Assumptions and Approaches of Linguistics
By Shaozhong Liu
Guangxi Normal University, China
2.3 To put it in your own words and in one sentence:
Defining language
How we understand and define language will largely determine how we are
to teach and learn it. And how we are to teach and learn it
will largely affect how well we can use it.
2.3.1 What is language?
This sounds like a naive question. Naive, because we used to taking things for granted.
Our initial survey of “Ni chi guo le?” resulted in 16 answers. And similarly, our
experiences reveal that given the question “What is linguistics?”, we are likely to
encounter two kinds of situations. First, laymen do not even know how to give a
definition. Second, professionals try to define it from their own point of view, hence
none is satisfied with the other’s definition.
So it is very necessary for us to raise and answer the question “What is language?” in
a serious and systematic manner.
2.3.2 Laymen’s definitions
----Language is a what we do things with.
----Language is what I think with.
----Language is used for communication.
----Language is what I speak with.
----Language is what I write with.
….
2.3.3 Pedagogical definition of “language”
----Language is a medium of knowledge.
----Language is a medium of learning.
----Language is part of one’s cultural quality.
----Language is part of the many requirements for a future citizen.
----Language is an element of quality education.
….
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2.3.3. Lexicographical definition
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The word ‘language’ means differently in different contexts:
Language means what a person says or said. E.g.: What he says sounds
reasonable enough, but he expressed himself in such bad language that many
people misunderstood him. (= concrete act of speaking in a given situation)
A consistent way of speaking or writing. E.g.: Shakespeare’s language,
Faulkner’s language (= the whole of a person’s language; an individual’s
personal dialect called idiolect（个人方言）
A particular variety or level of speech or writing. E.g.: scientific language,
language for specific purposes, English for specific purposes, trade language,
formal language, colloquial language, computer language.
The abstract system underlying the totality of the speech / writing behavior of a
community. It includes everything in a language system (its pronunciation,
vocabulary, grammar, writing, E.g.: the English language, the Chinese language,
children’s language, second language. Do you know French?
The common features of all human languages, or t be more exact, the defining
feature of human language behavior as contrasted with animal language systems
of communication, or any artificial language. E.g.: He studies language. (= He
studies the universal properties of all speech / writing systems, not just one
particular language.)
2.3.4 Linguists’ responses
 Hence, there have been dozens of definitions. We’d like to cite some here.
----Language, as well as the faculty of speech, was the immediate gift of God. (Noah
Webster, American Dictionary, 1828)
----Language is the highest and most amazing achievement of the symbolistic human
mind. The power it bestows is almost inestimable, for without it anything properly
called “thought” is impossible. The birth of language is the dawn of humanity. The
line between man and beast—between the highest ape and the lowest savage—is the
language line. Whether the primitive Neanderthal man was anthropoid or human
depends less on his cranial capacity, his upright posture, or even his use of tools and
fire, than on one issue we shall probably never be able to settle—whether or not he
spoke. (Susanne K. Langer, “The Lord of Creation,” Fortune, January, 1944)
----In his whole life man achieves nothing so great and so wonderful as what he
achieved when he learnt to talk. (Ascribed to “a Danish philosopher” in Otto
Jespersen, Language, 1922)
----Most people, asked if they can think without speech, would probably answer, “Yes,
but it is not easy for me to do so. Still I know it can be done.” Language is but a
garment! But what if language is not so much a garment as a prepared road or groove?
It is, indeed, in the highest degree likely that language is an instrument originally put
to uses lower than the conceptual plane and that thought arises as a refined
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interpretation of its content. The product grows, in other words, with the instrument,
and thought may be no more conceivable, in its genesis and daily practice, without
speech than is mathematical reasoning practicable without the lever of an
appropriate mathematical symbolism. (Edward Sapir, Language, 1921)
----Language, in its most important and characteristic aspect, is the reverse of what it
is generally supposed to be. Instead of consisting of a bundle of labels which name the
thing to which they are attached; and these things, like all else in the world, are
forever changing, and with them changes the meaning of the labels. (A. S. Diamond,
The History ad Origin of Language, 1959)
---- Language is cognition.
----Language is what we perceive things with.
----Language is our minds.
….
2.3.5 Assessing definitions
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Language is a tool for human communication.
Yes: it is for communication, and this tells the instrumental aspect or function of
language.
No: it doe snot say anything about the defining features or properties of language,
and it does not exclude many other systems (secret codes, traffic signals, for
example) performing the same function.
Implications: Communication is basically verbal; and teaching means to teach
speaking and fluency is the ultimate goal.
Language is a set of rules.
