My Seminar

LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES

INTRODUCTION

•      Language is a medium of communication. It is an inseparable part of human society.

•      It is through language that humanity has come out of the stone-age and has developed science, art and technology.

•      Human language exists in wide varieties and it is possible for the human beings to learn or acquire all these languages according to their linguistic competence.

•      Language acquisition is a subconscious process. It is easy to pick-up a language if we establish it as a habit.

•      Learner must form the habits of speaking, reading and writing in the target language so as to make the learning process easy.

LANGUAGE IS FOR COMMUNICATION

•      The basic purpose for which we use language is for communication.

•      Language is the one and only systematic medium which makes communication possible.

•      It is the best means of self-expression.

•      It is through language that we store knowledge, transmit messages, information and experience from one generation to another.

•      It connects the past, present and future together.

LANGUAGE IS UNIQUE

•      Each language is unique.

•      No two languages in the world have the same set of patterns of sounds, of grammatical signals, of syntax or vocabulary.

•      Each language is the result of the arbitrary classification of experience of its speakers.

LANGUAGE IS VOCAL

•      Language is the most effective medium which makes speech possible.

•      Usage of any language is primarily for the purpose of speech.

•      In acquiring a language, reading and writing skills follow the listening and speaking skills.

•      Graphical representations of any language are developed succeeding the use of it.

LANGUAGE IS RELATED TO CULTURE

•      Language and culture are interrelated. Every language is the product of a culture and language propagates its own culture through generations.

•      Language does not exist in vacuum.

•      It exists in speakers who exist in specific places and specific situations.

•      Therefore, learning a new language means imbibing a different culture.

•      It means learning new ways of thought.

LANGUAGE IS SOCIAL

•      Language is a set of conventional communicative signals used by humans for communication in a community.

•      Language exists in the society and helps nourish and develop culture and establish human relations.

•      It is a possession of a social group, comprising a set of rules which permits its members to interact and co-operate with each other.

•      Human beings acquire language by socializing with the members of society.

•      Thus language is a social institution which has a function to perform and without which it would become extinct.

LANGUAGE IS ARBITRARY

•      There is no inherent connection or logical relation between any given feature of language and their meaning.

•      In other words, there is no relation between any language item and what it indicates.

•      For example, a woman is called Zen in Persian, Aurat in Hindi and Sthree in Malayalam. None of these words have any connection with the meanings they signify.

LANGUAGE IS SYMBOLIC

•      Language is a system of arbitrary, vocal and graphic symbols to denote concepts, things, ideas etc.

•      We use sounds and words as symbols.

•      Symbols represent things and are not the things themselves.

•      Symbolism is a necessary consequence of the feature of arbitrariness.

LANGUAGE IS SYSTEMATIC

•      Every language is a system of systems which is indeed made-up of several subsystems.

•      Phonology, graphology, morphology, syntax and semantics are the subsystems of a language.

•      Language is symbolic in nature and these symbols are arranged in a particular system.

•      Out of the system, symbols lose their meaning.

•      For example, ‘Rama killed Ravana’(SVO) is permitted in English but not ‘Rama Ravana killed’.

LANGUAGE IS LEARNED

•      Language is non-instinctive, it should either be acquired or learned.

•      The ability to use a particular language is not inherited.

•      One learns a language from other people. The learning begins in infancy and continues throughout life in varying degree.

•      We learn a language first by listening to it, trying to repeat it by speaking, then learning to read and finally by writing it.

•      It is an acquired social activity.

LANGUAGE IS FLEXIBLE

•      No language is static. It is ever undergoing a change.

•      Changes go on in all aspects of language—speech sounds, grammatical features and vocabulary.

•      The changes in vocabulary are extensive and occur rapidly.

•      English has borrowed several thousands of words from different languages of the world.

LANGUAGE IS HUMAN AND STRUCTURALLY COMPLEX

•      Language is very specific though it is flexible.

•      It has a complex structure.

•      The physical adequacies, articulatory organs, the knowledge of communicative importance etc make human language very well defined.

•      Though language is a product of evolution, it is perfectly structured and exists within a system.

LANGUAGE IS CONVENTIONAL

•      No language was created in a day out of a mutually agreed upon formula by a group of humans.

•      It is the outcome of evolution and convention.

•      This convention is passed on through generations.

•      Human language is non-instinctive along with being conventional because, it is not natural and should be acquired by humans.

•      Though we have innate ability to communicate, nobody inherits a language from their ancestors.

LANGUAGE IS LINGUISTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

•      Language is both a psychological and sociological phenomena which constitutes a person’s competence as a speaker.

•      The psychological principles enable humans to make numerous utterances first and sentences later based on situations.

•      This adds to the linguistic competence that we need inorder to learn a language.

•      Communicative competence develops as a result of contextual usage of the learnt language.

LANGUAGE LEARNING IS HABIT FORMATION

•      A language is learned by use and not by rules. It does a little good to a pupil who knows the various rules or definitions of grammar.

•      No language is learned without sufficient practice.

•      A language learner should acquire the habit of ‘unreflective right utterance’ so as to be a successful speaker.

•      A good deal of practice, from the part of the learner, is required to master a language.

LANGUAGE IS PRODUCTIVE AND CREATIVE

•      The structural elements of human language can be combined to produce new utterances, which neither the speaker nor his listeners may ever have made or heard before.

•      Language is a social need and it changes according to the necessities and purposes of the society.

•      It is modifiable too i.e., language as a verbal and vocal medium can be changed into the graphic medium (letters, signs, pictures).

CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

•      Interchangeability–the role of the speaker and listener can be interchanged in communication.

•      Duality–organization of language into two, pattern of sound(phonemes) and pattern of meaning(morphemes).

•      Displacement–the quality of human language which enables us to relate to events of past and future far removed in time and space.

•      Discreetness–each sound in a language is different.

•      Recursiveness –a sentence can be prolonged with infinite number of utterances or words.

•      Cultural transmission –process of passing on a language from one generation to the other.

CONCLUSION

•      Human language is universal and it is supreme to all other forms of communication.

•      It is possible for all human beings to acquire languages at any age.

•      Man is a social being and hence language is acquired mainly through social interactions.

•      It is learnt by an individual from his elders and it is transmitted from one generation to another.

•      The peculiarities of human language such as arbitrariness, systematic and symbolic nature, creativity, productivity etc makes it unique and distinct from animal communication which is instinctual.