INTRODUCTION
B Y: M R S . J O B E N E I G H G A R C I A - A P D U H A N
INST RUCTOR
Nature of Language
•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. (Brittanica, 2020)
•Human Capacity
Do animals use language?
•Animals are said to be able to communicate with each other.
•Whales sing, wolves howl, dogs bark, and birds chirp.
•The sounds theses creatures produce often reflect the state of their
emotions.
•Animals communicate, but only humans use language.
What is Language?
•Linguists agree that a language can only be called a language if it has a
system of rules (grammar), a sound system (phonology), and a vocabulary
(lexicon).
Speech Community
•When people use language, they can understand each other because they belong to
the same speech community.
•They can understand each other because in their speech community, pople share
the same set of rules in the language system.
Language Acquisition
•First language acquisition refers to the way children learn their native
language/ mother tongue.
•While growing up, people acquire the languages used by those in the
community.
•First Language
Second Language
•A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native
language of the speaker, but is learned later. A speaker's dominant language,
which is the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not
necessarily the speaker's first language. The second language can also be
the dominant one.
•People learn this languages by studying formally in school or informally on
their own.
Language Learning
•It is the process of acquiring and learning a certain language.
Humans +
Language
Understanding
Same Speech
Community
Share same
set of rules in
the language
system
Language
Acquisition
First Language
Second
Langauge
Language Contact
•What happens if you, for example, who speaks a mother tongue and English,
go to work in China where the residents speak Mandarin and a little bit of
English? Will you be able to communicate with the Chinese?
•YES!
•It will be a challenge for you and your Chinese friends to try to understand
each other, eventually you will be able to communicate as you slowly learn
each other’s language.
Language Change
•The result of such contact may be a new form of language.
•It is possible that in your attempt to communicate with each other,
you and your Chinese friends will produce a new language form
that is understandable to both of you.
•Your own language may also change as you constantly interact
and communicate with each other.