I.

Definitions of language
Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet, an English
phonetician and language scholar, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by
means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences,
this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.” The American
linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager formulated the following definition: “A
language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group
cooperates.” Any succinct definition of language makes a number of presuppositions
and begs a number of questions. The first, for example, puts excessive weight on
“thought,” and the second uses “arbitrary” in a specialized, though legitimate, way.
A number of considerations (marked in italics below) enter into a proper understanding
of language as a subject:
Every physiologically and mentally typical person acquires in childhood the ability to
make use, as both sender and receiver, of a system of communication that comprises a
circumscribed set of symbols (e.g., sounds, gestures, or written or typed
characters). In spoken language, this symbol set consists of noises resulting from
movements of certain organs within the throat and mouth. In signed languages, these
symbols may be hand or body movements, gestures, or facial expressions. By means of
these symbols, people are able to impart information, to express feelings and emotions,
to influence the activities of others, and to comport themselves with varying degrees of
friendliness or hostility toward persons who make use of substantially the same set of
symbols.
Different systems of communication constitute different languages; the degree of
difference needed to establish a different language cannot be stated exactly. No two
people speak exactly alike; hence, one is able to recognize the voices of friends over
the telephone and to keep distinct a number of unseen speakers in a radio
broadcast. Yet, clearly, no one would say that they speak different languages. Generally,
systems of communication are recognized as different languages if they cannot be
understood without specific learning by both parties, though the precise limits of mutual
intelligibility are hard to draw and belong on a scale rather than on either side of a
definite dividing line. Substantially different systems of communication that may impede
but do not prevent mutual comprehension are called dialects of a language. In order to
describe in detail the actual different language patterns of individuals, the
term idiolect, meaning the habits of expression of a single person, has been coined.

Typically, people acquire a single language initially—their first language, or native

tongue, the language used by those with whom, or by whom, they are brought up from
infancy. Subsequent “second” languages are learned to different degrees of
competence under various conditions. Complete mastery of two languages is
designated as bilingualism; in many cases—such as upbringing by parents using
different languages at home or being raised within a multilingual community—children
grow up as bilinguals. In traditionally monolingual cultures, the learning, to any extent, of
a second or other language is an activity superimposed on the prior mastery of one’s
first language and is a different process intellectually.
Language, as described above, is species-specific to human beings. Other members of
the animal kingdom have the ability to communicate, through vocal noises or by other
means, but the most important single feature characterizing human language (that is,
every individual language), against every known mode of animal communication, is
its infinite productivity and creativity. Human beings are unrestricted in what they can
communicate; no area of experience is accepted as necessarily incommunicable,
though it may be necessary to adapt one’s language in order to cope with new
discoveries or new modes of thought. Animal communication systems are by contrast
very tightly circumscribed in what may be communicated. Indeed, displaced reference,
the ability to communicate about things outside immediate temporal and spatial
contiguity, which is fundamental to speech, is found elsewhere only in the so-called
language of bees. Bees are able, by carrying out various conventionalized movements
(referred to as bee dances) in or near the hive, to indicate to others the locations and
strengths of food sources. But food sources are the only known theme of this
communication system. Surprisingly, however, this system, nearest to human language
in function, belongs to a species remote from humanity in the animal kingdom. On the
other hand, the animal performance superficially most like human speech, the mimicry
of parrots and of some other birds that have been kept in the company of humans, is
wholly derivative and serves no independent communicative function. Humankind’s
nearest relatives among the primates, though possessing a vocal physiology similar to
that of humans, have not developed anything like a spoken language. Attempts to
teach sign language to chimpanzees and other apes through imitation have achieved
limited success, though the interpretation of the significance of ape signing ability
remains controversial.

In most accounts, the primary purpose of language is to facilitate communication, in the

sense of transmission of information from one person to
another. However, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies have drawn attention to a
range of other functions for language. Among these is the use of language to express a
national or local identity (a common source of conflict in situations of multiethnicity
around the world, such as in Belgium, India, and Quebec). Also important are the “ludic”
(playful) function of language—encountered in such phenomena as puns, riddles,
and crossword puzzles—and the range of functions seen in imaginative or
symbolic contexts, such as poetry, drama, and religious expression.
Language interacts with every aspect of human life in society, and it can be understood
only if it is considered in relation to society. This article attempts to survey language in
this light and to consider its various functions and the purposes it can and has been
made to serve. Because each language is both a working system of communication in
the period and in the community wherein it is used and also the product of its history
and the source of its future development, any account of language must consider it from
both these points of view.
The science of language is known as linguistics. It includes what are generally
distinguished as descriptive linguistics and historical linguistics. Linguistics is now a
highly technical subject; it embraces, both descriptively and historically, such major
divisions as phonetics, grammar (including syntax and morphology), semantics,
and pragmatics, dealing in detail with these various aspects of language.
Selected key properties
Because language is multifaceted and complex, many attempts to define it are
simplified to the construction of lists of language characteristics. This approach is not
without its difficulties, however. For example, how many characteristics are minimally
sufficient to describe language? Two? Four? Twenty? Having said this, an outline of
essential characteristics can still be helpful in gaining an overview of the so-called

