INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE 0684717689

 

INTRODUCTION TO language

What is language?

1.    Edward Sapir (1921) defines language as a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols. These symbols are, in the first instance, auditory and they are produced by the so-called “organs of speech”.

2.    Sapir's definition focused on language rather than a language. The latter turns out to be difficult to define objectively, with the popular opposition between `a language' and `a dialect' particularly misleading. Such an opposition frequently associates `a language' with a written standard variety or the prestigious spoken form on which such a standard is based. Linguists, on the other hand, consider all dialects of a language to be `linguistically' equal, and hence conceive of a language as the sum total of its dialects.

3.    Generally, language can be defined as the system of arbitrary and conventional vocal symbols used by human beings to convey various messages.

 

 

KEY ELEMENTS IN THE DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE

a.    System

b.    Arbitrary

c.    Symbol

d.   Conventional

e.    Vocal

f.      Human

1.   System

Language is made up of smaller units that form a system.  Language as a system can be expressed into two different ways;

A.By using smaller units that may range from the smallest to the largest.

      i.      Phoneme/sound

Ø This is the smallest unit made up of individual sound like /d/, /t/, /k/ etc.

   ii.      Syllable

Ø This is the basic unit of pronunciation. A syllable can be made up of a consonant and a vowel as in words baby /bei-bi/ and ten /te-n/ or vowel without consonant as words ear /ia/, audio /o:dio/ etc.

iii.            Morpheme

Ø A morpheme is the smallest meaningless unit of language, which cannot be divided or disintegrated further.

iv.            Word

Ø A word is a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing used with others and sometimes alone to form a sentence.

 

v.            Phrase

Ø This is a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause.

Ø A phrase can be made up of a single word, as ‘house’, two words like ‘my house’, three words like ‘the house boy’, etc.

vi.               Clause

Ø This is a unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank.

Ø A clause is said to consist of a subject and a predicate. For example,

ü I am tired

    S   Pred.

ü Students are learning English

S             Predicate

Ø A clause can be independent or dependent. For example,

ü Because he is sick, (dependent)

ü he is sick (independent)

Ø Thus, independent clauses can communicate the complete meaning as a simple sentence while dependent clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction; hence, they need independent/main clause to complete their meanings.

vii.            Sentence

Ø A sentence is a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation or command and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses. For example,

ü He has broken the mirror (statement)

ü Did you attend the meeting? (question)

ü What a beautiful car! (exclamation)

ü Go out (command)

viii. Paragraph

Ø This is distinct section of piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line or indentation.

Ø It is a subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or more sentences, deals with one point or gives the words of one speaker and begins on a new usually indented line.

ix.            Text/discourse

Ø This is a book or other written or printed work, regarded on terms of its content rather than its physical form

 

B.  By using language subsystems

            i.            Morphological subsystem

         ii.            Phonological subsystem

      iii.            Phonetic subsystem

       iv.            Semantic subsystem

          v.            Syntactic subsystem

       vi.            Pragmatic subsystem

NB: These language subsystems are also known as language knowledge or skills. In order for someone to be considered as competent in a certain language, he/she must possess these skills. (These are explained in details in the following pages)

2.    Language is a discrete symbolic system.

This means that language is a system of spoken or written symbols (sounds and words) which people who belong to a social group and participate in a culture communicate.

A symbol is something that stand for something else. A language uses some words to communicate various ideas or to represent something. For example,

ü Cross stands for Jesus

3.       Language is human.

Language is a purely human method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols (Sapir, 1921). A language is said to be human since only human beings are capable of using language to communicate. 

4.   Language is arbitrary.

“Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates” (Bloch and Trager, 1972, as cited in Mukherjee, 2006). This means that there is no natural connection between sounds and symbols, or between symbols and their referents

 For example, the animal known as ‘dog’ in English is also known as ‘mbwa’ in Kiswahili ‘Nva’ in Sukuma, ‘esese’ in kurya. Thus, the relation between a word and its meaning is quite arbitrary; it is a matter of how we communicate the concept. There is no direct relationship between the word and the object/thing it represents.

5.   Language is conventional

This means that language is accepted by a particular speech community speaking that particular language.

The users must accept symbols/signs used in a language. Each language has its own way of forming sentences. For example, in English, it is acceptable to say, “Education is a key to success” but not “key to success is a education”. The second sentence is considered as ill-formed.

 

6.   Language is vocal

Vocal simply means sound. Speech sounds are produced through physiological organs like lungs, larynx, tongue, mouth etc.