Human Language

Human Language: Its Features
Man is the tool-using animal, the social animal, the only animal to feel shame (the animal with red cheeks), the only mammal that can laugh at jokes, tell lies. But what truly sets him apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is his ability to speak; he is ‘man – the speaking animal. He spends a large part of his waking life speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Language is a means by which the ideas are conveyed. At the red light, when one stops, the message is conveyed. This is the language of the traffic lights. It is a medium of communication and self-expression. Marion Pei remarks on human language: A system of communication by sound, i.e. through the organs of speech and hearing, among human beings of a certain group or community, using vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meanings. Karl Marx opines: Language is as old as consciousness, language is practical, real consciousness that exists for other men as well, and only arises from the need, the necessity, of intercourse with other men.
· Human language is a complete semiotic system. This means that every unimpaired adult human individual is anatomically and physiologically able both to produce certain signals in order to manifest certain inner states and to perceive and to process obliquely such signals in order that inner states of the same kind are triggered in him. Alternatives to complete semiotic systems are partial semiotic systems enabling individuals of a species either to produce or to receive the corresponding signals (e.g. most sexual signaling systems) on the one hand and partial semiotic systems enabling individuals of a species to perceive signals coming from the environment on the other hand.
A principle feature of human language is the duality of patterning. It enables us to use our language in a very economic way for a virtually infinite production of linguistic units.How does this principle work? All human languages have a small, limited set of speech sounds. The limitation derives from the restricted capacity of our vocal apparatus.The speech sounds are referred to as consonants and vowels. Linguistically speaking, the distinctive speech sounds are called phonemes, which are explained in more detail in the chapter on phonology. You cannot use isolated phonemes for communication, because phonemes are by themselves meaningless. But we can assemble and reassemble phonemes into larger linguistic units. These are commonly called "words". Although our capacity to produce new phonemes is limited, we frequently coin new words. Hence, our capacity to produce vocabulary is unlimited.
DisplacementIn contrast to other animals, humans have a sense of the past and the future. A gorilla, for example, cannot tell his fellows about his parents, his adventures in the jungle, or his experience of the past. The use of language to talk about things other than "the here and now", is a characteristic of humans. Displacement is thus our ability to convey a meaning that transcends the immediately perceptible sphere of space and time.Although some animals seem to possess abilities appropriating those of displacement, they lack the freedom to apply this to new contexts. The dance of the honeybee, for instance, indicates the locations of rich deposits of nectar to other bees. This ability of the bee corresponds to displacement in human language, except for a lack of variation. The bee frequently repeats the same patterns in its dance, whereas humans are able to invent ever-new contexts.

Open-endednessThe ability to say things that have never been said before, including the possibility to express invented things or lies, is also a peculiar feature of human language.
Stimulus-freedom is another aspect that distinguishes human language from animal communication. The honeybee must perform its dance, the sparrow must cry out in order to warn her fellows when it beholds a snake. Humans have the ability to say anything they like in any context. This ability is only restricted in certain ceremonial contexts such as church services, etc., where a fixed form is expected to be followed. The possibility to violate this fixed linguistic behavior is then the source of jokes, such as a bride's "no".
ArbitrarinessWhy is a rose called "rose"? Obviously, the flower never told us its name. And flowers do not make a noise similar to the word. The same applies to most of the words of our language. Hence, words and their meaning have no a priori connection. We cannot tell from the sound structure which meaning is behind it. Language is not motivated, as we can also put it. There are, however, exceptions to this rule: language can be iconic, which means that there is a direct correlation between form and meaning. The length of a phrase, for example, could represent a length of time the phrase refers to, like in "a long, long time ago". Here, the extension serves to visually represent the semantic emphasis. Iconicity in language can be found frequently. Another example for nonarbitrariness is onomatopoeia. These are words that seem to resemble sounds. There are many examples for onomatopoetic words, like splash or bang or thud. Some names for animals are also onomatopoetic, for example, "cuckoo". Still, since animals such as the bird are named differently in different languages, there can be no ultimate motivation for the name.
The human vocal tract
An elaborated language requires a highly sophisticated speech organ that will enable the speaker to produce the many differentiated sounds. Only humans are endowed with a speech organ of this complexity.
The signals of human language are of an acoustical kind. They are elastic vibrations of the air. This feature is as old as multicellular organisms endowed with organs that are specialized both for the production of sound by means of arbitrary movements and for the perception of sound. Characteristics of acoustical signals are independence of light conditions, flow over obstacles, little expenditure of energy for their production, little impairment of other activities by their production (depending upon the corresponding organs), broadcast transmission.
The signals of human language are produced by means of organs of the respiratory and alimentary canal originally functioning exclusively as metabolic organs. The signals of human language are perceived by means of a general sound-sensitive organ the original function of which seems to have been the localization of sound sources.
The inner states manifested or triggered by means of human language are sections of knowledge stored in a memory. This feature seems to have originated with the super family of the hominoids. The dances of the honeybee manifest similar inner states, but the two systems are evolutionarily unrelated, so that this is only a case of analogy. Characteristics of the manifestation of knowledge by signals are the possibility of prevarication and the possibility of manifesting beliefs concerning the semiotic system itself. Alternatives to the semiotic manifestation of knowledge are semiotic manifestations of emotional or motivational inner states.
In humans production and perception of signals relates to partners recognized as individuals. This feature could be called intentionality. Its age is difficult to determine. Alternatives are the production of signals as a mere effect of inner pressure and the reception of signals that merely are in the air. The fact that human language functions as a cultural device is due to almost all of these ten features. Two of them, however, play a prominent role in this regard, namely the ability to manifest pieces of knowledge by means of linguistic signs and the ability to process complex sequence. Knowledge is the genuine locus of culture, and complex sequenced sounds are so highly differentiatable that they are best suited for manifesting sections of highly structured knowledge.

Rishi Kumar Nagar