The Nature of Language

Language is one of the most important areas of human development. Our communication skills set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, and they're also what bring us together with each other. Babies are born without language. By age five, most children know several thousand words, and have mastered almost all the rules of grammar. This incredible feat of learning is accomplished with little or no formal schooling. But it has everything to do with how you, as a parent, talk with your child. Language, of course, is knowledge, and in our world today knowledge is one of the key factors in competitiveness. Brains and knowledge are what create the prosperity and growth we tend to take for granted. In an advanced industrial society, in an increasingly interdependent world, the knowledge of other languages becomes indispensable. Just think of how the advent of the Internet has changed our lives. For the last few years, millions of people across the world, who share common interests, are able to communicate with each other and exchange ideas. Not only are they able to do this due to the various technological advances, but also because they share a common language. With these trends and facts, it is but fair to define first what language is, its nature and its functions to further the knowledge before going into the components of language and the details of language teaching.

Nature of Language

Here are some definitions of language that linguists, people who study language, have come up with: Language is speech. Speech is language. The written record is but a secondary representation of the language. -Charles Fries

According to Fries, language is primarily sounds. It is vocal but may also be visual. Language is a system of signals conforming to the rules which constitutes its grammar. It is a set of culturally transmitted behavior patterns shared by a group of individuals. -Joseph Greenberg Greenberg stresses the fact that language is made up of signals or symbols arbitrarily chosen by a community to carry on its affairs. Language is a code: a set of elements... forms composed of sounds, letters, their combinations...into words, sentences, etc. ...used for communication between individuals who share the same rules. -Roger T. Bell

It is Roger T. Bell who pointed out that language is a means for communication. It is also Roger T. Bell who pointed out that the elements of language combine to form other elements in the next higher level. He also stresses the fact that language follows a set of rules. Language is a system which relates meanings to substance. It is a mental phenomenon that is innate. All children of the world acquire a mother language. -Noam Chomsky Noam Chomsky, viewed language as essentially true to human beings who are biologically programmed to acquire their native language. When we use language we are not just saying something. We are doing something as well, like promising, asking information, etc. -Searle and Austin Both Austin and Searle stress the fact that we look not only at what is said that is the forms or words that make up the utterances but also at what a person is actually doing by uttering those words (the function of the utterance).

Language has two elements. One is cognitive, which comprises the lignuistic features of the language. The other one is affective or emotiv. -Oller It is Oller who said that each time we say a thing, we express not only our ideas but our feelings as well. Meaning does not reside in the words per se but in the context of the situation -Malinowski

Malinowski mentioned that it is the context of the situation that gives the meaning of the word rather than the meaning of the word from dictionaries.

For communication to take place, the sender and the receiver of the message should have shared presuppositions. -Widdowson According to Widdowson, unless the sender and the receiver of the message are operating on same wave length that is, unless they have the same frame of reference they would be speaking at odds and not understand each other. The ABCs of the Nature of Language A arbitrary B background knowledge C culturally determined; context in the situation D doing something when we say something E essentially sounds; elements combining to form higher elements F feelings and ideas are combined

G generative we can generate any number of utterance H highly systematic and symbolic I innate The Functions of Language Recalling Searle and Austin about their definition of language, we can follow that with the functions of language. They said that When we say something we are also doing something as we say it. Example 1: What they say A: You did this. B: Of course not! A: Who did it then? B: Why dont you try asking Ben? A: Ill do that. Im sorry I was quick to blame you. B: Thats okay. What they are doing Accusing Denying Asking Information Making a suggestion Accepting the suggestion Apologizing Accepting apology

The utterances being made had different uses or functions. They express different meaning and called for different responses. Consider the following situations and determine what is being done as the remark is said.

Example 2: Situation 1: You accidentally step on a persons foot and you say: 1. What are you doing when you make the remark? 2. What other remark could you make to express the same idea? 3. What is the usual response that goes with the mark? Situation 2: You meet a person on you want to ask directions. You try to catch his eye and you say: 1. Are you apologizing this time? 2. What then are you doing? 3. What response will that remark call for this time? Situation 3: Someone accuses you of something you didnt do. You look at her sternly and say: 1. What are you doing this time? 2. What other expressions could you use to give the same idea? 3. What response would you expect? Even though we made use of the same form for the remark Excuse me, yet we are doing different things: apologizing, catching ones attention, and expressing a hurt and angry reaction. The Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.

utterance in this example, again, had different uses or functions. The express different meanings and called for different responses. Since the situations are different, the relationships to the person addressed should be different and the context will depend on the existing situation. Same thing will happen to the response or the intention of making a response, it will change it will be different from one situation to another. Linguists, however, may contest this explanation. They might say that the forms of the utterances might not be really the same since we made use of different intonation patterns for each situation. This is very true and the objection may be validated, but try to consider the following example: Example 3: Write the letter that gives the function of the remark made for these situations. Remark 1: Why are you laughing? a. expressing anger and commanding them to stop b. expressing curiosity about the cause of the laughter c. expressing surprise at the reaction. ____1. A person who fails to catch the joke. ____2. A teacher whose students are snickering while she is discussing the lesson. ____3. A member of the group who arrives and finds her fiends watching TV and laughing.

The situations are different. The remark (Why are you laughing) is the same in form even in the intonation patter, but the remark functions differently. The meaning of the utterance and its function are based on the clues of the situation given.

Michael AK Halliday, a well-known linguist, points out the following to be the functions of language: Instrumental Function can cause things to happen through the use of words alone. Through the use of language it can get things done. Examples of this function would be directing, ordering, and suggesting. With the regulatory function, you exercise deliberate control over the events that happen. So examples of this would be approving or disapproving. With the representational function, you give information about the world around us. So examples of this would be informing, relaying messages, and explaining. The interactional function is like following social rituals like greeting, leave-taking, inviting, and accepting invitations. When you use the personal function of language, you express your feelings and personality. Examples of this would be expressing anger, endorsing and exclaiming. With the heuristic function, you try to find out things about the world. So an example of this would be probing and questioning. Finally, with the imaginative function of language, you use language creatively. So an example of this would be writing plays. We have seven functions all in all. Though, other linguists put heuristic and representational functions together and come up only with six. Their reason is that the two are quite confusing to distinguish because they seem to overlap. They are both concerned with information about the world except that one gives information (representational) while the other seeks information (heuristic).

This broad knowledge of information concerning the general function of language will embed ideas that are of great relevance to any language teacher and will contribute a lot in the teaching-learning process operating in the four walls of a language classroom.

Bibliography Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Brown, D. H. (1994). Principles of Language Learnign and Teaching (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents, Inc. Greenberg, J. H. (1954). A Quantitative Approach to the Morphological Typology of Language. Halliday, M. A. (1973). Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold. Orillos, L. Q. (1997). Language Acquisition Theories, Priciples and Research. Quezon City, Philppines: UP Open University. Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.