Defining Features of Language

Study Notes

Arbitrariness: The link between sounds and meaning is not inherent. There's no logical connection between a word's form and its meaning.
Discreteness: Language is made up of separate units (sounds, morphemes, words) that can be combined in various ways to make new meanings.
Productivity (Generativity): The ability to create and understand an endless number of new sentences and ideas. This is a key characteristic of human language that distinguishes it from other communication systems.
Cultural Transmission: Language is learned through interaction with others in a given cultural context. The language community passes it down.
Duality of Patterning: Language uses smaller meaningless units that combine to form larger, meaningful units. (Like combining sounds to form words, words to form sentences.)
Displacement: The ability to talk about things not immediately present—past, future, or hypothetical events.
Cognitive Processing: Language relies on various cognitive processes such as memory, attention, and problem solving.

Expressive: Used to express feelings, emotions, and attitudes.
Referential: Used to convey information and describe things, events, or concepts in the world.
Conative: Used to elicit a response or action from the listener (e.g., commands, requests).
Phatic: Used to maintain social interaction, like greetings or small talk.
Metalinguistic: Used to talk about language itself (e.g., explaining grammar rules, clarifying meaning).
Poetic: Using language creatively and aesthetically.
Cognitive: Organising and structuring thoughts and ideas.
Interrogative: Used to ask questions.
Performative: Where the act of speaking itself creates an effect (e.g., making a promise, giving a command).

Divine Source: A higher power gifted language to humans.
Bow Wow Theory: Language started as imitation of sounds in the environment (like animal noises).
Evolutionary Theory: Language developed gradually through changes and adaptation in the brain. This theory suggests language emerged as a tool for living in social groups. This theory is more widely accepted among modern linguists.