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A Natural Language

The document discusses the topic of language and linguistics. It defines language as a system used for general purpose communication by humans. It also defines linguistics as the scientific study of language and its structure. The document covers various aspects of language including its characteristics, what constitutes a language, and different approaches to studying language.

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ييفرين مينديز
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23 views3 pages

A Natural Language

The document discusses the topic of language and linguistics. It defines language as a system used for general purpose communication by humans. It also defines linguistics as the scientific study of language and its structure. The document covers various aspects of language including its characteristics, what constitutes a language, and different approaches to studying language.

Uploaded by

ييفرين مينديز
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A natural language (or ordinary language) is a language that is spoken, written, or signed by humans for

general purpose communication, as distinguished from formal languages (such as computer-programming


languages or the “languages” used in the study of formal logic, especially mathematical logic) and from
constructed languages. Though the exact definition is debatable, natural language is often contrasted with
artificial or constructed languages such as Esperanto, Latino Sexione, and Occidental.

El lenguaje es una actividad humana que nace con el hombre, que sólo a él pertenece y que le permite
comunicarse y relacionarse al poder comprender y expresar mensajes. El lenguaje humano como conjunto
de signos articulados por medio de los cuales se comunican las personas; o sea, un conjunto sistemático
de signos que permiten un cierto tipo de comunicación.

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of
communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study
of language in any of its senses is called linguistics.

The approximately 3000–6000 languages that are spoken by humans today are the most salient examples.
A language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information. The English word
derives ultimately from Latin lingua, "language, tongue", via Old French. When used as a general concept,
"language" refers to the cognitive faculty that enables humans to learn and use systems of complex
communication.

1. What is language?
Language is a highly organized system in which each unit plays an important part which is related to other
parts.

2. The Characteristic / properties / nature of language.


• Language is a system.

• Every language has a dual structure.


Each language is a system consisting of two subsystems. One is the subsystem of meaningful units and the
other is the subsystem of sounds.

• Productive or creative.
This refers to the ability of native speakers to understand and produce any numbers of sentences in their
mother tongue.

• Recursion.
This means sentences may be produced with other sentences inside them.
• Arbitrary.
The relation between a word and its meaning is a matter of convention.

• Language is a special Phenomenon.


It is means of communication between individuals.

• All languages are equally complex.


Each language is part of the culture that produce it and adequate for the needs of the people who use it.
3. What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the sciences which attempts to understand language from the point of view of its internal
structure.

4. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic relationship.


Every item in a language has its own characteristic place in the pattern, a place which is different from that
of every other item. An item’s place in the pattern can be discovered by examining, firstly, the items which
normally occur in combination with it (syntagmatic) and secondly, the items which can replace it
(Paradigmatic). (Jane Aitchison – General Linguistics)

5. Why linguistics is a science?


Because it passes through three stages in their development:
a) Stage of Speculation: In the middle ages, it was commonly believed that all languages were
descended from Hebrew.
b) Stage of Observation and Classification: The systematic collection and cataloguing of fact
characterize this phrase.
c) The Formulation of Hypotheses: A discipline at this stage understands the basic problems involved
in it study and ask questions about these problems. (Jane Aitchison – General Linguistics)

6. Prescriptive versus descriptive study of language.


The grammar books are what linguist call prescriptive: that is they prescribe rules for proper usage.
Descriptive: is descriptions of how people really speak and write, instead of rules on how they should

7. Historical versus descriptive linguistics.


Before 19th century, begin with the Greeks were more interested in the origin of language than in analyzing
it (Historical) and begin with Ferdinand de Saussure interested with the structuralism.

8. Synchronic versus diachronic study of language.


The truth value of statements (e.g., “Robots can be conscious.”) can change over time as word use changes,
even though the meaning of such statements remains constant. Statements that are now false under
synchronic linguistics (The study of language at a given time) may become false, as revealed by diachronic
linguistics (The study of language through time).

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