3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. d) Identifying
e) Reasoning
f) Communicating
g) Pleasure
a) Physiological
• Emotive or expressive function
• Releasing physical and nervous energy
9. • 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.
10. b) Phatic function:
• coined from Marlinowski
• express our willingness to be sociable
• helps us negotiate the start and end of exchanges
whether in spoken or written form
11. 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
12. 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 anautomobile,
a lorry, a van or a truck makes a big
difference.
13. 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
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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.
