Paper on Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paper on Language - Essay ExampleAnother more recent definition of language is given by Michael Holiday. According to himLanguage is a undulate of possibilities, an open-ended prep ardness of options in behavior that are available to the individual in his existence as social man. The setting of civilization is the environment of any particular selection that is made from deep down them ... The context of culture defines the potential, the range of possibilities that are open. The actual choice among these possibilities takes place within a given context of situation.This definition is some(prenominal) more encompassing as it highlights that language is not just through the use of vocal or oral symbols but a range of possibilities. Man communicates through speech, writing, and still other means are introduced in this digital age. A compassionate also engage in non-verbal communication through his actions and faultless behavior. Holiday also asserts that language can only full y understood in the context of the culture of the speaker or his lexicon.Lexicon is defined as the knowledge of that the speaker has rough a language. This includes information about the form and meaning of the terminology and phrases, lexical categorization, the appropriate usage of words, relationship amid words and phrases, and categories of words and phrases. b. Evaluate the key blusters of language.The understanding of language can be acquired by evaluating its key features (Design features of Language 2007).1. duality of patterning is a basic principle in human language. This feature of language provides an economic way for human beings to create an infinite set of linguistic units. It should be noted that the individual sounds comprising language is meaningless in themselves. Yet, these sounds can be combined together in other to become produce an infinite spot of meaningful utterances. 2. Displacement refers to the unique sense of time in human beings. As opposed to an imals, piece have the skill to separate the past from the future and can talk about these time spheres. 3. Open-endedness describes the ability of humans to add new words to the current set of words. This is illustrated by the words which are coined agree to our new experiences and innovations which augment, enhance, and even modify our language. 4. Arbitrariness refers to the lack of natural or essential relationship between to the words and the objects they refer to. This also highlights that the meaning of the words are constructed through social conventions. 5. Vocal-auditory channel is the feature of human language which sets it apart from animals. Humans communication is through the ears and the mouth and not through other conduct like nose or eyes. c. Describe the 4 levels of language structure and processing.There are four levels of language structure and processing namely, grammar, logic, semantics, and general semantics. Grammar relations refer to the words to words r elationship within a sentence without considering the relation of each sentence to another. Logic takes a step further by looking at the statement to statement relationships by evaluating subjects and predicates in an