The Nature
of Language
a). What is Language?
Language is a system for communicating. Written languages
use symbols (that is, characters) to build words. The entire set of words is
the language's vocabulary. The ways in which the words can be meaningfully
combined is defined by the language's syntax and grammar. The actual meaning of
words and combinations of words is defined by the language's semantics.
In computer science, human languages are known as natural
languages. Unfortunately, computers are not sophisticated enough to understand
natural languages. As a result, we must communicate with computers using
special computer languages. There are many different classes of computer
languages, including machine languages, programming languages, and fourth-generation
languages.
b). Animal
versus Human Communication
Systems of communication are not unique to human beings.
Other animal species communicate in a variety of ways. One way is by sound: a
bird may communicate by a call that a territory is his and should not be
encroached upon.
Another means of animal communication is by odor: an ant
releases a chemical when it dies, and other ants then carry it away to the
compost heap. A third means of communication is body movement, for example used
by honeybees to convey the location of food sources.
Although primates use all three methods of communication:
sound, odor, and body movement, sound is the method of primary interest since
it is our own primary means of communication. A topic of persistent debate in
linguistic anthropology is whether human communication (verbal and nonverbal)
is similar to nonhuman primate communication, such as seen in apes and monkeys.
Linguistics and primatologists have searched for a common thread running
through the communication systems of humans and nonhuman primates. Certain
scholars argue that our language capabilities are not unique and point to
various aspects of non-human primate communication as evidence. Other
scientists remain unconvinced. Today there continues to be a significant amount
of debate concerning this area of linguistic anthropology.
Communication can be defined to include both signals and
symbols. Signals are sounds or gestures that have a natural or self-evident
meaning [example of someone crying (=emotion), laughing (=emotion), animal
cries (=indicating fear, food, or hunt). In this regard, we can consider that
most animal communication is genetically determined and includes hoots, grunts,
or screams that are meant to mean only one thing and are used every time in the
same situation. So there is only one way to express one thing and it never
changes. Animal communication tends to consist primarily of signals.
In contrast, human communication is dependent on both
signals and symbols. Symbols are sounds or gestures that have meaning for a
group of people-it is the cultural tradition that gives it meaning (e.g. green
light=go; teaching a child letters (see Faces of Culture video). Symbols have
to be learned and are not instinctive; the meanings are arbitrary.
Some of the debate regarding human versus primate
communication stems from observations by scientists in the field. For example,
scientists who have observed vervet monkeys in the wild consider at least three
of their alarm calls to be symbolic because each of them means a different kind
of predator- eagles, pythons, leopards-monkeys react differently to each call.
Interestingly, infant vervets often make the "eagle" warning call
when they see any flying bird and learn the appropriate call as they grow up.
This is similar to human infants who often first apply the word
"dada" to all adult males, gradually learning to restrict it one
person. It is possible, therefore, to consider such calls as symbolic.
So-if monkeys and apes appear to use symbols as least some
of the time, how can we distinguish human communication? For one thing, all
human languages emply a much larger set of symbols. Another and perhaps more
important difference is that other primate's vocal systems tend to be closed
(different calls are not often combined to produce new, meaningful utterances).
In contrast, human languages are open systems (capable of sending messages that
have never been sent before and the ability to combine symbols in an infinite
variety of ways for an infinite variety of meanings). The following exercises
are designed to help you think about the similarities and differences between
humans and nonhuman primates in terms of the way we all communicate.
Exercise-Major Questions:
1. What characteristics or properties of communication are
common to all humans of the world?
2. Are these characteristics found among nonhuman primates
as well?
3. What are the underlying causes that result in
similarities or differences between systems of human and animal communication?
Many animal and even plant species communicate with each
other. Humans are not unique in this capability. However, human language is
unique in being a symbolic communication system that is learned instead of
biologically inherited. Symbols are sounds or things which have meaning given
to them by the users. Originally, the meaning is arbitrarily assigned. For
instance, the English word "dog" does not in any way physically
resemble the animal it stands for. All symbols have a material form but the
meaning can not be discovered by mere sensory examination of their forms. They
are abstractions.
