The Functions of Language

The Functions of Language- Intentional and Unintentional Communication EDL 1201 Linguistics for the Language Teacher

Discussions about the functions of language • Chomsky says it is what might be called as the ‘human essence’. • Corder states that ‘too complex to be defined’ • Cook states it as ‘the heart of human life’ • Poole defines it as “the faculty for communication by speech sounds, is a universal characteristic of the human race’

Many linguists have defined it as: • - by which man communicates • - a system of communication • - for the purposes of communication and many others which serves the many needs of humans.

What are the functions of language? • To communicate • To maintain good or bad relations with others (make small talk/ negative functions) • To entertain (amusing ourselves & others) • To inform/ passing on information (Trask & Mayblin 2002)

Language as means of Communication • Pit Corder states that we have to make a distinction between ‘intentional’ and ‘unintentional ‘ communication in order to understand what language is in communication. • Intentional comm. • Unintentional comm.

Intentional comm. • That is to convey messages through speech acts, or non speech acts. • There is the intent to really pass on some information, like giving a speech, a lecture, a talk, or merely talking to others. • Walking, for instance, can be termed as communicating intentionally. How? • “She flounced out off the room and slammed the door.”

Unintentional comm. • Corder gives the example of – if we see a friend walking - unobserved by him, within fairly broad limits, we may be able to draw some conclusions about him. About what? • His walk tells us something about him– his state of mind or health, for instance. • But, no one would suggest that he is walking that way, in order to communicate with us?? • What does this tell us?

unintentional comm.2 All our behaviour, in some measure is communicative – receiver learns smthg, even tho the sender has no speific intention to comm. • So, as to conclude – behaviour is informative and communicative.

Unintentional comm3 • As we can tell someone from her walk, we can as well gain info from someone’s else voice. We can infer certain things from a person’s voice. • By the tone of voice – we can tell if a person is excited, angry, or tired. • What about disguising one’s voice? – to mislead? • Conclusion – all human behaviour can be informative, and can be a mode of communication.

So, the distinction? • The distinction between intentional and unintentional communication lies in the sender’s mind. • The distinction between ‘being informed’ and ‘not being informed’ lies in the receiver’s mind.

2nd distinction? • Is between linguistic and non linguistic communication • Trying to establish communication with a friend. • Linguistically – one may wave and then say “Hey Bob, come here a moment.” • Non-linguistically – making an ill articulated sound and then some actions, which in convention is agreeable to both sender and receiver, means the same as above.

Is there a distinction? • linguists state that the distinction is unclear • Writing is also linguistically communicative and intentional, but it is not verbal • We use ‘coughs’, ‘shouts’, ‘yawns’ and a wide range of other vocal signals, but few linguists would regard that as ‘linguistic’. • But what all linguists agree on, is the presence of the human cognitive aspect.

Communication and Meaning • Humans can communicate intentionally by other than linguistic means. • – our posture, walk, tone of voice, gesture, our manner of walking, dressing and eating can mean something to others. • But, it has to have the conventional element to it to be accepted and understood by others. • Eg – behaviour like – ‘liking someone’, ‘angry’, other emotions. (how do show disliking, envy, etc.)

Humans live in a society, and there are behaviours that we learned in our society and acceptable and understood specifically in that society group. This is what it means by having a conventional element in it. • For example- a tired walk: there is an accepted way of walking which means tired. • What about ‘like’? or ‘embarrassed’? ‘shy’? – probably all our behavior has a conventional element in them.

Behaviour to communicate • Any deliberate manipulation of bodily behaviour is called ‘paralinguistics’. • These includes – gestures, posture, facial expressions, and the tempo, pitch, and quality of speech. • Exploiting both speech and paralinguistics would mean a clearer communication can be established.

What is communicated? • Traditionally it is ‘Thought’, or ‘expressing our thoughts’.. • But that is not its only function. Language can be used to communicate beliefs, opinions or perceptions, small talk, etc. • However, a bit of language cannot be taken out of context, in isolation from the situation and context it is made. Eg. “I love you.” – means so many things if taken out of context, can be misunderstood.

Further readings • Finegan, Chapt 1, pp. 18-31 • Read also on the ‘properties of the human language’.

The Functions of Language - Intentional and Unintentional Communication