INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Characteristics of Language
Conventional and Non-Instinctive
- Language is conventional in that its rules
and structures are agreed upon by a
community of speakers.
- These conventions are learned and passed
down through generations, rather than
being instinctual or innate.
Productivity and Creativity
- Language is productive, meaning that
speakers can create and understand an
infinite number of new utterances by
combining a finite set of linguistic elements
in novel ways.
- This productivity allows for the creation of
new words, phrases, and sentences to
express new ideas or describe new
experiences.
- Creativity refers to the ability of speakers to
use language in innovative and flexible ways
to convey meaning (through metaphor,
analogy, or other forms of figurative
language)
Duality
- A characteristic of language in which
complex linguistic units are composed of
smaller, discrete units are composed of
smaller, discrete units that have no inherent
meaning on their own but can be combined
to create meaningful units.
Displacement
- Refers to the ability of language to refer to
things that are not present in the immediate
physical context or time.
- Allow speakers to talk about past events,
future plans, hypothetical situations, and
abstract concepts.
- It is a key feature that distinguishes a
human language from other forms of animal
communication.
Humanness
- Language is a uniquely human trait, closely
tied to our cognitive and social abilities.
- The capacity for language is considered a
defining characteristic of our species.
Universality
- All human languages share certain universal
characteristics (phonetic inventories,
grammatical structures, and rules for
combining these elements to form
meaningful utterances.
LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS
Jakobson’s Functions of Language – he explained
the six functions of language, in relation to verbal
communication.
1. The Sender
2. The Receiver
3. The Context
4. The Channel or the contact between the
sender and the receiver.
5. The common code
6. The message
Context – Referential Function
- It is referred to as denotative, cognitive
function since it pronounces a mental state.
- It involves both deictic words and specific
descriptions to show things or facts.
Emotive Function – Sender
- Best illustrated with interjections
- An expression of the speaker’s internal
state.
- The speaker communicates for
himself/herself.
Conative Function – Receiver
- Directive and oriented towards the receiver.
- Used when the speaker expresses
purposively to persuade or influence the
receiver.
- It is used for causing or preventing an
action.
- Used for commands and requests.
Phatic Function – Channel
- A psychological and physical association
between the sender and the receiver.
- It is a socio-linguistic function used for the
sake of interactions. It establishes,
suspends, or prolongs the communication.
Metalingual Function – Code
- Also called reflective
- It is the use of language to describe itself.
- It is used when a language talks about its
features.
- Talks about the characteristics of the
characteristics.
- It develops from an interruption in the
communication process. Happens when two
or more people speak different languages.