the most common ways in which
language change happens due to language contact is borrowing, which is defined as ‘The
transfer of lexical items or structural properties from one language to another’. Other
outcomes of contact include language convergence. This happens when the languages in
contact change gradually and become more similar than different. Also, language death,
where a language has no more speakers left, is another consequence of language contact.
In language contact situations, the linguistic systems involved are often influenced by
borrowing, which is the adoption by one language of linguistic elements from another
language. Borrowing can be lexical such as the borrowing of words and phrases, or it could be
structural as in cases of the borrowing of phonological, morphological, or syntactic patterns.
Structural borrowing does not happen as frequently as borrowing words.
THE STAGES THAT THE LANGUAGE UNDERGOES AFTER CONTACT WITH OTHER LANGUAGES
If speakers of different languages enter into an extensive Longterm contact situation, language
convergence may result. Convergence occurs when two languages become more similar due
to contact between them. If there is extensive, long-term contact between languages that
have an unequal prestige relationship, language shift may result. This is a shift by a group of
speakers toward another language, abandoning their native language. If the shifting group is
the only group of speakers who used their original language, that language will no longer be
spoken once the shift is completed. This is called language death.
OTHER DEFINITIONS:
There are three distinct outcomes of highly intensive language contact situations are the
creation of pidgin languages, creole languages, and bilingual mixed languages.
-A pidgin language typically arises in a setting where two or more groups of people come
together for the purposes of trade. If the traders do not share a common language for
communication, they might create a simplified yet distinct language, i.e. a pidgin, to facilitate
trading
- creole languages arise in situations where the speakers in contact are in need of a common
or primary means of communication.
- Bilingual mixed languages develop by combining aspects of one language with aspects of
another language.