Moderd Languages

1. Outlines:
 Defining language
 Defining function
 Language function processing
 Proponents of language functions
 Aspects of language functions
a) General or micro
b) Meta or macro
 Conclusion

2. Defining language:
 An abstract system of symbols and meanings.
 Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of
voluntarily produced symbols.(Sapir)
 The method of human communication, either spoken or
written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and
conventional way

3. Defining function:
 The word function is often used in different senses in the
literature of linguistics:
 In sociological studies of language, function is often used to
refer to the role language plays in society.
 In ethnography, scholars use function to refer to the specific
uses of language.
 In systemic-functional linguistics, functions of language are
highly generalized categories of meaning which simultaneously
underlie an utterance

4. Language function processing:
 Language function is processed socially when individuals make
use of their tongue for interaction.
 Biologically much of the language function is processed in
several association areas, and there are two well-identified areas
that are considered vital for human communication:
 Wernicke area
 Broca area

5. Proponents of language functions:
 In the history of linguistics we find many renowned personalities
who worked on language functions but some of the prominent
are:
a) Roman Jakobson
b) Bronislaw Malinowski
c) Micheal Halliday
d) Finch

6. Aspects of language functions:
 We can study language functions in two aspects:
1. General or micro aspects
2. Meta or macro aspects
1. General or micro aspects:
 Refer to the particular individual uses of language in a society. Finch (1998)
lists seven general (micro) functions:
 a) Physiological
 b) Phatic
 c) Recording
 d) Identifying

7. e) Reasoning
f) Communicating
g) Pleasure
a) Physiological
 Emotive or expressive function
 Releasing physical and nervous energy
 Such as our expression of fear and affection, surprise or our
involuntary verbal reactions to beautiful things.
 According to Finch instructions allow us to release inner feelings
 A great deal of so-called 'bad language' or swearing fulfills this
function

8. b) Phatic function:
 Coined from Malinowski
 Express our willingness to be sociable
 Helps us negotiate the start and end of exchanges whether in spoken
or written form

9. c) Recording function:
 Denotes using language to make a durable record of things that ought
to be remembered.
 The most significant function behind the development of language
from being an oral medium to becoming a written one.
 It might be a short-term record, as in a shopping list or a list of things
to do, or a long-term record, as in a diary or history of some kind

10. d) Identifying function:
 Allows us to identify an enormous array of objects and events with
considerable precision
 Quick and accurate reference
 Helpful in proper arrangements
 We use names to classify different types of things, whether we call a
car an automobile, a lorry, a van or a truck makes a big difference.

11. e) Reasoning function
 A tool of thought
 Before we say something we think and to do that we necessarily
use language.
 Speaking and writing comes from thought
 Reasoning may vary in connotations e.g., "black" may be
associated with evil and death, and "white" with purity and
goodness

12. f) Communicating function
 Referential or prepositional function
 We use language to express ourselves to others
 We also need language in order to understand what they are
communicating to us
 Requesting, apologizing, informing, ordering as well as promising
and refusing are all reasons for communicating our ideas.

13. g) Pleasure functions
 Language allows us to derive pleasure from it.
 A large part of the pleasure we derive from language comes from
the successful exploitation of linguistic novelty at different levels
of the language
 For example language often gives pleasure both to the speakers
and listeners supported by the frequent use of assonance,
alliteration and onomatopoeia in poetry.

14. 2: Meta or macro aspects:
 The term metafunction originates in systemic functional linguistics
and is considered to be a property of all languages.
 A function which is capable of describing one or more other functions.
 Michael Halliday, the founder of systemic functional linguistics, calls
these three functions:
 a) ideational
 b) interpersonal
 c) textual

15. a) Ideational function:
 The content function of language and allows us to conceptualize
the world for our own benefit and that of others
 Language as a cording system which deals with the relation
between man and nature
 The ideational function is further divided into:
1) experiential
2) logical

16. 1) Experiential function:
 The experiential function refers to the grammatical choices that
enable speakers to make meanings about the world around us and
inside us
 It is through this process of humans making meaning from
experience that language evolved
 For example when we watch small children interacting with the
objects around them we can see that they are using language to
construe a theoretical model of their experience

17. 2) Logical function:
 Those systems which set up logical–semantic relationships
between one clausal unit and another.
 When two clauses are combined, a speaker chooses whether to
give both clauses equal status, or to make one dependent on the
other.
 In addition, a speaker choose some meaning relation in the
process of joining or binding clauses together

18. b) Interpersonal function:
 It is the participatory function of language
 language servers as a medium between individuals
 we use language to interact with others, to establish and
maintain relations with them, to please them, to anger them, and
influence their behavior, to get their help or sympathy

19. c) Textual function:
 The relation of language to the verbal and nonverbal situational
environment
 When language is in use, playing the the previous two
metafunctions, it naturally forms a text
 Language as a system organizes messages in a unified manner so
that chunks of messages fit logically with others around them
and with the wider context in which the talking or writing takes
place

20. Conclusion:
 Functions of Language is an international journal of linguistics
which explores the functionalist perspective on the organization and
use of natural language.
 Language affords human beings the ability to communicate
anything they can imagine. As a tool, language is infinitely flexible
and can be put to multiple purposes.
 Functions of Language promotes the constructive interaction
between linguistics and such neighboring disciplines as sociology,
cultural studies, psychology, ethology, communication studies,
translation theory and educational linguistics.