definition of language according to edward sapir

(For some undisclosed reason, I managed to read the introductory chapter of “Introduction to linguistics” by Stuart C.Poole. On one hand, its interesting that we use some language or the other and still can’t be unanimous about some definition of “what are the features of language?”. It was both interesting and amusing to read through these various definitions of language. Another linguist John Lyons points out that: Language is both instinctive and non-instinctive 🙂 To me, this one appears the most incomplete…and the one by Sapir looks too simplistic definition, although you are welcome to blast me for my ignorance 🙂Īnd now, there is this thing about “non-instinctivity” of Sapir. “The discussion may be summarized by referring to language as human vocal noise (or the graphic representation of this noise in writing) used systematically and conventionally by a community for the purposes of communication” “Language is purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.”Ī more modern definition by David Crystal goes like this:

It was interesting to see the contrast with other “languages” like “bee language”.Īnother 1920s definition by Edward Sapir goes like this: They are:Ģ) Broadcast transmission and directional receptionģ) Rapid fading (and, Rapid firing too, in my view!)Īlthough looking at them as single words might make this look like a bunch of contradicting features, the explanations on the Wiki page (atleast to me), made things clearer. Okay, now, only human, spoken language satisfies all the 13 features. On arriving at his wiki page, I was surprised, amused and whatever…seeing those 13 design features for a language. I was reading the preface of a Linguistics Intro book and found a mention of Charles Hockett’s definition. Now, I began fooling around with this aim to know the answer for “What is language?”.

I tried with Korada Mahadeva Sastri’s book on Telugu grammar (Which was written for German learners of Telugu!), and gave up on the grounds that native speakers should not learn from such books written for foreigners ). By some “divine” intervention, I decided to know more about Linguistics, Language, Grammar etc in the past few weeks.

Definition of language according to edward sapir