NATURE OF

LANGUAGE
Mirjam Nilsson
Linguistic Approaches

Formalism Functionalism
- Primarily concerned with the - Emphasizes the use of language in
abstract structures of language, such as social contexts and how language
syntax, semantics, and phonology. functions to achieve communication.
- Emphasizes the rules and principles - Investigates how language is shaped
that govern the formation of sentences by its role in society, culture, and
and the relationships between words. interaction.

Presentation title 2
 A. Language is Arbitrary
- There is no inherent relation between the
words of a language and their meaning
B. Language is Social
- it is a set of conventional communicative
signals used by humans for communication in a
community
Nature of C. Language is Innate
- The presence of the language acquisition
Language device (LAD) in the human brain predisposes all normal
children to acquire their first language in an amazing
short time, around five years since birth.
D. Language is Systematic
- is not a disorganized or a chaotic combination
of sounds. Sounds are arranged in certain fixed or
established, systematic order to form meaningful units or
words.

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 Language is Vocal
- it is primarily made up of vocal sounds only
produced by a physiological articulatory mechanism in
the human body. The primary medium of language is
speech; the written record is but a secondary
representation of the language. Therefore, it is assumed
that speech has a priority in language teaching.
Language is universal.
Nature of
- It is universal in the sense that all normal
Language children the world over acquire a mother tongue but it is
also universal in the sense that, at a highly abstract level,
all languages must share key features of human languages,
such as all languages have sounds; all languages have rules
that form sounds into words, words into phrases and
clauses; and all languages have transformation rules that
enable speakers to ask questions, negate sentences, issue
orders, defocus the doer of the action, etc.

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 Language is Non-instinctive:
- No language was created in a day out of a
mutually agreed upon formula by a group of humans.
Language is the outcome of evolution and convention.
Each generation transmits this convention on to the next.
Like all human institutions languages also change and die,
grow and expand. Every language then is a convention in
a community. It is non-instinctive because it is acquired
Nature of by human beings. Nobody gets a language in heritage; he
acquires it because he an innate ability.
Language Language is Dynamic:
- The structural elements of human language
can be combined to produce new utterances, which
neither the speaker nor his hearers may ever have made
or heard before any, listener, yet which both sides
understand without difficulty. Language changes
according to the needs of society.

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 1. Pidgin - A pidgin is a new language which develops in
situations where speakers of different languages need
to communicate but don't share a common language.
2. Creole - creole is a pidgin language that has become
the native language of the children of adult pidgin
speakers. Unlike the simplified pidgins, creoles are
syntactically rich and complete languages.
3. Regional dialect - a variety of a language spoken in a
Varieties of particular area of a country. Some regional dialects
have been given traditional names which mark them
Language out as being significantly different from standard
varieties spoken in the same place.
4. Indigenized variety - spoken mainly as second languages
in ex-colonies with multilingual populations. The
differences from the standard variety may be linked to
English proficiency, or may be part of a range of
varieties used to express identity.

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 LANGUAGE POLICY

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A language policy is a body of ideas,
laws, regulations, rules and practices
intended to achieve the planned
language change enacted by an Language
authoritative body (like the
government) in the societies, group Policy
or system. (Kaplan and Baldauf,
1997)

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Types of Language Policies

Top-down Bottom-up

Macro-level policy developed by some Micro-level or grassroots generated policy for

Origin
governing or authoritative body or person and by the community that it impacts

Overt – openly written or spoken policy Covert - they operate in a less formal and
Means and Goals
text explicit manner

Documentation Explicit (Official) Implicit (unofficial)

Implementation De jure De facto

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 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE POLICY AS
CHOICE AND THE FACTOR WHICH AFFECT IT

According to Spolsky (2013), language policy is about choice in the following

areas:
• It may be the choice of a specific sound, or expression, or of a specific variety
of language.
• It may be the choice regularly made by an individual, or a socially defined group
of individuals, or a body with authority over a defined group of individuals.
• It may be made explicit in the formal language management or planning
decisions of an authorized body.

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Course Work 1

When teaching language, how can we best balance

functionalist and formalist approaches? Provide an
example scenario requiring a formalist approach to
language teaching and another requiring a functionalist
approach.

Presentation title 11
Multilingualism in
Education
 BASIC CONCEPTS OF MULTILINGUALISM
• According to Aronin and Singleton (2019), multilinguals can be speakers of a
minority indigenous language who need to learn the dominant state language.
• Several factors have contributed to the current visibility of multilingualism.
Aronin and Singleton (2008) reported seven distinctions which can be clustered
into three main areas:
- Geographical
- Social
- Medium
Sociolinguistic typologies of
languages related to language functions
First languages
➢acquired in early years and normally become the speakers natural
instrument of thought and communication
Second languages
➢are acquired or learned at a later stage in life for commercial or other
purposes, often through formal education
Majority language
• one which has a much higher number of speakers than neighboring
languages have
• Often speakers of majority languages are socio-politically and
sometimes economically more powerful than speakers of minority
languages
• majority languages readily function as dominant languages or lingua
franca in situations of horizontal language barriers
Sociolinguistic typologies of
languages related to language functions
Minor or minority languages
• are also judged by number of speakers
• usually they are not used for inter-group communication and are,
therefore, seldom learned by others as second language
Special-purpose languages
• are usually second or foreign languages for some special purposes
and largely restricted in use for religious and/or educational
purposes like
National languages
• a declaration of a language as the national language of a country is
an acknowledgment of the languages symbolic importance to the
country as a whole
Sociolinguistic typologies of
languages related to language functions
Official languages
• simply a language which may be used for government
business/administration, or 5the language reserved for all official
functions in a country
Mother tongue (MT)
• First language or native language (also known as L1, home
language, or local language)
• Language that a person: (a) has learnt first; (b) identifies with or is
identified as a native speaker of by others; (c) knows best; or (d)
uses most
Unwritten language
• Language that is spoken, but not yet used for reading/writing
Sociolinguistic typologies of
languages related to language functions
Lingua franca
• a language of wider communication (LWC)
• used to facilitate communication among speakers of different
languages (Brown and Attardo,2005)
• the dominant language used in inter-group encounters in
most domains, such as in the market, at public places, in the
mass media
• habitually used by many non-native speakers for inter-group
communication
UNESCO’s Multilingualism Advocacy Kit (2017)
UNESCO’s Multilingualism Advocacy Kit (2017)
UNESCO’s Multilingualism Advocacy Kit (2017)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)
Types of Bilingual Education (Baker 2001)