CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

I- Introduction

Language is a system of communication used by normal human beings for

communication. It is commonly regarded as the cornerstone of the divide between man and
other living creatures. As such, it is noticed that even lunatic and stupid men have the capacity
to use language for communication; but no animal –even the most intelligent ones like
chimpanzees- can do the like. In this sense, language is considered as species-specific. It
means that it is specific only to one set of species –in this case to the human species. What is
it, then, that makes language a unique system of communication?

II- Design features

In an attempt to answer the question above, the American linguist Charles Francis

Hockett has suggested in the 1960s a set of characteristics that he named “design features”
which all human language displays. Some of these features are found in other systems of
communication be they used by humans (e.g. gestures, facial expressions…etc.) or by other
aniumals (e.g. dancing of the bees, songs of the birds …etc.). However, it is only in human
language that all the design features are combined. In what follows, we will define 12 of these
characteristics of human language.

A- The vocal-auditory channel

The most typical way of sending messages between human beings is through the
speaker’s mouth and the hearer’s ear. In other words, humans use the vocal-auditory channel
which is different from using gestures (the visual channel) or the dancing of the bees for
example.

This feature is very important because it helps humans to communicate at anytime (at
midnight/ at midday) and anywhere (far /close to the hearer). Hence, the use of the vocal-
auditory channel shows that language is efficient in the sense that humans can communicate
without obstacles like darkness. This kind of transmission facilitates the diffusion of the
symbols.
 B- Interchangeability
A speaker of a language has the capacity to reproduce any linguistic message s/he can
understand. In this sense, A (the speaker) can become B (the hearer) and vice versa. However,
during the mating season, the courtship motions of the male and the female of some animals
are different from each other, and neither can act out the movements and the motions
appropriate to the other. Besides, certain communications in the animal world are performed
only by one gender; for example, bee dancing is only performed by worker bees which are
female.

Interchangeability shows that human language is flexible since humans have the faculty
to adapt themselves to new situations. Animal system of communication is, however, static
and stable.

C- Semanticity
Semanticity is a design feature which refers to the existence of associative ties

between a word in a language and the thing it refers to in the world outside. For instance,
when we say in English: “Give me your pen”, we generally get what we ask for because the
English word “pen” means pen and not pencil or marker.

Semanticity is a feature which is common to all the systems of communication since to

communicate is basically to send messages that are meaningful in order to reach mutual
understanding.

D- Arbitrariness

Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the relation between words in language and the
things they refer to in the world outside is arbitrary and a matter of convention. There is
nothing in the physical appearance of the window which suggests its meaning. The same
object is called fenêtre in French, ventana in Spanish and janela in Portuguese. With the
exception of a small number of “imitative” words called onomatopoeic words which exist in
every language (e.g. crash, buzz, splash …etc.),no necessary ties exist between the physical
form of a word and what it signifies.

Animal system of communication is natural or instinctive. Animals cannot meet and

make a convention about their system of communication.
 Arbitrariness is a very important design feature. Because of the conventional nature of the
connection between the word and the thing it refers to, there is no limit to the words in
language and hence no limit to what humans can talk about.

E- Prevarication

Human beings have the capacity to use language to lie or to talk nonsense. In this sense,
language is not used only to serve its primary function which is to communicate about
something true and meaningful. Humans can deliberately send messages that are meaningless
or that do not reflect reality.

Prevarication is specific to human language since animals communicate about their

immediate needs only.

F- Displacement

Human beings can use language to talk about things that are remote in time and place.
Only humans have the faculty to send messages pertaining to the past, the present and the
future and to near or far places. One can say:

I visited Quebec 3 years ago and I intend to visit Ottawa during summer holiday.

As such, we can consider that language is “context-free” in the sense that humans can refer
to experiences that they have not actually lived and to events that are not happening at the
time and place of speaking. Humans have, therefore, the capacity to tell stories, make plans or
imagine events. By using language, they can manipulate both temporal and spatial distance.

Animal system of communication is context-bound. It is related to here and now. Animals

communicate about their immediate needs only. They do not have the faculty to meet the
needs of new situations. As such, we can consider that unlike human language which is
flexible, animal system of communication is static and rigid. However, we could look at bee
communication as a small exception because it seems to have some version of displacement.
When a honeybee finds a source of nectar and returns to the beehive, it can perform a dance
routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the type of
dance (round dance for nearby and the figure-of-eight dance for further away), the other bees
can work out where this newly discovered feast can be found. This system of communication
is, nevertheless, a limited type because it doesn’t have the range of possibilities found in
human language.
 G- Reflexiveness

Human beings have the capacity to use language to talk about language (to define it or to
describe it). For example, we can say: Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of language
Reflexiveness is an important design feature. Thanks to it, the code can analyze itself.

Animal system of communication does not possess the faculty to reflect upon itself. It is
used to communicate about their immediate needs only.

H- Learnability

Human beings have the capacity to acquire their mother tongue and learn other languages
as well as. This faculty is not shared by other living creatures.

Learnability is an important design feature. It provides the users with the capacity to
enrich their linguistic background and to switch from one code to another in specific
situations.

I- Cultural transmission

The process whereby a language is passed on from one generation to another –from the
generation of the adults to that of the youngsters- is described as cultural transmission. We
acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.
It is clear that humans are born with some kind of predisposition to acquire language in a
general sense. However, we are not born with the ability to produce utterances in a specific
language such as English. We acquire our first language as children in a culture.
Because language is culturally transmitted, humans can learn through experience to adapt
themselves to new situations and to survive.
Unlike human language which is transmitted from one culture to another, animal system
of communication is inborn, instinctive and innate.