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    Introduction To TESL Lect 2 - Language - What It Does

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    Introduction To TESL Lect 2 - Language - What It Does

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    Deshani
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    Introduction to TESL Lect 2 - Language - What It Does

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    7 views8 pages

    Introduction To TESL Lect 2 - Language - What It Does

    Uploaded by

    Deshani

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 8

    INTRODUCTION

    TO TESL
    Lecture 2
    Dr. S. S. Pereira
    WHAT IS LANGUAGE
    • 1. Language is systematic.
    • 2. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
    • 3. Those symbols are primarily vocal but may also be visual.
    • 4. The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
    • 5. Language is used for communication.
    • 6. Language operates in a speech community or culture.
    • 7. Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
    • 8. Language is acquired by all people in much the same way; language and
    language learning both have universal characteristics.
    DEFINITIONS
    • Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual
    (signed), or written symbols by means of which
    human beings, as members of a social group and
    participants in its culture, express themselves.
    • The functions of language include communication, the
    expression of identity, play, imaginative expression,
    and emotional release. (Crystal D, 2021)
    DEFINITIONS
    • “Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-
    sounds combined into words. Words are combined into
    sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into
    thoughts.”
    Henry Sweet
    “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of
    which a social group cooperates.”
    Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager
    • Every physiologically and mentally typical person acquires in
    childhood the ability to make use, as both sender and receiver,
    of a system of communication that comprises a circumscribed
    set of symbols (e.g., sounds, gestures, or written or typed
    characters).

    • In spoken language, this symbol set consists of noises resulting


    from movements of certain organs within the throat and
    mouth.

    • In sign languages, these symbols may be hand or body


    movements, gestures, or facial expressions.
    • Ferdinand de Saussure – the notion of the linguistic sign, which is composed of
    the signifier and the signified.
    • A Swiss linguist, semiotician (study of signs and symbols) and philosopher. His ideas
    laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in
    the 20th century.

    • The word ‘open’ is a sign consisting of: a signifier:


    the word open; a signified concept: that the shop is open for business
    • Car –signifier
    • A mode of transport – signified
    WHAT DO WE DO WITH LANGUAGE
    • By means of these symbols,
    people are able to impart information,
    to express feelings and emotions,
    to influence the activities of others, and to
    comfort themselves with varying degrees of friendliness
    or hostility toward persons who make use of
    substantially the same set of symbols.
    COGNITIVE REVOLUTION
    • Between 70,000 to 30, 000 years ago some accidental genetic mutations changed the inner
    wiring of the brains of Sapiens enabling them to think in unprecedented ways and to
    communicate using and altogether new type of language.

    • Language evolved as a way of gossiping – information we must obtain and store to track the
    ever-changing relationship of even a few dozen of people is staggering.
    • One unique feature of language is its ability not just to communicate what is visible and
    tangible but many other things that do not even exist.
    • The ability to speak about fictions is the most unique feature of Sapiens language.
    • Fiction enables collectivity – to corporate in extremely flexible ways with countless numbers of
    strangers.
    (Harari, 2015)

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