Language Theories Overview

Definitions and Views on Language

• Language is a system of conventional symbols used by humans for communication, expressing themselves, and participating in culture.
• Language is a complex, specialized skill developed spontaneously and innately in children, distinct from general information processing.
• Language is a cognitive ability that reflects how the mind works and uses abstract symbols to create concrete sounds and structures.
• Language is a system of structured and sometimes arbitrary signs and symbols used for generating new words and transforming ideas.

Transformationalist View

• Language is viewed as knowledge and competence, allowing for creative expression and utilization of innate intelligences.
• Language is considered mental, innate, universal, and creative, suggesting all humans are capable of mastering it.

Functionalist View

• Language is an instrument for communication, conveying purpose and expression through spoken or written forms.
• Language teachers provide authentic tasks that allow students to use language for specific functions.

Interactionist View

• Language is a product of human desire to communicate and acquire language through social interaction.
• Human genetics provides the capacity for language production, while social interaction fosters mastery.
• Teachers facilitate communication and interactions between students to practice the target language.

Natures of Language

• Language is learned through exposure and practice, starting from childhood with sounds and simple utterances.
• Language is tied to culture, reflecting and influencing values, practices, and interests of societies.
• Language is species-specific, unique to humans, and uniformed, suggesting all humans have the capacity to acquire language.
• Language is a system of systems, comprising sounds, symbols, and non-verbal signs.
• Language is vocal; speech is primary and writing is secondary, highlighting the importance of spoken language.
• Language is a skill subject involving the acquisition and mastery of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing skills.
• Language is a means for communication, facilitating information sharing, interaction, persuasion, and influencing others.
• Language is arbitrary, lacking a logical reason for assigning meanings to symbols, reflecting a convention or agreement.

Characteristics of Language

• Language is a social tool used for interaction, connection, and achieving various purposes.
• Language is productive and creative, constantly evolving and generating new combinations of words.
• Language is bound by rules, primarily grammatical, for clarity and understanding.
• Language is humanness, an inherent ability unique to humans.
• Language is universal, with all languages sharing fundamental structures, despite variations in sounds, vocabulary, and grammar.

General Functions of Language

• Language serves four general functions – interpersonal, informative, performative, and expressive – fulfilling human needs in diverse ways.

Interpersonal Function

• Language facilitates interaction, establishes and maintains relationships, influences behavior, and expresses and elicits points of view.

Informative Function

• Language conveys information, clarifies existing knowledge, and is present in analytical reports, arguments, and directions.

Performative Function

• Language performs actions, reporting or guaranteeing a deed, such as giving a command or making a promise.

Expressive Function

• Language expresses feelings, attitudes, and emotions, revealing the personality and emotional state of the speaker.

Jakobson’s Functions of Language

• Jakobson identified six functions of language, highlighting the role of language in verbal communication.
• Verbal communication is the sharing of information through spoken words.

Jakobson's Six Functions of Language

• Referential Function: Focused on context, referencing the environment, situation, and circumstances influencing language use.
• Emotive Function: Focuses on the sender, expressing the speaker's feelings, attitudes, and emotions.
• Conative Function: Focused on the receiver, aiming to influence, persuade, or elicit a response from the listener.
• Phatic Function: Focused on maintaining communication, ensuring the channel stays open and contact is established.
• Metalingual Function: Focused on language itself, using language to discuss language, clarify meanings, and define terms.
• Poetic Function: Focuses on the message itself, emphasizing artistic form, sound, and meaning, characteristic of poetry and literary works.