Part C · Broad Questions — Language and Linguistics (definition, characteristics)

Language is a system of sounds and symbols. People use it to share their thoughts. In simple words, language is the main way humans share meaning. Edward Sapir says language is a human method of sharing ideas, feelings and wishes by using symbols made on purpose. Noam Chomsky sees language as a set of sentences made from a limited set of rules. Ferdinand de Saussure calls language a system of signs. Each sign joins a sound with a meaning. For example, the sound of the word 'book' joins with the idea of a thing we read. So, language is a social, human and rule-based system. Its major characteristics help us understand it better.

Arbitrariness means there is no natural link between a word and its meaning. Saussure explained this idea clearly. The sound of a word does not look like the thing it names. For example, the animal 'dog' is called 'kukur' in Bangla and 'chien' in French. No name is more correct than the others. People of a speech community simply agree on the name. This is why different languages have different words for the same thing. The rule is simple. Sound and meaning are joined by habit, not by nature. A few words like 'buzz' and 'splash' copy sounds. These are called onomatopoeic words. They are very few in number.

Duality means language has two levels of structure. This idea is also called double articulation. Hockett also listed duality as a key feature. At the first level, we have small sounds. These sounds have no meaning alone. For example, /k/, /æ/ and /t/ mean nothing alone. At the second level, we join them to make meaningful units. So we get the word 'cat'. We can also change the order to get 'act' or 'tack'. Then we join words to make sentences. Thus a few sounds make thousands of words. Animal calls do not have this two-level system. This makes human language very economical.

Productivity means we can make and understand new sentences all the time. It is also called creativity. Chomsky stressed this idea strongly. A speaker has a limited set of words and rules. Yet the speaker can make unlimited sentences. For example, we can say 'I saw a red bird.' We can add more words and say 'I saw a small red bird on the old tree.' Nobody taught us these exact sentences. We make them using rules. Speakers also create new words, like 'selfie' or 'podcast'. This is why language never becomes old or finished. So language keeps growing with time.

Displacement means we can talk about things that are not here now. We can speak of the past, the future and faraway places. For example, we can say 'I went to Dhaka yesterday.' We can also say 'I will visit Cox's Bazar next year.' We can even talk about imaginary things, like a dragon or a fairy. Animal calls mostly talk about the present moment. A bee dance is a small exception, but it is very limited. Displacement helps us tell stories, write history and make plans. Without it, we could not learn from the past. This is a strong feature of human language.

Cultural transmission means language is passed from one generation to the next by learning. We are not born with a particular language. A child learns the language of the people around him. For example, a Bangladeshi child learns Bangla at home. The same child learns English if raised in London. Genes give us the ability to learn language. But the actual language comes from society. So language is learned, not inherited. Many animal calls are mostly inborn. They do not depend much on learning from elders. Human language needs teaching, practice and a social group.

Language is systematic. This means it follows fixed rules at every level. Sounds follow sound rules. Words follow word-building rules. Sentences follow rules of word order. For example, in English we say 'She eats rice.' We do not say 'Eats rice she.' Wrong order often changes meaning or breaks the rule. Language is also vocal-auditory. We produce it with the mouth and receive it with the ear. Speech comes first, and writing comes later. Many languages have no writing system at all. So sound is the main form of language. Language is also symbolic, because words stand for things and ideas.

Language is a human and species-specific trait. Only humans have a full language with all these features. Hockett, a linguist, listed many such features. Animals can communicate, but their systems are limited. A dog barks to warn. A monkey gives a call for danger. These calls are fixed and few. They do not have duality or productivity. Chimpanzees can learn some signs after long training. But they do not make new sentences like humans. Also, language is a social tool. It joins people in a community. Thus, language is both a gift of nature and a product of society.