Chapter 2: Language form, function + communication

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

= communication or grammar

Question 2

Language as a tool?

Answer 2

• often characterized as a “tool” (e.g. Karl Bühler 1934)
• tool for communication
• communication is triadic

Question 3

What can language evoke?

Answer 3

• convey information
• ask question
• make requests
• express emotions
• indicate doubt
  .
  .
  .

Question 4

Social interaction?

Answer 4

• Things talked about —> speaker + hearer
• in order to communicate –> the interlocutors must take the other person’s knowledge + perspective into account
• psychologists say: In order to communicate, the interlocutors must have a “theory-of-mind”
• one important aspect of this is “joint-attention”
• young children till 9 months –> dyadic interaction (with another person + or an object); f.ex. eye gaze

f. ex. pointing:
- deictic pointing is a communication device that people of all cultures use to establish joint attention –> proto-imperatives + photo-declaratives
- is a unique trait of human communication
- a milestone in the ontogenetic of the child + phylogenetic development of humans

Question 5

Explain Bühler’s organ model (tool/instrument)

Answer 5

(picture in notes!!)

• Representational: Language is used to inform other people
• Directive: language is used to direct other people
• Expressive: Language is used to express mental states

–>all functions are taking part but one is always more dominant

Question 6

What are icons and symbols?

Answer 6

(pictures in notes!!)

• a sign as a form (phonetic or written) + function
• a sign has a form + meaning –> arbitrary
• non iconic sign –> shows not the reality; iconic sign –> shows reality
• combination of form + meaning is in symbols –> arbitrary (=no reason why something is called like this9

Question 7

Language is a system of signs?

Answer 7

• combination between form + meaning is conventionalized (shared by a group of people –> norms of society)
• combination between form + meaning must be stable and shared by the community, but it’s not completely invariable

Question 8

What are Deictios (indexicals)?

Answer 8

• deictics are pointing words: there, this, that, you, I,…

- their intepretation is contingent on the speaker’s position at the time of the utterance