Yes: it is true that language contains rules
No: it says nothing about the function of language, it does not exclude the other
systems containing rules
Implications: Teaching means to impart grammatical rules; and learning a
language is for the sake of learning it (knowing as much knowledge as possible)
2.3.6 Recommended definitions
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语言是人类特有的一种符号系统，当它作用于人与人的关系的时候，它是表
达相互反应的中介；当它作用于人和客观世界的关系的时候，它是认知事物
的工具；当它作用于文化的时候，它是文化信息的载体和容器。“早上好！”‘“你
说的有理。”是语言作为相互反应的中介的例子；概括与分类、假设与结论，
是应用语言作为认知事物的工具的例子；讲演、著作、信息库，是语言作为
信息的载体和容器的例子。（许国璋，《论语言》，1991, p.1）
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Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
(This is a definition that linguists seem to be in broad agreement about, because
this definition reflects some of the important characteristics of human language)
Yes: This definition does not appear to be very original at first sight, but each
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word in it has been chosen with great care to capture an important aspect of
language.
 system: language must be a system, since elements in it are arranged according
to certain rules; they can’t be combined at will or deliberately; they can’t be learned
by parts; they must be studied through fragments and facts, rather than the system
which is a relative and abstract concept that represents the totality of parts, but which
does not come before the parts are thoroughly examined and understood. If language
were not systematic, it could not be learned or used consistently. For instance, we
don’t hear people say the following in English:
* bkli (as a possible word)
* He table a green (as an acceptable sentence)
 arbitrary: Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no intrinsic connection
between the word pen and the thing we use to write with. The fact that different
languages have different words for it (+pen) speak strongly for the arbitrary nature of
language. E.g.: bi (笔) in Chinese, plume (crayon) in French, plumo in Esperanto.
 symbolic: The symbolic nature of language means that words are associated
with objects, actions, ideas by convention. Or what we can read from between the
lines are only literal messages, and utterance meanings should be inferred from
contexts. E.g.: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet (Shakespeare: Romeo
and Juliet)
 vocalic: By this it is meant that language has the primary medium in sound no
matter how well developed are their writing systems. (1) All evidence shows that
writing systems came much later than the spoken forms and that they are only
attempts to capture sounds and meaning on paper. 2)The fact that children acquire
spoken language first before they can read or write also indicates that language is
primarily vocal.)
 human: language is human-specific, very different from the communication
systems other forms of life, such as bird song and animal cries, possess.
2.3.7 Significance in forming a self definition
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The purpose of scientific research is to perceive the underlying laws, adapt to and
change the world. How can we possibly actualize the ultimate goal? We have to
understand who we are, what capacity we have, and how we might utilize and
enrich our capacity for that purpose. This is an other-and-self relationship. It’s
paradoxical that we have to, or we are proving this, that we depend on a
preliminary understanding of other in order to see self. The study of language
serves this direction.
It is a fact that we fail to provide ready answers for things or events at hand. Here
are two examples: Air is around us, no matter where we are and wherever we go.
Without air, we will not survive. However, the importance of air is not felt
because we do survive. I think if air is in want or it is polluted we are easily feel
the change of it. And in accordance we begin to revolt and do something to
maintain it.
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The same thing is true about our language. Just as air is all around us, we
live in a world of words. Hardly any moment passes without someone talking,
writing, or reading. Indeed, language is most essential to mankind.
What is more, the significance of language becomes all the more evident
with the raise of civilization. 1) Students are taught to learn another language
apart from his own native tongue. That is why it is true in saying that none of us
nowadays is merely a monolingual speaker. In other words, we are most
bilingual speakers while polyglots are found very often among our pals
(Larry-Smith, 1997). 2) Even machines are ‘learning’ to use human language in
order to facilitate or boost social development.
Unfortunately, we are not able to explain many things about our language,
not to say to give ready answers for it. For example, we do not for sure how we
acquire language and how it is possible for us to perceive through language, nor
do we understand precisely the relationships between language and thought,
language and logic, or language and culture. Still less do we know how language
originated.
One reason for our inadequate knowledge of language is that we as
language users take too many things for granted. Language comes to every
normal person so naturally that few of us need to stop and question what
language is, much less do we feel the necessity to study it. As we shall see as our
course goes on, language is far more complex than most people have probably
imagined and the necessity to study it is far greater than some people may have
assumed.
A knowledge of things usually well suggests how we approach them. It is exactly
the same thing, for instance, in language teaching and learning. How we
understand language largely determines how we are to teach and learn it. It is
imperative for language teachers to formulate, upgrade and update their own
philosophy about language. It is never too much to emphasis the in-depth
comprehension about the nature of language.
2.3.8 Conclusions
The definition, the design features and functions of language all strongly imply that
We must try to benefit from what we are capable of by language, and proceed with
our practices (in teaching, learning, and research) in line with our findings about
language. The new curriculum reform in China’s foundational education, for instance,
is advocating lots of ideas. We need to provide theoretical supports as well as
experimental outcomes.
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