3.1 Re-cap of existing studies on the nature of language
In section 1, we identified six core features of language which appeared to distinguish it as a uniquely human system of communication: Arbitrariness, Discreteness, Displacement, Productivity, Cultural Transmission and Duality of Patterning. In section 2, we identified three main components of language: a store of signals, rules for structuring these signals, and communally-agreed upon interpretations of these signals.
In this section, we put forward our own analysis of human language, which attempts to relate these two existing perspectives, in order explain how the structure of language components gives rise to such perceived features.
3.2 System: Two basic rule sets – Duality of Patterning
Firstly, every spoken language is made up of a set of speech sounds called phonemes. These phonemes, follow a set of systematic and language-specific rules, combine to form meaningful units called morphemes. These morphemes, in turn, follow another set of systematic and language-specific rules for combining into individuated words and sentences.
In other words, we can distinguish between two sets systematic rules at an abstract level, which in terms of Fitch’s componential view would be a distinction between the rules for structuring individually meaningless language signals directly versus the rules for structuring meaningful groups of language signals. Consequently, this helps explain the core feature of duality of patterning in natural languages.
3.2.1 Linguistic signs – Arbitrariness
Secondly, it is crucial to note that the first set of structuring rules which combine speech sounds into meaningful units are not semantically motivated. This is to say there is no logical relationship between, for example, English’s combination of the phonemes [d], [ɔ] and [g], to form the morpheme dog, and the idea of the specific animal it represents. Consequently, this gives rise to the core language feature of arbitrariness.
Arbitrariness is crucial in the human language because it frees up the communication system. Because it is not a must for word form to have a correlation to the meanings that they imply, this makes it much convenient for words to refer to abstract concepts. It would be difficult to restrict the form of signals to just the correlation between a symbol and an abstract meaning (Kuthy, 2001).
3.1.2 Linguistic structure – Discreteness
Thirdly, and contrastingly, the second set of structuring rules which combine groups of morphemes into words and sentences are semantically motivated. This is to say each language has a particular logic for combining such morphemes, so that its users are able to immediately figure out what each word, phrase or sentence specifically means, based on how the various morphemes are ordered. Accordingly, the fact that although language occurs as streams of continuous sounds or gestures, it can be analysed as individual units of meaning that are structured in systematic language-specific ways, helps to explain the core language feature of discreteness.
3.1.3 Linguistic semiotics – Displacement and Productivity
Fourthly, the co-working of these two sets of structuring rules helps language users communicate ideas about things which are not physically or temporally present, and indeed anything thing that they can clearly conceptualise. This is because at the fundamental level of sign, to use Fitch’s componential view, there is no inherent relationship between the signals of a language and the ideas they can represent, there is no restriction on the things that language users can communicate about – which helps explain the core language feature of displacement. Similarly, because morphemes can be further combined in various ways to form more complex meanings, and the number of possible combinations are practically infinite, languages can continue to expand the number of ideas within their communicative scope – which helps explains the core language feature of productivity.
3.2 Environment: Cultural Transmission
Fifthly, as a system of human communication, language is also a cultural tool. Accordingly, different human communities, living in different geographical areas, develop different cultures, of which their respective languages are part of. Further, according to Maynard Smith and Szathmary (1997), language is unique in being both part of human culture and a system for transmitting cultural information as well. Consequently, this helps explains the core language feature of cultural transmission, since humans need to acquire their native language from the communities they were born in – rare cases of children (e.g. the case of Genie) without such community support do not ever fully acquire language subsequently.
Children can learn from parents, human beings transmit their language down from one generation to another. A child brought up in isolation does not acquire language but birds reared in isolation still sing songs, although in very impoverished forms. (Chan, 2013)