II. key properties of language.

Arbitrariness
Essentially, language is a symbol system. In broad terms, the symbols of language
are words. By constructing words and stringing them together according to a set of rules
– the grammar of the language – we are able to construct meaningful utterances.
The choice of symbols used by a language is, however, said to be arbitrary. This is
because there is no direct relationship between a particular word and its meaning. For
example, in English we use the word cup to represent a physical object capable of
holding liquids, which usually has a handle, and which humans use to drink from. Of
course, there is no particular reason why we should use the word-symbol cup. We could
just as easily choose to use the word form zarg, or pinkt, or any other word form we
might think of. The point is that words are just an arbitrary set of symbols used to
represent various meanings. In summary, if we know the form of a word it is impossible
to predict the meaning and if we know the meaning it is impossible to predict the form.
Each particular language (English, French, Russian, Chinese, and so on) uses a
different set of symbols. So, for example, the word-symbol for cup in French is tasse but
in Portuguese it is copo.
Arbitrariness is a useful property because it increases the flexibility of language. The
flexibility arises because language is not constrained by the need to match the form of a
word and its meaning. Because of this it is possible to construct an almost infinite
number of words from a limited set of speech sounds.
Having made the point that linguistic symbols are arbitrary, there are some English
words that appear to be less arbitrary than others. These are onomatopoeic words:
words that imitate the sound associated with an object or an action. For example, in the
utterance the bees were buzzing the word buzzing sounds similar to the noise bees
make. Other examples include hiss and rasp. The features of such words are often
exploited in the writing of poetry.

Duality
Language appears to be organized at least at two levels:
1. the primary level consisting of the units
2. the secondary level consisting of the elements
The elements of the secondary level combine to form the units of the primary level. For
our purposes, we can consider the elements of verbal language to be speech sounds,
i.e. consonants and vowels. These speech sounds then combine to form units at the
primary level, i.e. words.
Consider, for example, how the word cat is formed by the combination of three speech
sounds: the consonant ‘c’, the vowel ‘a’ and the consonant ‘t’. These speech sounds at
the primary level are meaningless if they are uttered in isolation. For example, if I just
say the sound ‘c’ this has no meaning. Similarly, ‘a’ and ‘t’ spoken on their own are
meaningless. It is only when these secondary level elements are combined in a
systematic way that they have the possibility of conveying meaning.
Consequently, cat is meaningful, whereas ‘c’, ‘a’, and ‘t’ are not.

Systematicity
Language is an orderly method of communicating ideas, thoughts, emotions, and so on.
If language were random then there would be no way of ensuring that the intended
meaning was conveyed. Regularity and order (i.e. systematicity) are essential for
language to work properly.
We have already seen an example of this above when considering duality. We noted
that the combination of the secondary level elements ‘c’, ‘a’, and ‘t’ may combine to form
the primary level unit cat. These three elements may also be recombined to form the
word act. However, the combination ‘a’ + ‘t’ + ‘c’ to form atc is meaningless (in English).
What this demonstrates is that language is governed by rules that define which
combinations of elements are acceptable and which are not. There are also rules that
govern the combination of primary level units. So, for example, we realize that the
utterance the first snows of winter is appropriate, whereas the combination snows
winter first the of is not.

Structure-dependence
Language appears to have an underlying patterned structure and humans appear to
intuitively recognize these patterns. Consider the following utterance:

We intuitively realize that this utterance patterns into coherent segments. This is
demonstrated by the fact that we are able to easily remove one segment and replace it
with another, e.g.

As well as recognizing that we can substitute one segment with another, further
evidence that we intuitively recognize patterns in language is demonstrated by our
ability to readily rearrange segments. Consider again our opening utterance:

This utterance could be rearranged as follows.

Of course, the patterned structure of language allows us to both rearrange and

substitute segments simultaneously, e.g.

Productivity
Many animals respond to stimuli in their environment in predictable ways. For example,
the stimulus of seeing a collection of shiny objects in front of a small grass covert will
stimulate a female Bowerbird to mate with the male bird who prepared the display. The
sight of the objects stimulates the female to perform a particular behavior, in this case
pairing and mating.
Similarly, the stimulus of cold weather and reduced daylight hours stimulates the ground
squirrel to perform a certain behavior – hibernation.
These behaviors, and others like them, are said to be stimulus bound. In other words,
if we know what the stimulus is then we can predict the subsequent behavior. The
behavior is invariant and always follows a specific stimulus.

If language were stimulus bound we would expect that each time a human was
presented with the same stimulus he or she would utter exactly the same words. Clearly
this is not so. If three people were all shown the painting of the Mona Lisa there is no
guarantee that each would utter the same words. A variety of responses are available to
these people. There is no sure way of predicting what they may say: ‘What a beautiful
picture’, ‘That reminds me of my sister’, ‘Oh, I’ve forgotten to put the kettle on!’
The salient point is that it is not possible to predict that a particular stimulus will cause a
human to use one, and only one, particular language construction. In this sense,
language is said to be stimulus free and this explains why humans are able to use
language creatively. Language is, therefore, flexible.
The fact that language is stimulus-free and that it is flexible leads to the notion
of productivity, i.e. that language can be used to construct an infinite set of new and
meaningful utterances. These utterances are novel in that they may never have been
spoken before and yet they are meaningful and readily interpretable by other people.

