122214101320 周仙
One of the first things we think about when we hear the word \" communication\" is language. There are thousands of languages spoken around the world today. In fact, linguists say that there may be as many as 10,000.
Speaking with others is an important means of communication. Apart from that, books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, and telephone are other means of communication. Today we can also communicate over long distance with the help of communications satellites. Some scientists say that soon machines will be developed for sending messages through the earth. The technology necessary to build these machines is very complex. but the language we speak every day is much more complex than the most modern communications technology.
Some people may hold the view that \"Language is only a means of communication.\" Others may think that \"The functions of language is to exchange information. \" In fact, language is really a complicated concept that we have to learn. By speaking different kinds of language with others, we may get a clearer idea of making efficient communications with others, which is very important in our daily life.
Modern linguists give us the definition of language: Language is a human speech; it is a means of verbal communication; it is an arbitrary vocal system used for human communication. This definition is very useful for our understanding of a language and doing later science research.
Having studied the book A Companion to Linguistics, I start to know the design features of language. The mains aspects included by those features are: arbitrariness, duality, creativity, and displacement. Arbitrariness means that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. By duality is meant the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. By creativity we mean language is resourceful because of
its duality and its recursiveness. At last, displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present at the moment of communication.
In addition, the origin of language is also a complicated course. From the bow-wow theory first to the pooh-pooh theory, then to the yo-he-yo theory, one thing we can say for certain is that language evolves within specific historical, social and cultural contexts. This kind of study of language development helps us acquire a language more easily.
Moreover, when it comes to the functions of language, seven aspects are also included: informative function, interpersonal function, performative function, emotive function, phatic function, recreational function and metalingual function. All of those functions vividly convey us a sense of language specialty we have never known before. By comparing and analysing them, we can get a better understanding of a language.
At last, we learned that the scientific study of language is called \"linguistics\". And the branches of it include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This kind of classification is very clear and logical in the study of a language, which is beneficial as well as helpful.
By considering language as a way of communication, one can express himself better and get an effective and efficient result of exchanging thoughts.
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