Language features , characteristic ,uses , language notes

WHATS IS LANGUAGE? WHAT ARE ITS BASIC FEATURES ?

MEANING 

Language is a means of communication among human beings ,the two obvious modes of communication are speech and writing . There are many means of communication such as facial expressions , gestures , smiles , ringing of bells . All these have one thing in common - They aim at Translating an idea , emotions or attitude into a physical embodiment into something that can be perceived . Read Further to know more About Language Features , Characteristics , uses .

Language , features and Uses

          SENDER - MESSAGE - RECEIVER

                             SIGN
                         /              \
                       /                  \
                     /                      \
    SPEECH                              WRITING

THE PHYSICAL EMBODIMENT OF THE MESSAGE, AS SHOWN ABOVE IS TWO FOLD -

If the message is realized as sound waves in the atmosphere, we call it phonic substance or speech.

On the other hand if it is release as writing or printing we call it graphic substance or writing.

Speech therefore may be defined as communication in oral language and writing it's symbolic representation .

There is a certain characteristics of language which belongs exclusively to language and these distinguished language from other means of communication .

FEATURES OF LANGUAGE 

(1) Language is Human :

The main purpose of language is to communicate . Yet the term language and communication are not synonymous , Animals also communicate certain message researched working on animals communication points out that the Bee Dance , Bird's song , Chattering of Monkeys , Movement of wolves etc use different communicative channels .

The bee Dance for instance is used to communicate the direction and distance at which the sources of food is available. The communication is limited because the bees cannot separate and recombine the message in different sequence one bee is not capable of conveying specific message like food was available yesterday or if you go tomorrow you will find more honey , There are stories of horse , cats , dogs so intelligent that they understand verbal instructions and read human beings mind .

There is however a restriction on the nature and number of message that can be sent or received in animal communication . Even the clever ,  monkey , capable of producing 36 different sound , repeat the same message what distinguishes language from such communication is the creativity the open-endedness of the former , A person can understand and produce a sentence, he has never heard . He can use language to talk about per context . His language is capable of discussing the pastness and futility of action . Language in this linguistic sense , human specific and the message is that can be conveyed through it are infinite in variety .

READ HERE WHATS IS LANGUAGE CHANGE , SOUND CHANGE,CAUSES AND THEORY

(2) language is a system

Language is a system composed of various phoneme , morpheme and words at different levels , There is an order or a system in which these elements combines in any given language .

For instance /p/ ,  /I/  and /T/ are used in English .

They are combined to form (pit) and 'Tip' which are recognizable to any speaker of English . Combination such as 'Tip'  'pti' or 'ipt'  with the same sound are not used in English. The reason for this is that in the system of the language called English there are certain combination which are accepted , while others are not .

Similarly at the level of syntax or sentence structure in English. We may say the dog ran across the road and caught the thief . We can rearrange to say the thief ran across the road and caught the dog . Across the road dog/thief ran and caught the thief/dog .But we cannot say the man dog the across the road thief caught the etc . This systematic pattern making at the level of sound and words i.e , the duality of structure is one of the distinguishing characteristics of language .

(3) language is a symbolic

There is no natural connection between the sounds or words of a language and what they stand for . This implies that language is arbitrary, voluntary and symbolic . There is no intinstic connection between the word house and the animal it represents what is called chair in English is referred to as kursi in Hindi , Hakkali in Tamil . Take the case of a man whose name is George Thomas . He can be called Mr.Thomas George Sir , Baddy etc .by different words and expression denote the same person in different context .READ FURTHER TO KNOW MORE ABOUT USES OF LANGUAGE

USES OF LANGUAGE

Language exists more or less in its stable form in writing whereas it lives in speech i.e , in its actual everyday use by the speech community in which it has develop .

Attempt have been made to classify the use of language some of the uses are the following -

(1) Language is arbitrary

By the arbitrariness of language we mean that there is no inherit or logical relation or similarity between ant given features or language and it's meaning , that is entirely arbitrary that there is no direct , necessary connection between the nature of thing or idea the language deals wish and the linguistic unit are combination by which these things or ideas are expressed, there is no reason why the four legged domestic animals , should be called dog in English , Kutta in Hindi , kukkur in sanskriti , Nai in Kannada , Kukur in Bengali and so on . That those particular words rather than any other are used in these different languages is merely an accident of linguistic history .

Onomatopoeia the use of words that imitate the sounds of their reference, for e.g buzz , hiss , hum , bang in English and kal - kal in Hindi may seen to invalidate this statement, but such word are comparatively falls in different languages and the accuracy of the limitation depend on the sound available in the language .

(2) Language is a social phenomena

Language is a set of conventional communicative  signals used by humans for communication in a community . Language in this sense is a possession of a social group , comprising and indispensable set of rules which permits members to relate to each other . To interact with each other; it is social institutions .

language exists in society it means of nourishing and developing cultures and establishing human relations.it is a member of society that human being acquires language - English , Hindi , Russian ,Chinese , Bengali ,Tamil , Nepali or French we learn all languages as member of the society or to be understand by that speech community . If the language is not used in any society it dies out .