A word is one or more sounds that in combination have a
specific meaning assigned by a language. The symbolic meaning of words can be
so powerful that people are willing to risk their lives for them or take the
lives of others. For instance, words such as "queer" and
"nigger" have symbolic meaning that is highly charged emotionally in
America today for many people. They are much more than just a sequence of
sounds to us.
A major advantage of human language being a learned symbolic
communication system is that it is infinitely flexible. Meanings can be changed
and new symbols created. This is evidenced by the fact that new words are
invented daily and the meaning of old ones change. For example, the English
word "nice" now generally means pleasing, agreeable, polite, and
kind. In the15th century it meant foolish, wanton, lascivious, and even wicked.
Languages evolve in response to changing historical and social conditions. Some
language transformations typically occur in a generation or less. For instance,
the slang words used by your parents were very likely different from those that
you use today. You also probably are familiar with many technical terms, such
as "text messaging" and "high definition TV", that were not
in general use even a decade ago.
Sign
Language
Over the last few centuries, deaf people have developed sign
languages that are complex visual-gestural forms of communicating with each
other. Since they are effective communication systems with standardised rules,
they also must be considered languages in their own right even though they are
not spoken. The example is American Sign Language.
Pidgin and
Creole
A pidgin is a simplified, makeshift language that develops
to fulfill the communication needs of people who have no language in common but
who need to occasionally interact for commercial and other reasons. Pidgins
combine a limited amount of the vocabulary and grammar of the different
languages. People who use pidgin languages also speak their own native
language. Over the last several centuries, dozens of pidgin languages developed
as Europeans expanded out into the rest of the world for colonisation and
trade. The most well known ones are Pidgin English in New Guinea, Cameroon and
Nigeria. However, several forms of Pidgin English and Pidgin French also
developed in West Africa and the Caribbean. There have been pidgins developed
by non-European cultures as well, including the Zulus in South Africa, the
Malays in Southeast Asia, the Arabs in North Africa, and several American
Indian societies. The most well known pidgin developed by American Indians is
Chinook, which was used on the Northwest Coast of North America.
At times, a pidgin language becomes the mother tongue of a
population. When that happens, it is called a Creole language. As pidgins
change into creoles over several generations, their vocabularies enlarge. In
the small island nation of Haiti, a French-African pidgin became the creole
language. It is still spoken there by the majority of the population as their
principle or only language. The same thing happened among some of the peoples
of Papua New Guinea , the Pacific Islands of Vanuatu, and Sierra Leone in West
Africa, where different versions of Pidgin English became creoles. Similarly,
on the outer banks of Georgia and South Carolina in the United States, isolated
former African slaves made another version of Pidgin English into a creole
known as Gullah or Geechee . Creoles also developed in Louisiana, Jamaica, and
the Netherlands Antilles.
It is common for creole speakers to also speak another
"standard" language as well. In Haiti, for instance, the more
educated and affluent people also speak French among themselves. Their creole
language is used on the street in dealing with poor Haitians. The Gullah
speakers of Georgia and South Carolina speak English when dealing with
outsiders. Which language is spoken depends on the social situation. This same
phenomenon is often found in societies with different dialects of the same
language. People may quickly switch back and forth between dialects, depending
on the person they are talking to at the time. This pattern is referred to as
diglossia r "code switching." The African American situational use of
standard and Black English is a prime example. Black English is usually
reserved for talking with other African Americans. North American reporters and
announcers on national television programs are often diglossic. They must learn
to speak with a Midwestern, European American dialect regardless of the region
or social class they came from originally. We become so accustomed to this that
it is usually a shocking surprise to hear them speak in their own dialects.
Typically, the dialects of a society are ranked relative to
each other in terms of social status. In the London area of England, the upper
class speak "public school" English, while the lower class often use
a Cockney dialect. Because of the stigma against the latter, upwardly mobile
Cockneys in the business world may take language lessons to acquire the
"public school" speech patterns.
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