00476--WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF (HUMAN) LANGUAGE?

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF (HUMAN) LANGUAGE?

Language is not exact. It can lead to misunderstanding. Noam Chomsky and Ferdinand de Saussure have classified the language so that the true nature of the languge could be understood. They are:

1. Language is artificial,
2. Language is restricted,
3. Language is abstract,
4. Language is arbitrary,
5. Language is creative,
6. Language is redundant, and,
7. Language is recursive.

• Language is artificial because it is man made.
  It cannot exist in isolation. It is subject to change.
• Language is restricted because it is not capable of
  repressenting our thoughts fully. The limitation of
  language is often overcome by non-verbal cues.
• Language is abstract because it represents
  generalizedideas of things or thoughts.
• Language is arbitrary because the sign C A T
  has nothing in common with the animal cat,
  but still it means that.
• Language is creative because new words are
  being created through different processes.
  Also the existing ones change their meaning.
• Language is redundant because it has
  the capacity for repetition. When we say
  discuss about [discuss = talk about something]
  or order for [ order = instruction for] we use
  repetition. Sometimes repetition is needed
  for effective communication.
• Language is recursive because it enables
  the generation of any number of sentences
  using the same basic grammatic templates.
  END