LANGUAGE AND
COMMUNICATION
and THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
OVERVIEW
• Language – from Latin word lingua, which
means tongue, speech or language.
• Communication – from Latin word
communis, which means ‘commons’.
• To be common means “to come together” or
“to commune”- “to share something in
common”.
LANGUAGE
The Definition of Language
• Language is a distinctly human activity that aids in the
transmission of feelings and thoughts from one person
to another through sounds and/or symbols, signs,
posture, and gestures that convey a certain meaning.
The Definition of Language
• Language is a speech sound produced by human beings in
order to express their ideas, emotions, thoughts, desires and
feelings. – Aristotle
• Language is the inherent trait of the native speakers to
understand and form grammatical sentences. A language is a
set of sentences, each finite length and constructed out of a
finite set of elements. – Noah Chomsky
THE
NATURE OF
LANGUAGE
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
1. Language is a combination of sounds arranged to form meaningful units or
words.
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
2. Language follows a grammatical structure.
• Meaning and sentence structure
• Information structure
3. Language is based on aural and oral system.
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
4. Language can die and or be extinct.
• Changing of societal needs
• Erosion of old customs
• Call for elegance
• Colonization
Examples are:
• Latin
• Sumerian
• Hebrew
• Sanskrit
• Aramaic
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
5. Language can be diverse.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF LANGUAGE
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
1. Language is arbitrary.
• in a sense that its rules are agreed upon by
a group of people
2. Language is dynamic.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
3. Language is social.
• set of conventional communicative
signals used by humans for
communication in a community
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
4. Language is symbolic.
• consists of various sound symbols and
their graphological counterparts to
denote objects, occurrences or meaning
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
5. Language is vocal and systematic.
• words arranged in a particular system
6. Language is non-instinctive and
conventional.
• the outcome of evolution and convention
CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE
7. Language is creative and productive.
COMMUNICATION
The Definition of Communication
• Communication is an act of interchanging ideas, information, or messages
from one person or place to another, via words or signs which are understood
to both parties.
• It is a two-way activity, consisting of seven major elements: sender, message,
encoding, channel, receiver, decoding, and feedback.
• A message is encoded then sent from one individual (sender) to another (receiver),
through a channel. That message is then decoded and given feedback, if communicated
effectively.
The Definition of Communication
• Context – the circumstance or environment in which communication takes
place.
• Physical or actual setting
• Value positions of a speaker/listener
• Relevance or appropriateness of the message conveyed
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
According to MODE
• Verbal
• Non-verbal
• Visual
• Written
According to CONTEXT
• Intrapersonal
• “within or inside”
• monologues, reflections, self-statement
• Interpersonal
• “between, among or together”
• greetings, dialogue, dyads, small groups
• Extended
• involves use of electronic media
• Skype calls, Zoom meetings
According to CONTEXT
• Organizational
• Focus on organizational contexts
• Company meetings
• Intercultural
• between or among people having
different linguistic, religious, ethnic,
social or professional backgrounds
According to PURPOSE and STYLE
• Formal
• employs formal language in written or oral
form
• lectures, public speeches, reports, business
letters
• Informal
• involves personal and ordinary conversations
• text messages, personal notes, letter, chats
Types of Interpersonal Communication
• Dyadic or face-to-face interaction
• conversation between two persons which usually occurs
in an informal interaction
• Small group
• occurs when each member or participant speaks out or
is actively participating in the process to come up with
a consensus
• Public Communication
• enlarged form of group communication that involves a
resource person addressing a specific audience
Types of Interpersonal Communication
• Mass Communication
• has highly structured messages and able to reach a
larger number of audiences at the same time through
the use of electronic devices or print media
• Technology-Mediated Communication
• from electronic emails, texting, instant messaging,
social networking, tweeting, blogs and video
conferencing
RECAP
Language vs. Communication: Key
Differences
• Language is a system of communication that relies on verbal or non-
verbal codes to transfer information. Communication is a way of
interchanging messages or information between two or more people,
focusing on the message.
• Language is a tool of communication. Communication is a process of
transferring messages.
• Language changes dynamically, as new words can be
created. Communication is considered static, as its basic steps
remain unchanged.
Language vs. Communication: Working
Together
• Communicating with others is a basic human need. Healthy living
involves interacting and engaging with others through shared
language.
• Language allows us to communicate in a variety of ways, but it is
only one set of tools in the larger scheme. Besides language, the
communication toolset is comprised of things like empathy,
knowledge, body language, facial expressions, and intonation.
Bibliography
Abainza, M. (2017, June 17). Language: Definition, Nature, and Characteristics. Retrieved from Slideshare:
[Link]
Communication comes from the latin word communis. (n.d.). Retrieved from CourseHero:
[Link]
ommons-To-be/
Language vs. Communication. (2020, January 27). Retrieved from ILSTranslations: [Link]
vs-communication-theyre-not-the-same-thing/
Naeem. (2010, December 16). Characteristics and Features of Language. Retrieved from Neoenglish:
[Link]
language/#:~:text=Language%20is%20human%20so%20it,%2C%20non%2Dinstinctive%20and%20conventional.
Purposive Communication. (2018).
Surbhi, S. (2016, October 24). Retrieved from [Link]
