Chpater1 Language: Concepts and Precepts: There Are Three General Views On Language

Chpater1
Language: Concepts and Precepts
Language is a set of signs. We call each sign a form and a purpose that conveys
meaning. Man by communicating Interacts and talks with others. Traffic light is
a good example of understanding the relationship between Meaning and Form
It is form and meaning. When the light turns red, it means you should not
move. Now the same meaning when with forms coming together will have
different meanings
There are three general views on language

Language as a System 
In this view, language is seen as a cohesive system that in order to better
understand it, one must go to its components, namely phonology, morphology,
syntax, and semantics
All these components together evoke an integrated nature called language. In
this approach, we focus more on form than on meaning
Language as a Discourse 
In this view, language is the means by which we will be able to communicate in
writing or orally discuss and interact with others and talk about different
semantic dimensions; As a result, the purpose of discourse is to pay more
attention to the semantic dimensions of language or meaning
Discourse: An instance of spoken and written language that has

describable internal relationships of form and meaning
Language as an Ideology 
This view points out that language is beyond communication and
should be viewed as one Look at the ideological and philosophical
nature. Man uses language to express all his ideas, but there are times
when he himself the category of language becomes a debatable
ideology and nature. Ideology is a deeper and more pervasive concept
than discourse
 Ideology: A systematic body of ideas, organized from a particular point of

view
 Chomsky
A linguist who studied language from the first approach; That is, it examined it
as a purposeful system. Chomsky has a number of important theories about
:language, including
 Theory of Novelty/ Generativism : All adult speakers of a language are able

to
produce an infinite amount of sentences out of finite elements.

Theory of Mentalism/ Innateness: Much of human behavior including -
language, is
.biologically determined
 - Theory of Universal Grammar: All languages in the world share some
common rules
and principles. The difference between languages is because of difference in
their
parameters
The three Halliday, Austin, and Hymes were among Chomsky's most
famous critics, who argued that language is an innate knowledge of
individuals. Michael Halliday stated that language, in addition to what
Chomsky says, is a means of interacting and communicating with others.
Hence, he stated three types of applications for the language or
: Metafuntion, which are
 Ideational:
Language is a means of expressing human feelings and thoughts as well

as a way to talk about various phenomena
 Interpersonal
We will be able to communicate with others through language
 Textual
Text in Michael Halliday's third Metafunction refers to all the different
forms of language, including writing, speech, and voice, that enable a
person to complete and implement the second Metafuntion, Interpersonal
 Question
Michael Halliday defines language as Meaning Potential Concept. What
?does it mean
 Answer: It is only through meaningful interactive activities in

communicative
Context that a learner broadens and deepens the capacity for language use
After Halliday, it was the turn of the philosopher and linguist Austin, who in
1692 wrote a book called How to do things with words. In this book he
asked an important question: What do we do with language that was
answered by Speech Acts and then he explained it throughout the book
 Speech Acts: Everyday activity of informing, instructing, ordering,

threatening and that we do with language…
 According to Austin, each Speech Act has three types. 1) Locution= Anything
we say or write. 2) Illocution= Our purpose in speaking or writing it and
3)Perlocution= The effect that our words or writing have on the
environment or people. Take Open the Window, for example
Locution: Open the Illocution: We want the window to be Perlocution: Somebody opens
Window opened
 After Austin, it was Dell Hymes' turn to challenge Chomsky's theories of
Competence by raising the issue.
Competence (Chomsky) : Underlying knowledge of language
Competence (Hymes) : Underlying knowledge of language + ability to use it.
Performance: Actual use of language.
The difference between Chomsky and Hymes's views on Competence
Chomsky's Competence Hymes' Competence
Tacit knowledge of language Actual knowledge of language
Biologically based Socially based
Concerns forms of language Concerns functions of language
Individual concept Social concept
Factors governing successful communication according to Hymes:

1. Setting (Place and time of interaction with others)
2. Participants (People we interact with)
3. Ends (Conversation goals)
4. Instrumentally (oral / written or formal / informal.)
5. Acts (Form, content, and sequence)
6. Norms (Rules of conversation with others)
7. Genre (Literary, poetic, scientific, conversational and…)
Hymes briefly called his model SPEAKING, which is the first letter
of Baa's words. The introduction of Competence raised the question
of who should be called the Communicative Competent in the field of
language learning?. Various theorists have argued that having
communication knowledge means that every person who uses
language must meet a set of specific requirements. The following
design is attributed to two scientists named Canale and Swain
 Communicative Competence:
Knowledge of not only if something is formally possible in a language, but also
it is feasible, appropriate, or done in a particular speech community (Ability to
speak correctly in the community). This includes:
 1. Grammatical Competence: Knowledge of vocabulary, grammar,

phonology…
 2)Sociolinguistic Competence: Knowledge of extent to which utterances are
produced or understood appropriately in different contexts
 3.Discourse Competence: Knowing how to begin and end conversation
 4)Strategic Competence: Knowing the strategies to compensate the

breakdowns in communication
 As a result, anyone who meets all four of these is called a

Communicative Competent
 The Competence model attributed to Beckman and Palmer has two
main sub-categories called Pragmatic Competence and
Organizational Competence
Another popular Competence model for the Murcia, Dorney, and

Turnel dynasties includes the following:
 Linguistic
 Sociolinguistic
 Discourse
 Strategic
 Actual
The problem with all Competence models, according to

Widdowson, is that all the linguists mentioned above have tried to
break down a very complex category, such as language, into sub-
categories, each of which may have its own shortcomings.
Finally, we have the division of knowledge from Anderson's point of view:

Declarative Knowledge: knowledge about the language system
:
Procedural Knowledge knowledge about how to use language

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Chpater1

Language: Concepts and Precepts

There are three general views on language

Discourse: An instance of spoken and written language that has

 Ideology: A systematic body of ideas, organized from a particular point of

 Theory of Novelty/ Generativism : All adult speakers of a language are able

Language is a means of expressing human feelings and thoughts as well

 Answer: It is only through meaningful interactive activities in

 Speech Acts: Everyday activity of informing, instructing, ordering,

The difference between Chomsky and Hymes's views on Competence

Chomsky's Competence Hymes' Competence

Tacit knowledge of language Actual knowledge of language

Biologically based Socially based

Concerns forms of language Concerns functions of language

Individual concept Social concept

Factors governing successful communication according to Hymes:

 1. Grammatical Competence: Knowledge of vocabulary, grammar,

 4)Strategic Competence: Knowing the strategies to compensate the

 As a result, anyone who meets all four of these is called a

Another popular Competence model for the Murcia, Dorney, and

The problem with all Competence models, according to

Finally, we have the division of knowledge from Anderson's point of view:

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