Contents

Abstract ,key words, introduction 1

1.What is language 1
1.1The function of language 3
1.1.1.Micro function 3
1.1.2Macro function 6
1.2Unique properties of a language 8

2.What is linguistics? 10
2.1SCIENTIFIC NATURE OF LINGUISTICS 10
2.2Traditional grammar 12
2.3Modern linguistics 12
2.4SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC APPROACH 12
2.5LANGUE AND PAROLE 13
Competence and performance 14

Reference 14
Abstract
In this paper, I try to shed light on basic information that related to
language and linguistics. I also mention the importance and the function
of language and how it is a unique feature for human beings. After that ,I
give a brief definition about the linguistics and the famous concepts that
deal with this science.
Key words : Language, Linguistics, langue and parol, competence and
performance ,Macro and Micro function Synchronic ,Diachronic.

Introduction
Students studying linguistics and other language sciences for the first
time often have misconceptions about what they are about and what they
can offer them. They may think that linguists are authorities on what is
correct and what is incorrect in a given language. But linguistics is the
science of language; it treats language and the ways people use it as
phenomena to be studied much as a geologist treats the earth. Linguists
want to figure out how language works.

1.What is Language?
Language is a means of communication. It is a means of conveying our
thoughts ,ideas, feelings, and emotions to other people. Jack C. Richards
and Richard Schmidt define the language :"the system of human
communication which consists of the structured arrangement of sounds
(or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes, words,
sentences, utterances. In common usage it can also refer to non-human
systems of communication such as the “language” of bees, the
“language” of dolphins.

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To define language is not an easy task. Different linguists tried to define
language variously. However, if we analyse the definitions closely, we
will find that each of these definitions is incomplete in some respect or
the other. These definitions will raise a large number of questions.
Some of the most commonly approved definitions of language given by
the experts in the field of linguistics are given below:
Edward Sapir says: “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive
method of communicating ideas emotions and desires by means of
voluntarily produced symbols”
This definition is rather incomplete because ‘ideas, emotions and desires’
are not the only things communicated by language. The term language
covers a wide range of implication such as body language, sign language
and animal language.
According to Hall, language is “the institution whereby humans
communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used
oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”
Hall’s definition is narrow because it regards language purely as a human
institution.
We know that animals do communicate. Animals have their own
language .In the words of Noam Chomsky, language is “a set of (finite or
infinite) sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set
of elements.”
Chomsky focuses on the structural features of language. He showed how
language can be investigated by analyzing it into its constituent elements.
Each of these linguists focuses on certain aspects of language and ignores
some others. However what they have said of language is true, though not
comprehensive.
As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings:
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an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French". The
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who defined the modern discipline
of linguistics, first explicitly formulated the distinction using the French
word langage for language as a concept, langue(competence by
Chomsky) as a specific instance of a language system,
and parole(Chomsky’s performance) for the concrete usage of speech in a
particular language(Trask, 1999:92).

The Functions of Language

We use language for an almost infinite number of purposes, from
writing letters, or notes to the milkman, to gossiping with our friends,
making speeches and talking to ourselves in the mirror. However, if you
think about it, there are a number of recurring functions which, despite
the many different uses we make of language, are generally being served.
Some are apparently so ordinary as almost to pass unnoticed as functions,
whilst others are more lofty and almost abstract. But the important thing
to recognise is that, linguistically speaking, they are all of equal
importance. Whatever social significance we may give to various
functions, language itself does not discriminate.
It’s useful first of all to distinguish between the micro and macro
functions of language. Micro functions, as the name suggests, cover the
particular individual uses whilst macro functions relate to the larger, more
general purposes underlying language use. Let’s begin by looking at
some of the micro functions.1
Micro functions
(i) To release nervous/physical energy (physiological function)

