Design Features of Language PDF
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Indian Institute of Technology, Indore
Dr Sansuma Brahma
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Summary
This document provides lecture notes summarizing the characteristics of language, exploring various design features. It's a good introduction to the study of language and includes sections on the origin of speech, and discussions on language from an evolutionary perspective.
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LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION COURSE CODE: HS 109 Autumn 2024 Dr Sansuma Brahma Assistant Professor, Linguistics School of Humanities & Social Sciences What is a Language? ▪ “Language is an impressive and fascinating human capacity. Human languages are strikingly powerful and complex systems.”...
LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION COURSE CODE: HS 109 Autumn 2024 Dr Sansuma Brahma Assistant Professor, Linguistics School of Humanities & Social Sciences What is a Language? ▪ “Language is an impressive and fascinating human capacity. Human languages are strikingly powerful and complex systems.” -MARK CRIMMINS, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 09-08-2024 2 The Origin of Speech ▪ “Man is the only animal that can communicate by means of abstract symbols. Yet this ability shares many features with communication in other animals and has arisen from these more primitive systems.” -by Charles F. Hockett 09-08-2024 3 Charles Hockett’s 13 Design- features of Language 8/9/2024 4 1. Vocal- Auditory Channel Communicator speaks; receiving individual hears. 8/9/2024 5 2. Broadcast Transmission and Directional Reception Message goes out in all directions; receiver can tell what direction message comes from. 8/9/2024 6 3. Rapid Fading or Transitoriness ▪ Message is transitory and does not persist. 09-08-2024 7 4. Interchangeability ▪ Transmitters can become receivers, and vice versa; we can each repeat any message. 09-08-2024 8 5. Total Feedback ▪ We hear all that we say. 09-08-2024 9 6. Specialization ▪ We communicate just for the purpose of communicating (not incidentally to some other primary function). Direct energy consequences are unimportant. 09-08-2024 10 7. Semanticity ▪ Symbols used (phonemes, morphemes) have particular meanings. 09-08-2024 11 8. Arbitrariness ▪ There is no “natural” connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. ▪ Symbols are arbitrary: the word “loud” can be spoken softly; “whale” is a smaller word than “microorganism”. 09-08-2024 12 9. Discreteness ▪ Symbols are made by combining smaller symbols that differ discontinuously (e.g., “bin”, “pin”). 09-08-2024 13 10. Displacement ▪ Humans can refer to past and future times (yesterday, last year, tomorrow, and 2050). ▪ It allows language users to talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment (moon, USA, etc.). ▪ Displacement allows us to talk about things and places (e.g., angels, fairies, Santa Claus, superman, heaven, hell, etc.) whose existence we cannot even be sure of. 09-08-2024 14 11. Productivity ▪ Novel utterances can be made and understood. 09-08-2024 15 12. Traditional Transmission ▪ Languages are socially learned (not genetic) and are passed down through generations. ▪ We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes. 09-08-2024 16 India’s Chinatown Is Home To Assamese Chinese - Community Brought From China As Tea Garden Workers in 1838 Source: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/indias-chinatown-is-home-to-assamese-chinese-community-brought-from-china-as-tea-garden-workers-607368.html 17 8/9/2024 13. Duality of Patterning ▪ The smaller symbols (“p”, “t”) have no meaning of their own, and can be combined in various ways (“pit”, “tip”). 09-08-2024 18 Hockett’s Classification 8/9/2024 19 Hockett Later Added 3 More Features 8/9/2024 20 14. Prevarication We can say things that are false or hypothetical. 8/9/2024 21 15. Learnability We can learn new languages (easier in childhood). 8/9/2024 22 Hey, you should lower your barking! 16. Reflexivity ▪ We can use language to think and talk about language itself. ▪ Would it be possible for us to reflect on or identify any of the other distinct properties of human language? Why? ▪ “I wish he wouldn’t use so many Vs technical terms”. 09-08-2024 23 Task ▪ Compose a brief reflection on animal communication, drawing from your personal experiences and observations. 09-08-2024 24 References Hockett, C. F., & Yule, G. (2022). The Hockett, C. D. (1960). study of language. The origin of speech. Cambridge university Scientific American, press. 203(3), 88-97. 09-08-2024 25 Thank you 09-08-2024 26
