LANGUAGE

Language is an inseparable part of human society.

Human civilization has been possible only through

language.

Through language only that humanity has come out of

the stone age and has developed science, art, and
technology in a big way.

It is a means of communication, it is arbitrary, it is a

system of systems.
B. PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE

 Language is arbitrary.
 Language is social.
 Language is symbolic.
 Language is systematic.
 Language is vocal.
 Language is non-instinctive and conventional.
 Language is productive and creative.
 Language is dynamic.
1. Language is Systematic.

a. All languages have their system of

arrangements.

b. Every language is a system of systems.

Example:
S = NP + VP
NP = det + noun; det + adj + noun
PP = prep + NP…

Sentence:
The cats sat on a blue mat.
det noun verb prep. art adjective noun
2. Language is Dynamic.
• Itchanges constantly; words and meanings
may even vary from one generation to the
other.

Ex. Filipina domestic helper

3. Language is Arbitrary.
• no inherent relation between the words of a
language and their meanings or the ideas
conveyed by them.

Example:
female adult human being
woman in English
aurat in Urdu
zen in Persian
femine in French
NOTE:
1. The choice of a word selected to mean a
particular thing or idea is purely arbitrary but
once a word is selected for a particular
referent, it comes to stay as such.

2. It may be noted that had language not been

arbitrary, there would have been only one
language in the world.
4. Language is Social.
• a conventional communicative signals used by
humans for communication
• a possession of a social group, comprising an
indispensable set of rules which permits its
members to relate to each other, to interact
with each other, to co-operate with each other;
it is a social institution.
• a means of nourishing and developing culture
and establishing human relations.
5. Language is Symbolic.
• consists of various sound symbols
and their graphological counterparts
that are employed to denote some
objects, occurrences or meaning.
• symbols are arbitrarily chosen and
conventionally accepted and
employed.
• Words in a language are not mere
signs or figures, but symbols of
meaning.

• The intelligibility of a language

depends on the correct interpretation
of these symbols.
6. Language is Vocal.
• only produced by a physiological
articulatory mechanism in the human
body.
• it appeared as vocal sounds only (in the
beginning). Writing came much later, as an
intelligent attempt to represent vocal sounds.
• Writing is only the graphic
representation of the sounds of the
language. So the linguists say that
speech is primary.
7. Language is Non-instinctive,
Conventional.

• Language is the outcome of evolution

and convention. Each generation
transmits this convention on to the
next.
• Like all human institutions, languages
also change and die, grow and expand.
Every language then is a convention in a
community.
• It is non-instinctive because it is
acquired by human beings. Nobody gets
a language in heritage; he acquires it
because he has an innate ability.
8. Language is Productive and
Creative.
• structural elements can be combined to
produce new utterances (made or heard
which both sides understand without
difficulty).

• language changes according to the needs

of society.
C. VIEWS OF NATURE OF LANGUAGE

• Structural

• Communicative

• Interactional
 THE STRUCTURAL VIEW OF
LANGUAGE
Belief:
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)
The target of language learning, in the
structural view, is the mastery of elements
of this system.

L2 Methods:
 Audio-lingual method
 Total Physical Response
 Silent Way (Richard & Rodgers, 1986)
 THE COMMUNICATIVE VIEW OF
LANGUAGE

Belief:
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.
The target of language learning is to learn to
express communication functions and
categories of meaning.

L2 Methods:
 Communicative approaches
 Functional-notional syllabuses
 The Natural Approach
 THE INTERACTIONAL VIEW OF
LANGUAGE

Belief:
LANGUAGE primarily is a means for
establishing and maintaining interpersonal
relationships and for performing social
transactions between individuals.
 The target of language learning in the
interactional view is learning to initiate and
maintain conversations with other people.

L2 Methods:
 Strategic interaction
 Communicative approaches
SOME FEATURES OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
1. Sounds of the Language.

• Vowels

• Consonants
THE VOCAL ORGANS
2. Stress.
• relative degree of loudness of the part (syllable) of
words of a whole word, or a syllable within the
utterance.
a. Sentence stress - In English, a speaker highlights
certain words in each sentence.
Sentence Stress Rules are:
• content words are stressed
• structure words are unstressed
• the time between stressed words is always the same
a. Content words - stressed

words carrying the

meaning example
main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

b. Structure words - unstressed
words for correct grammar example
pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

b. Word stress – it can be phonemic. Study for the example
contract and contract. Word stress is often called accent.
There are four possible phrase stresses in English.
• The loudest- called primary – usually marked.
• The next to the loudest- called secondary
• Medium soft- called tertiary- usually marked.
• The least loud- called weak- usually marked.
3. Intonation.
a variation of spoken pitch that is not used to distinguish
words but used for a range of functions such as:
• indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker,
• signaling the difference between statements and
questions, and between different types of question,
• focusing attention on important elements of the spoken
message; and
• helping to regulate conversational interaction.
In many descriptions of English, the following
intonation patterns are distinguished:
• Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice rises
over time [↗];
• Falling Intonation means that the pitch falls with
time [↘];
• Dipping or Fall-rise Intonation falls and then
rises [↘↗];
• Peaking or Rise-fall Intonation rises and then
falls [↗↘].
4. The Structure of Language.

The structure of language is composed of the following:

• classes of words (parts of speech),
• meanings of words and longer structures (semantics),
• how words are organized in relation to each other
(syntax),
• how words are formed (morphology),
• the sounds of words (phonology) and
• how written forms represent these (lexicography).
 OUTLINE STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH

sentences sentences
are analyzed into are used to build
clauses clauses
are analyzed into are used to build
phrases phrases

↓↑
are analyzed into are used to build
words words
are analyzed into are used to build
morphemes morphemes
The following table shows a three-part model of the structure
of English.

THREE-PART MODEL OF ENGLISH

Morphology Syntax Discourse

morphemes phrases relationships

↓ ↓ between sentences
words clauses in longer stretches
↓ of language
sentences
5. Vocabulary of the language
(Lexicon, Specific Notions)

• Words become meaningful only when studied and

considered in context that is with the other words
which surround them and which help give them their
meaning.

Examples:
• Show me your hand.
• Hand in your papers.
• Language is handed down from the mother to child.
Subdivision of vocabulary:
1. Simple.
2. Compound.
3. Derived.

Examples: Content words

a. Things:
• Simple – door
• Compound – doorknob
• Derived – arrival, goodness, ability
b. Actions:
• Simple – run, walk
• Compound – call-up, take off, put on.
• Derived – enjoy, soften, harden

c. Qualities:
• Simple – true or false
• Derived – misty, childish, broken