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This may seem a rather trivial function but in fact a good deal of language
use has a physiological purpose. If you are a sports fan watching your
favourite sport on television you may well feel the overwhelming urge at
certain exciting moments in the match to shout instructions to the players:
Go on, don’t mess about, for God’s sake shoot! The instructions are
perfectly useless; they serve no communicative purpose, but they allow
us to release pent-up energy which otherwise would be quite intolerable.
(ii) For purposes of sociability (phatic function)
It is surprising how often we use language for no other reason than
simply to signal our general disposition to be sociable. Linguists story
makes clear just how important the phatic use of language is in creating
and maintaining social links.
(iii) To provide a record (recording function)
This is a more obviously ‘serious’ use of language than the previous two,
although not necessarily more significant even so. We are constantly
using language to record things we wish to remember. It might be a short-
term record, as in a shopping list or a list of things to do, or a long-term
record, as in a diary or history of some kind.
(iv) To identify and classify things (identifying function)
Language not only allows us to record, but also to identify, with
considerable precision, an enormous array of objects and events, without
which it would be very difficult to make sense of the world around us.
Learning the names of things allows us to refer quickly and accurately to
them; it gives us power over them.
(v) As an instrument of thought (reasoning function)
All of us have a running commentary going on in our heads during our
waking hours. For most of the time we are not aware of it; like breathing,
it’s automatic. Schizophrenics are acutely conscious of it and imagine it
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to be coming from someone else. But the voices they hear are really parts
of themselves which they are unable to acknowledge. Running for the bus
or the train we are constantly talking to ourselves in a form of continuous
monologue. Sometimes it takes the form of a dialogue with some
imagined ‘other’, but more often than not it is simply a form of silent
thinking. As an exercise you might try thinking about something, making
a conscious effort not to use words. Making your mind blank is one of the
most difficult things to do because the brain is in a state of constant
activity; its principal concern is with enabling us to survive, and language
is an essential part of that survival process.
A majority of our thinking is done with words or, to be more precise, in
words. A common view of language is that it is merely a tool of thought,
in other words, that we have ideas forming in our minds for which we
need to find the appropriate words: the words are simply the expression
of the ideas.
(vi) As a means of communicating ideas and feelings (communicating
function)
This is probably the function that most people would select first as the
principal purpose of language. And clearly it is an extremely important
function. But as we have just seen, the relationship between language and
meaning can be problematic. Communication is a two-way process.
On the one hand we need to be able to use language to express ourselves
to others, and, conversely, we need it in order to understand what they are
communicating to us. There are of course a variety of reasons which may
prompt the act of communication. We use language for requesting,
informing, ordering, promising, and reprimanding, to mention just a few.
In all these cases we could say that language is being used to perform
certain speech acts, or, more specifically, ‘direct’ speech acts.
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vii) To give delight (pleasure function)
There are various kinds of pleasure which we derive from language. At
the simplest level there is the sheer enjoyment of sound itself and the
melody of certain combinations of sounds. Most poetry exploits this
function. Devices such as onomatopeia, alliteration, and assonance all
draw on the pleasure we find in euphony, as do rhythm and rhyme.

Macro functions
In this section we have tried to identify and categorise some of the
principal functions of language. We have identified seven individual, or
micro functions, which can themselves be related to four broader, or
metafunctions.

If instead of going below the level of individual functions we go above it,

it is possible, as I suggested earlier, to identify several macro functions.
But perhaps a better way of describing them would be to follow the
linguist Michael Halliday and call them ‘metafunctions’. A metafunction
is one which is capable of describing one or more other functions. Let’s
see how this might work out.
(i) The ideational function
With a number of the micro functions identified above we can see that
there is a common mental or conceptualising process involved. In using
language to identify things, or as an instrument of thought, or to provide a
record, we are using language as a symbolic code to represent the world
around us. The ideational function, then, is that function in which we
conceptualise the world for our own benefit and that of others. In a sense
we bring the world into being linguistically.

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(ii) The interpersonal function
Several of the micro functions are concerned with the relationship
between ourselves and other people or things. Clearly, in addition to
using language to conceptualise the world we are also using it as a
personal medium. We gain much of our sense of identity, of who and
what we are, from our relationships both with animate and inanimate
things, and language is an essential part of that personalising process. We
could say that rather than bringing the world into being, this function is
concerned with the way we bring ourselves into being linguistically.
Using language as a means of communication, for purposes of phatic
communion, or to release nervous/physical energy, involves activities in
which we are prioritising the interpersonal function of language. And it is
possible for people to be able to perform this function very well without
necessarily being able to perform the ideational function so well. There
are those whose interpersonal skills and general ability to project
themselves are quite developed but whose conceptual powers and level of
understanding may be limited. And vice versa, of course.
(iii) The poetic function
Any functional account of language must take into consideration that side
of our nature in which rather than conceptualising the world orinteracting
with it we are simply playing with it. In this sense the word ‘poetic’
doesn’t mean the ability to write poetry. It means the ability to bring the
world into being as an area of play. It is by such means that we bring
delight to ourselves and others, but we also do much more. We render the
world safe and less threatening because we can manipulate it
linguistically for our own individual pleasure.
(iv) The textual function
There is, finally, however, one function of language which I have so far
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ignored. It is in a way the most purely linguistic function in that it relates
to our ability to construct texts out of our utterances and writings.
Michael Halliday calls it the ‘textual function’. We can see it as using
language to bring texts into being. When we speak or write we don’t
normally confine ourselves to single phrases or sentences, we string these
together to make a connected sequence.( Finch,1997:43)

