Characteristics/Features of Language

The following are some unique properties, identified by linguists, of language,

a peculiar and exceptional characteristic restricted to human beings. This
means that only human language possesses all these features although animals
may have some in common. (Hocket 1960).

1. Species-specific.

 Language is a uniquely human activity (a capacity specific to one

set of species, human beings).

2. Non-instinctive (naturally acquired).

 Humans are born with the capability to acquire language: We are

born with that innate mental faculty which allows us to learn to
speak a specific complex system, a language (French, English,
Spanish, etc.) through socialization within a linguistic or
language community.

3. Systematic

 Language is rule-governed (order based on rules). It consists of a

number of rules and conventions that governs its structure,
pronunciation and word order.

Note. The units of a language do not combine randomly but according

to specific rules which govern the system.

4. Symbolic system (structure of signs).

 There is no intrinsic relationship between words in a language

and the objects/ideas these words represent. Objects are given
names based on conventional rules: It is the society or speech
communities that determine the names or words of the objects.

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5. Arbitrary.

 There is no natural connection between symbols and their

meanings: The word (sound) has no logical or natural relationship
with its concept (idea or object that it represents in the real
world). For example, the concept or the word “tree” is the same
in all languages, but the words (sounds) are different.

[tree] “English”
[pjébwa] “Kwéyol”
[árbol] “Spanish”

There is no one-to-one relationship between the word form (sound) and

its meaning, the image/concept/object in the real world. As indicated
above, there are several word forms which correspond to one specific
concept (image) “tree”.

Note: Onomatopoeias are words which imitate natural sounds and

have a relationship with the meanings of these sound (There is a
relationship between the sounds and what they mean. For example,
pop, bang, moo.

6. Dynamic/Evolutionary (constantly changing).

 Language changes at all levels with space and time. This means
that:
 novel words are created because of new discoveries and
technologies, and are added to its lexicon

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  words become obsolete and acquire new meanings. For
example,

Word Old Meaning New Meaning

cool fairly low temperature okay
mouse animal computer element
cram crowed space intensive las minute
study
Chip piece of wood food item or computer
element

7. Creative/Productive/open-ended.

 We human beings:
 are able to produce an infinite number of unique, new
utterances that can be understood, (in particular those which
we have never heard before)

 have the ability to create or form from a finite or fixed set

of sounds an infinite number of messages, or sentences.

NB. Our syntax permits us to produce countless sentences.

This means that from a finite set (language sounds), we are able to
make endless combinations of words and sentences which we have
never heard before. For example, with the English sounds /b/ /a/ /g/,
speakers are can combine and use them in various utterances. We have
the ability to produce:

 an infinite number of words with the individual sounds /b/, /a/

and /g/
 unlimited combinations of these sounds and other English
sounds, and various utterances with the word /bag/.

What is the longest utterance or sentence that you can produce?

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8. Learnability.
 Humans are able to learn any number of other languages with
effort. For this reason, as adults we learn second and third
languages.

9. Cultural transmission.
 Language is passed down from one generation to another: it is not
transmitted through heredity like animal cries or sounds.
 What language the baby is going to speak is determined by the
culture the baby is born into. For example, a baby who is exposed
to English or raised in an English environment will learn to speak
that language, and not Japanese, as his first or maternal language.

Note. A child brought up in isolation does not acquire or learn a

language

10. Displacement.
 Language is used to refer to past and future events. We have the
ability to speak about:
 the Present, but also about the past things and future
events that are not present spatially.
 real or unreal (imaginary things)
 abstract ideas (beauty, justice, Poverty)

11. A means of communication. Language is a complex means of

communication. (It is used to transmit complex information.
 Is used to communicate and develop society as a whole.

12. Duality or Double Articulation.

 Language has two levels: It is organized on two levels at the
same time. Level 1= different sounds
Level 2= different meanings

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 First level (sounds): meaningless units /t/ /a/ /p/. These
sounds have no meaning separately or
individually.
Second Level (words): meaningless units combine to form
meaningful units /tap/ or /pat/. Only
when the individual sounds are
combined together in different ways,
they have or acquire meaning.

13. Maturational. As we grow older, our vocabulary expands and

we are able to produce more mature and complex structures.