SUMMARY PORTFOLIO : INTRODUCTION TO
LANGUAGE
The origin of language:
-The divine origin theory of
language:
It is considered a gift from God , One theory says that the language has a divine origin, which
means that God created men with natural capacity to acquire language. Christians believe that
God has created birds and animals and brought them to human to see what he would call them
“Whatever the men called each living creature, that was its name”Muslims believe that
God
created Adam with authority or ability to name things “God taught Adam all the
names”
-Language is a human invention
Human developed language from cries of nature (another theory) (sounds that are imitating the
sounds of things like smash, bomb and splash (those imitate the sounds of nature)
It started with body gestures (they started using hands by clapping and then they started to use
vocals
)
Language: (1-definitions , 2-different meanings, and 3-uses).
1-The possession of language, perhaps more than any other attribute, distinguishes humans from
other animals. To understand our humanity, one must understand the nature of language
that
,makes us human. According to the philosophy expressed in the myths and religions of
many
peoples, language is the source of human life and power. To some people of Africa, a
newborn
child is a kintu, a “thing,” not yet a muntu, a “person.” Only by the act of learning language does
the child become a human being. According to this tradition, we all become “human” because
we all know at least one language. The term ‘language’ can be used to refer to a variety
of
concepts / things, such as “the particular form of words and speech used by the people of a
country, area or social group”, or “the method of human communication using spoken or written
words”. In other words, we can talk about a specific language e.g. English, German, Swahili etc.
or about language as such.A further meaning of ‘language’ is “the style or types of words used
by a person or group”, which is a topic generally studied within sociolinguistics.Language is a
human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or
written symbols, for Bloomfield he defined language as “the totality of utterances that can be
made in a speech community, for David Lewis he defined language as“a paring of sentences and
meanings over an infinite range.” for Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course of General
Linguistics explaining langue and parole, He defines language as the collective of some of
the
rules used by all members of speech community in society and this knowledge is passed on from
one generation to another. He defines parole as an individual speech in society whereas
Noam
Chomsky insists that the notion of language is not clear and not well-defined in linguistic
science, he explained language in a way that he means from limited sounds we can
create
unlimited sentences,here he speaks about the structure of language in his saying “From now on I
consider language to be a set (“finite or infinite”) or sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of finite sets or element”. He argues that language is something
externalized
, from our brain and grammar is the physical mechanism of our
brain.
Noam Chomsky thinks that language is something abstract and grammar does exist and he names
language E-language, and grammar I-language .These two concepts don t́ have to do with two
different languages but with two different approaches to languages in general.
Chomsky ś object of study was the I-language since he wasn't interested in actual utterances or
real speech. Other disciplines study E-languages such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, etc.
- Internal language : I-language : "I " stands for internal/internalised and refers to
the
internal linguistic knowledge in the mind of every speaker.
- grammatical competence
- does not have errors its perfect because it's the result of nature
- mental grammar we were born with and developed it as we grow
- unconscious (we know it without recalling it )
- refers to the system of language
- refers to the internal grammar of language
- refers to the internal system of knowledge that develops within as we acquire our mother
language .
- external language : E-language : "E" stands for external/externalised and refers to
the
observable language outside people ́ s mind (it ́ s the language that people actually produce
as it is perceived).
- Not perfect
- E-language or performance language how humans make use of language for the purpose
of communication
LANGUAGE
The origin of language:
-The divine origin theory of
language:
It is considered a gift from God , One theory says that the language has a divine origin, which
means that God created men with natural capacity to acquire language. Christians believe that
God has created birds and animals and brought them to human to see what he would call them
“Whatever the men called each living creature, that was its name”Muslims believe that
God
created Adam with authority or ability to name things “God taught Adam all the
names”
-Language is a human invention
Human developed language from cries of nature (another theory) (sounds that are imitating the
sounds of things like smash, bomb and splash (those imitate the sounds of nature)
It started with body gestures (they started using hands by clapping and then they started to use
vocals
)
Language: (1-definitions , 2-different meanings, and 3-uses).
1-The possession of language, perhaps more than any other attribute, distinguishes humans from
other animals. To understand our humanity, one must understand the nature of language
that
,makes us human. According to the philosophy expressed in the myths and religions of
many
peoples, language is the source of human life and power. To some people of Africa, a
newborn
child is a kintu, a “thing,” not yet a muntu, a “person.” Only by the act of learning language does
the child become a human being. According to this tradition, we all become “human” because
we all know at least one language. The term ‘language’ can be used to refer to a variety
of
concepts / things, such as “the particular form of words and speech used by the people of a
country, area or social group”, or “the method of human communication using spoken or written
words”. In other words, we can talk about a specific language e.g. English, German, Swahili etc.
or about language as such.A further meaning of ‘language’ is “the style or types of words used
by a person or group”, which is a topic generally studied within sociolinguistics.Language is a
human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or
written symbols, for Bloomfield he defined language as “the totality of utterances that can be
made in a speech community, for David Lewis he defined language as“a paring of sentences and
meanings over an infinite range.” for Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course of General
Linguistics explaining langue and parole, He defines language as the collective of some of
the
rules used by all members of speech community in society and this knowledge is passed on from
one generation to another. He defines parole as an individual speech in society whereas
Noam
Chomsky insists that the notion of language is not clear and not well-defined in linguistic
science, he explained language in a way that he means from limited sounds we can
create
unlimited sentences,here he speaks about the structure of language in his saying “From now on I
consider language to be a set (“finite or infinite”) or sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of finite sets or element”. He argues that language is something
externalized
, from our brain and grammar is the physical mechanism of our
brain.
Noam Chomsky thinks that language is something abstract and grammar does exist and he names
language E-language, and grammar I-language .These two concepts don t́ have to do with two
different languages but with two different approaches to languages in general.
Chomsky ś object of study was the I-language since he wasn't interested in actual utterances or
real speech. Other disciplines study E-languages such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, etc.
- Internal language : I-language : "I " stands for internal/internalised and refers to
the
internal linguistic knowledge in the mind of every speaker.
- grammatical competence
- does not have errors its perfect because it's the result of nature
- mental grammar we were born with and developed it as we grow
- unconscious (we know it without recalling it )
- refers to the system of language
- refers to the internal grammar of language
- refers to the internal system of knowledge that develops within as we acquire our mother
language .
- external language : E-language : "E" stands for external/externalised and refers to
the
observable language outside people ́ s mind (it ́ s the language that people actually produce
as it is perceived).
- Not perfect
- E-language or performance language how humans make use of language for the purpose
of communication