Unique properties of a language

When animal communicate with one another they may do so by a
variety of means. Crabs ,for example, communicate by waving their
claws at one another and bees have a complicated series of 'dance' with
signify whereabouts of a source of nectar. But such method are not as
widespread as the use of sounds ,which are employed by human .So our
use of the sound is no way unique . Another features that make human
language unique are :
a. Displacement :a property of language whereby language can be used to
refer to context removed from immediate situation of the speaker (it can
be displaced) for example if someone says I was afraid it isn't necessary
that the speaker still afraid whereas animal calls seem generally tied to
specific situations such as hunger or danger. There is no displacement in
animal communication "exception bee communication has displacement
in an extremely limited form ،a bee can show the others the source of the
food.
b. Arbitrariness : a property of human language whereby linguistic form
are said to lack any physical correspondence with the entities in the world
to which they refer, for example " there is nothing in the word table
which reflects the shape of the thing. The relationship between sound and
8
meaning is said to be arbitrary or conventional as classical tradition puts
it by contrast, some words in a language may be partly or wholly iconic,
I.e they do reflect properties of non-linguistic world e.g onomatopoeic
expressions such as splash, murmur, mumble. Majority of animals have a
clear connection with the covered message. Animal communication is
non-arbitrary.
c. Productivity (creativity/open-endedness) : a general term used in
linguistic to refer to the creative capacity of language users to produce
and understand an indefinitely larger number of sentences. It contrasts
particularly with the unproductive communication systems of animals.
Animals have fixed reference. Each signal refers to something, but these
signals can't be manipulated.
d. Cultural transmission : language passes from one generation to
another. In animals there is an instinctively produce but human infants
growing up in isolation produce no instinctive language. Cultural
transmission is only crucial in the human acquisition process.
(Aitchson ,1997 :13)
e. Discreteness : a property of human language whereby the elements of a
signal can be analyzed as having definable boundaries, with no gradation
or continuity between them (OR) the unique sounds used in human
language. Every language use a set of different sounds each of these
sounds is differ from the rest and are combined to form new meanings. /a/
sound can be repeated or combined with another to form a new meaning,
but animal communication don't have this feature of discreteness .
f. Duality : Organization of language as into two layers, a layer of
sounds which combine into a second layer of larger units .( languages.
(Lyons, 1981: 21))

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WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?
Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of language .It is the
systematic study of the elements of language and the principles governing
their combination and organization. Linguistics provides for a rigorous
experimentation with the elements or aspects of language that are actually
in use by the speech community. It is based on observation and the data
collected thereby from the users of the language, a scientific analysis is
made by the investigator and at the end of it he comes out with a
satisfactory explanation relating to his field of study. This sort of
systematic study of language has rendered the traditional method
language study outmoded or unfit for any theorization. (Sreekumar,
2011 :20)

SCIENTIFIC NATURE OF LINGUISTICS

Is language amenable to scientific study? To answer such a question,
the term Science needs to be defined. Science can be defined as a
systematic, explicit and objective study of an object or a phenomenon,
natural or social. Science engages in:-
Gathering of data in a methodical manner
Analysis of the data
Determination of the relationship between facts
Formulation of casual explanation
Verification and validation of explanations and predictions
Generalization
In short, Science is committed to empirically provable/proven ideas.
Empirical proof or objective truth is the hallmark of science. In the
context of language study, Science implies a systematic investigation into
language by means of controlled and objectively verifiable prepositions
10
 based on observations and within the framework of some general
theories governing language. Linguistic procedure involves generating
testable hypothesis in order to make predictions about language. In case
the hypothesis is found to be false and does not fit into a generalized
theoretical framework, it is modified or refuted and an alternative
hypothesis is formulated with a view to arriving at absolute truth
unshakable by criticism. In this respect linguistics is supposed to have the
hallmark of Science (Linguistics is a Science because it follows the
general methodology of science, i.e. controlled observation, hypothesis
formation, analysis, generalization, prediction, testing the further
observation and confirmation, modification or rejection of the hypothesis
with a goal to formulate an alternative hypothesis).
Linguistics has two major aims:
i. to study the nature of language and establish a theory of language and
ii. to describe a language and all languages by applying the theory
established.
To be scientific, the linguistic procedure should satisfy three essential
conditions. They are explicitness, systematicness and objectivity. In
traditional grammar, there is no explicitness at all. Traditional grammar
begins with definitions. Many of these definitions lack clarification. The
noun, for example, is defined as the name of a person, place or a thing.
This definition does not encompass human qualities such as love,
sympathy, beauty, etc. However they are treated under the head of
abstract nouns. But the definition of noun does not give any information
about abstract nouns.(Ibid :2)

