DESIGN FEATURES OF .Educate .Inspire .

Mentor
LAN 1210 Lecture 6

HUMAN LANGUAGE
(Part 1)
By
Dr. Humphrey M. Kapau
 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

Preparation determines the

outcome of any battle long
before the first bullet is fired.
Sweat saves blood.
o German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Parliament: A group of owls
Leap: A group of leopards
Pity: A group of prisoners
Cloud: A group of flies
Knot: A group of toads
Army: A group of caterpillars
UP NEXT…

DESIGN FEATURES OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE
(Part 1)
Questions about the nature of
language have preoccupied linguists for
a long time.
 One comprehensive view to the nature
of language is provided by the linguist
Charles Hockett, who refers all things
languages have in common as ‘design
features of language’.
Design features of language
refer to the various
properties/characteristics of
language in general and
human language in
particular.
 These properties are said to be shared by all
individual languages, hence they are linguistic
universals.
 NB: Some design features apply to both
animals and human, others to humans only.
Further, some design features apply to
articulated human language only.
Below are some of the
design features of human
language.
1. Learnability
Audio illustration:
Audio of Zambian
child learning English
words

A property (or design feature) of

human language referring to the fact
that any human language is learnable by
normal human (cf. Atkinson et al, 1982).
2. Cultural transmission
It is a design feature of language
that refers to the truth that
particular human languages (e.g.
Lambya) must be learned and are
transmitted from one generation
Video for illustration: to another. However, this does not
“The Gods Must Be Crazy” (Excerpt) imply language is static.
3. Human language is articulated
This property of human language states
that human language is one made up of
speech sounds that are produced by the
organs of speech (such as the lips and
tongue). The weakness of this feature is
that excludes other systems of
communication used by humans such as
sign language. Video for illustration: Mandela’s prison speech, 1962.
4. Rapid fading
 What we communicate vanishes
fast, thus freeing the channel for
the next unit of communication.
What we communicate never
hangs around in the air for long. It
Video for illustration: fades rapidly. This is because of
Sam Loco Efe’s conversation in
the movie “Money Yab Man” the physical nature of sounds.
5. Interchangeability
Anyone who knows a language can
both transmit a message in that
language, and receive and understand
a message in the same language. E.g. If
you know English, you can both
transmit a message in that language
and receive and understand a message
Video for illustration:
in that language, as speech, song, etc. “Try Again” (Yo Maps & Abel Chungu)
6. Complete feedback
If you speak something, it is not only the
person you are addressing (addressee) who
hears the message but also yourself as the
speaker. We perceive (= become aware of)
this through the sense of hearing.
 7. Omni-directional
Refers to the idea that language involves the
transmission of sound in all directions (i.e. ‘omni-’
means ‘all’ e.g. omnipotent ‘all able’). This increases
efficiency of the signal being sent but at the expense of
privacy. This design feature is also called broadcast
transmission.
 8. Directional reception
While transmission of sound is in all
directions (omnidirectional), the reception
(i.e. receiving) of that sound is in one direction
(unidirectional. ‘Uni-’ means ‘one’). This
permits the location of the sender by the
receiver.
9. Human language is creative
Refers to (a) a person’s ability to produce and
understand a theoretically infinite number of sentences
including those he has never produced, or heard before as
long as they belong to the language he knows; (b) the fact
that a number of potentially infinite sentences can be made
from a finite set of rules and elements; and that there is no
limit a sentence can be.
 NB: Creativity in this context should not be
confused with artistic ability as it is usually known
in fields of art. In linguistics, creativity means our
ability to use the rules of a language to create an
infinite number of sentences, and also our ability
to produce and understand them.
Literary piece for illustration: Random poem
Teaching point: Our ability to use the rules of language
to produce and understand an infinite
number of sentences.
 END

 Educate  Inspire  Mentor generations

C
hmk-pptx’24