The nature of language

Any language speaker knows something about his/her language, but it is difficult for language speaker to tell us what language is. This is according to Harris 1980. This make it evidence that the access to the inner knowledge about the language is not an easy task despite our competence in language(s) and its importance for our mental and social life. Such a task requires following certain systems in order to discover, describe and analyze the underlying rules that control any language. This led to the emergence of language theory or model which is sentence to test like any other theory.

What is Language?

There are three different interesting views on what is language is? (SILL International, 1999)

1- Communicative view of language: The communicative or functional view of language is the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. The semantic and communicative dimensions of language are more emphasized than the grammatical characteristics, although these are also included.

2- The structural view of language: The structural view of language is that language is a system of structurally related elements for the transmission of meaning. These elements are usually described as,

·        phonological units (phonemes)

·        grammatical units (phrases, clauses, sentences)

·        grammatical operations (adding, shifting, joining or transforming elements)

·        lexical items (function words and structure words)

3- The interactional view of language: The interactional view of language sees language primarily as the means for establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships and for performing social transactions between individuals.

Language is a means of communication which is carried out through speaking and listening.

Speaking: putting ideas into words to talk about perception, feelings, and intention.

Listening: turning words into ideas and reconstructing the perception, feelings and intention of the speakers.

Some characteristics of language

According to the experience, in order to arrive at an accurate description of language there are several characteristics of language are to be considered. These characteristics are as follows (Ibid, p. 6-10):

Language is sound

This statement point out the primacy of the languages sounds over the other representations in writing which are regarded as secondary phenomenon of speech. For instance, all traditional orthographies and letters used in common alphabets, such as the familiar Roman alphabet, represents different sounds in different languages.

Such a claim that language is sound, prove the fact that all human beings produce speech sound with the same equipment (By the movement of the speech organs).

Language is linear

This is a fundamental feature of spoken language. That we can represent language by using symbols for each sound and arrange them in a linear succession similar to the sounds production order. This ordering of symbols could be left-to-right (e.g. English) or right-to-left (e.g. Arabic) according to the language writing system.

Language is systematic

Although stating that language linear which permit a combination of symbols together but not all the possible combinations of symbols (sounds) is possible. This is what makes language systematic, means it is describable in terms of finite number of units that can combine only in a limited number of ways. Due to that, terms such as sound system, grammatical system etc. emerged as part those terms used in describing and comparing languages.

Language is system of systems

Each language has phonological (or sound) system and a grammatical system. Each one has its units and rules of possible combination and order. Language is a system of systems; all of which operates simultaneously, but the distinctions we make it for the sake of analysis, the units and combinatory rules prober to each.

Language is meaningful

It is principally through the acquisition of language that the child becomes an effective member of the community, and the leaders in a community preserve and advance their leadership largely through their ability to communicate with people through language.

Language is arbitrary

This refers to the idea that the conditions required for the existence of more than one language: that there be no direct necessary connection between the nature of things or ideas language deals with and the linguistic units and combinations by which these things or ideas are expressed.

Language is conventional

The use and formation of linguistic units is so regular that these units almost seem to be employed according to agreement among the speakers. So language can be said to be conventional as a consequence of this apparent agreement.

Language is a system of contrasts

What makes single speaker’s habit valid for the speech of a community is that language is a system of differences.

Language is creative

Language can be used to create a new world through the imaginative manipulation of the standard interlocking of the phonological, grammatical and lexical systems poets and creative writers or speakers which extend our awareness of possible relations among things.

Language is unique

Since languages are arbitrary, systematic networks of contrasts, each language can be said to be unique.

Languages are similar

All the languages have certain features in common. This characteristic opens the possibility of language learning although some languages are very different from each other the common features help in language learning process.

Approaches to language

The importance of the classification methods is vivid because of the fact that there are so many language varieties. So there are two approaches of classification.

1. Typological approach

This approach groups languages according to their similarities and differences in linguistic structure. Here languages can be classified in term of their characteristic patterns of word order.

2. Genealogical approach

A genealogical approach of classification tends to show the historical relationships between languages. All languages which have emerged from a single parent language are regarded as belonging to the same language family.