Hockett's Design Features of Human Language

Design-Features of Human Language

• Human language uses a vocal-auditory channel, where sounds are emitted from the mouth and perceived by the auditory system.
• Language signals are transitory, meaning they last a short time, a characteristic shared by all sound-based systems.
• Interchangeability is a key feature, where all utterances that are understood can be produced.
• Total feedback is possible, as the sender of a message also perceives the message, allowing self-monitoring.
• Language signals are specialized for communication and are not a side effect of some other behavior.
• Semanticity ensures a fixed relationship between a signal and its meaning.
• The relationship between a signal and its meaning is arbitrary, determined by convention or instinct, rather than an inherent connection.
• Language is composed of discrete units (e.g., phonemes), which can be combined to create different messages with distinct meanings.
• Displacement allows language to communicate about things or events distant in time or space.
• Language is an open system, enabling the production of a potentially infinite number of different messages through the combination of elements.
• Language is transmitted culturally, requiring each generation to learn the system of communication from the preceding generation.