Language: Definition, Nature, and Characteristics

LANGUAGE:DEFINITION, NATURE & CHARACTERISTICS

LANGUAGE CURRICULUM FOR SECONDARY

WHAT IS CURRICULUM?

Curriculum is a structured set of intended learning outcomes that come in the form of knowledge, skills and value; affected by important factors of program philosophy, goals, objectives, and evaluation.

WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.

Language is a system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other.

(merriam-webster.com)

Language is a system of communication, a medium for thought, and a social interaction.

WHAT ARE THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE?

NATURE

basic constitution of a person or thing

CHARACTERISTICS

A feature that helps to identify,  tell apart, or describe recognizably; a distinguishing mark or trait.

NATURE OF LANGUAGE

1

Language is a combination of sounds.

2

Words have meanings.

MEANING ARE IN PEOPLE NOT IN WORDS.

Because of this, you must not only consider your interpretation of the word, but also the meaning the communicator is trying to get through

Did you know that “set” is the word with the most

number of meanings?

Noun: 58

Verb: 126

Adjective: 10

3

Language follows a grammatical structure.

4

Language is based on aural and oral system.

5

Language can die and be extinct.

SOME REASONS FOR THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF LANGUAGE:

Changing societal needs

Erosion of old customs

Call for elegance

An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language".

EXAMPLE

Ancient Greek slowly evolved into modern Greek, and Latin slowly evolved into modern Italian

Yuchi (Euchee) is the language of the Yuchi people living in the southeastern United States, including eastern Tennessee, western Carolinas, northern Georgia and Alabama, in the period of early European colonization. However, speakers of the Yuchi language were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the early 19th century.

Sisters Maxine Wildcat Barnett (left) and Josephine Wildcat Bigler; two of the final surviving elderly speakers of Yuchi, visiting their grandmother’s grave in a cemetery behind Pickett Chapel in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. According to the sisters, their grandmother had insisted that Yuchi be their native language.

An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, or that is no longer in current use.

Dead languages are still known and used in special contexts in written form.

A dead language may remain in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Old Church Slavonic, Classical Armenian, Avestan, Coptic, Biblical Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Ge'ez, Ardhamagadhi, Pali, Sanskrit and Latin are among the many dead languages used as sacred languages.

TRIVIA

Ethnologue records 7,358 living languages known. But on 2015-05-20, Ethnologue reported only 7,102 known living languages.

6

Language can be diverse.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

1

Language is dynamic.

WORD: STATIC

MEANING: DYNAMIC

2

Language has levels.

3

Language is creative and unique.

4

Language is a means of communication.

5

Language identifies culture.

6

Language is arbitrary.

Languages are said to be arbitrary because there is no necessary or natural relationship between the words of a given language and the concepts that they represent.

Also, languages are arbitrary because the rules for the combination of signs in order to produce complete thoughts are different from one language to the other, and no set of rules can claim to be the "right" one.

MA. ELENA OBLINO ABAINZA