Displacement
Language also allows us to think of, and communicate about, something or someone
that is not immediately present. So, for example, we can refer to our new car even
though it is not actually in front of us. Similarly, we can discuss last night’s football game
even though it has passed. This property of language is known as displacement.

Specialization
This key property refers to the fact that language allows us to substitute an arbitrary
word for a physical action. An example might be a child who instructs their friend to
‘Stay away!’ This utterance means that the child does not then have to act out his or her
message: for example, by physically pushing the friend away. Similarly, the police officer
who instructs a crowd to ‘Move along!’ has used language to substitute for the physical
action of driving the crowd forwards. In both instances the language has substituted for
a physical action.

Cultural transmission
Language is the means by which humans are able to teach the upcoming generation all
that they have learnt to date. If we did not have the ability to use language then it would
be largely impossible to transmit our knowledge and experiences to the next generation
of humans and each successive generation would have to start afresh. However,
because we have language we are able to communicate necessary knowledge and
social norms of behaviour to the upcoming generation.
One of the most obvious examples of this is the formal teaching in our schools, the
majority of which is undertaken using spoken language. The child who sits on a parent’s
lap and listens to stories of family traditions and events is also learning through
language. This property of language is referred to as cultural transmission. The
language of a particular society, therefore, forms part of the culture of that society.

References
This article is based on definitions of key properties of language drawn from the
following texts.
Aitchison, J. (2007) The Articulate Mammal: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics (5 rev
edn) London: Routledge.
Yule, G. (2005) The Study of Language (3 rev edn) Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

Halliday's Functions of Language

Michael Halliday, a British linguist, identified three metafunctions of language, which he
referred to as the ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions. These functions help
to explain the various ways in which language is used to create meaning:
  Ideational Function: This function represents the use of language to express
ideas and experiences. It involves the use of words and phrases to convey
thoughts and mental images.
 Interpersonal Function: This function relates to the use of language to establish
and maintain social relationships. It helps manage interactions between
individuals, express emotions, and indicate social status.
 Textual Function: This function involves the use of language to create coherent
and meaningful texts. Here, language is structured to ensure clarity, logic, and
organization in the communication process.

Jakobson's Functions of Language

Russian-American linguist Roman Jakobson proposed six functions of language,
offering another way to categorize them. Jakobson's functions include:
 Referential Function: The use of language to convey facts, information, or
knowledge about the world.
 Emotive Function: The expression of emotions, feelings, and attitudes through
language.
 Conative Function: Employing language to influence or persuade others, often
used in commands and requests.
 Phatic Function: Maintaining social relationships by using language for small talk
and everyday interactions.
 Metalingual Function: Using language to discuss or explain the use of language
itself.
 Poetic Function: The use of language for artistic and creative purposes, such as
poetry, storytelling, or wordplay.

Examples and Types of Language Functions

It's essential to recognize that various language functions can be utilized in different
types of communication, including spoken, written, and non-verbal forms. Below are
some examples and explanations of the different types of language functions:
Team up with friends and make studying fun

List of Essential Language Functions

Some key language functions are:
1. Greeting and introducing oneself: This function helps establish an interaction and
manage social situations.
2. Expressing opinions, agreeing, or disagreeing: Language used to share one's
thoughts and respond to others' ideas.
3. Making requests, offers, or invitations: Language that plays a role in coordinating
actions and activities.
4. Apologizing and expressing sympathy or gratitude: Languge that helps maintain
social harmony and express emotions.
5. Asking and answering questions: Language that facilitates the exchange of
information by requesting and providing details.

Understanding Different Types of Language Functions

While studying language functions, it's important to recognize that they can interact and
overlap in communication. For example, greeting someone can serve both as an
interactional and a phatic function. The following examples demonstrate how different
functions of language can be applied in various contexts:
Example 1: In a classroom setting, a teacher might use the informative function of
language to deliver a lecture about a historical event, engaging the students' heuristic
function by asking questions and encouraging discussions.
Example 2: In a job interview, a candidate may use the personal function of language to
emphasize their strengths, skills, and experiences. Simultaneously, the interviewer
might use the regulatory function to guide the conversation by asking questions and
providing instructions.

Functions of Language - Key takeaways

 Functions of Language Definition: The various ways language is used to
communicate messages, ideas, emotions, and information.
 7 Functions of Language: Instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal,
informative, heuristic, and imaginative functions.
 Halliday's Functions of Language: Ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions.
 Jakobson's Functions of Language: Referential, emotive, conative, phatic,
metalingual, and poetic functions.
 Examples of Language Functions: Greeting, expressing opinions, making
requests, apologizing, and asking questions.