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Traditional grammar
By traditional grammar is usually meant the grammars written by
classical Greek scholars, the Roman grammars largely derived from the
Greek, Such grammars are known as prescriptive or normative, and are
often compared unfavourably with the descriptive grammars produced by
linguists, whose main concern is with how a language is used, rather than
with how some people think it ought to be used. Thus Palmer (1971, pp.
14–26) shows that many of the rules of prescriptive grammars, derived
from Latin, are unsuitable to English, and that the reasons commonly
given for observing the rules are unsound.(Malmkjaer ,1995:645)

Modern Linguistics
Linguistics is the systematic study of the elements of language and the
principles governing their combination and organization. Philology was
the older term used to refer to the study of language. Philology was rather
comparative and historical. A comparative study of language focuses on
the similarities and differences within a family of related languages. A
historical study analyses the evolution of a family of languages or the
changes that occur within a particular language, over a long course of
time. Saussure introduced new concepts and procedures in analyzing
language. The following are some of the major terms and concepts
introduced by him.(Aitchson, 1999:5)
SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC APPROACH
Saussure introduced time concept in the study of language. Language
can be studied over a span of time as well as at a point of time. The
former, he called diachronic, and the latter, synchronic. Diachronic
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approach to the language study focuses on the changes in language over
language over a span of time. Language is evolutionary and is not static.
If we compare a passage from the fourteenth century English poet
Geoffrey Chaucer with modern English, it will be clear that language has
changed considerably. Diachronic study implies the study of the changes
in language over a span of time.
Synchronic approach to the study of language focuses on the systematic
interconnections and rules of a long course of time. It is rather
comparative and historical. It is comparative in the sense that it analyses
the similarities and differences within a family of related languages. It is
historical, because it focuses on the evolution of a family of languages or
on the changes that occur within a particular combinations and
organization of the constituent elements of a single language at a
particular time.
Saussure emphasizes the importance of seeing language as a living
phenomenon. He laid the stress on studying speech habits of the
community speaking a given language. He analyzes the underlying
system of a language in order to demonstrate the integrated structure. He
placed language in social context. As against the total historical study of
language, Saussure stressed the importance of seeing language existing as
a state at particular point of time. Synchronic linguistics sees language as
a living whole.
LANGUE AND PAROLE
Saussure introduced an important distinction between langue and
parole. A parole is any particular meaningful utterance. It may be spoken
or written. It refers to the actual concrete act of speaking on the part of
the individual. It is personal, dynamic and social activity. It exists at a
13
particular time and place and in a particular context. It is the only object
available for direct observation by linguists. It is similar to Chomsky’s
idea of performance.
Langue, on the other hand implies the underlying rules governing the
combination and organization of the elements of language. It is the
implicit system of elements, of distinctions and oppositions. It is the
langue which makes it possible for a speaker to make an utterance and the
listener to understand the same. In short, langue = grammar + vocabulary
+ pronunciation system of a linguistic community.(Widdoson ,1996 :21)

Competence and performance

Noam Chomsky has substituted Saussure’s concept of language and
parole with competence and performance. Competence is the tacit
knowledge on the part of native speakers who have mastered or
internalized the implicit conventions and rules of a language system. It is
the competence which enables the speaker to make meaningful utterances
and the listener to understand well-formed and meaningful utterances.
Performance on the other hand is the actual utterance of particular
sentences.(Ibid :24)
Conclusion
As the assignment demonstrated, language is a system for
communication using sounds or gestures that are put together in
meaningful ways according to set rules. Trough language ,people can
express their feelings , write poetry and novel, and even think.
Language is essentially human , although possibly not limited to humans.
Linguistics on the other hand is the scientific way of studying
language .This science try to answer the question such as What is the
knowledge of language(competence), and how this knowledge put to use
(performance). 14
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LINGUISTICS, Routledge: New York.
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