Language as a System

Durjoy Choudhury
M Phil 1st Year SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS

Language as a System

While attempting to write a paper on how language acts as a system, we must first address how language has been defined by theorists and linguists over time. Edward Sapir, in his book, Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech, has defined language as, Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. (Sapir, 1921). Bernard Bloch and George Leonard Treger has defined it as, A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates. (Trager, 1942). Ferdinand de Saussure has however described language as, a system of signs that express ideas. Noam Chomsky had stated, From now on I will consider a language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. (Chomsky, 1957). And more recently E. Bruce Goldstein stated, We can define language as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. (Goldstein, 2008). Through these definitions, we can be ascertained about some basic facts about any particular language. First and foremost, it is a medium that is used by a group of people (a specific society or a community) in order to communicate on a day-to-day basis. Secondly, it is medium that translates ideas or symbols into physical entities through aural or literary signs, which materialises the images through the sound. Finally, these signs that build up a language, maybe arbitrary vocal symbols, as many theorists have agreed upon, but they follow certain strict rules in order to build the grammar of the language which is strictly followed by all members of the community, communicating through that specific language. Hence we can well accept the fact that language is not only a system, but a very complicated system that follows strict rules and syntactical parameters; that converts visuals into complicated vocal sounds; and finally, that allows humanly verbal communication in a society. Now that we have accepted the fact that any given human verbal language is a system, we must try to understand the intricate machineries through which it functions. No system in this cosmic universe can operate or survive without a certain order and language is possibly a system which has existed for the longest period in human history. Hence there is a certain order that
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language, as a system, maintains and there are different departments through which it works. We can clearly divide this whole system into four distinct parts, according to the work that it conducts. First and foremost, there is a part that works in the psyche of each and every man, where everyone is translating the visual images that they are thinking about into certain words, where the symbols are getting transformed into concrete signs. In the language of linguistics, the study of this section is referred to as Semiotics, the study of signs and symbols. Here the symbols are being processed into certain signs, or the meanings are being transformed into sounds. This is the process that takes place in the psychological level of all human beings before the actual articulation of the verbal sounds. However, this relationship between the signifier and the signified in a specific language, as several theorists and linguists argue, is arbitrary, but they were surely the result of a unanimous acceptance that was shown by all the speakers of that said language. Ferdinand de Saussure states that the relationship between a sign and the real-world thing it denotes is an arbitrary one. There is not a natural relationship between a word and the object it refers to, nor is there a causal relationship between the inherent properties of the object and the nature of the sign used to denote it. For example, there is nothing about the physical quality of paper that requires denotation by the phonological sequence paper, but all English speaking people of the world have unanimously accepted the fact that a sheet on which one could write upon, with the usage of a fountain pen, should have a phonological sequence that would sound like paper. There is, however, what Saussure called relative motivation, the possibilities of signification of a signifier are constrained by the compositionality of elements in the linguistic system. In other words, a word is only available to acquire a new meaning if it is identifiably different from all the other words in the language and it has no existing meaning. But humans constantly translate the signified into the signifier before actually uttering it out. This whole process takes place in the psychological level of all human beings. Secondly, the part that works in the actual physical articulation of the verbal sounds and the physical nature of the verbal sounds is studied under Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology. In simpler words, phonetics is the study of speech sounds along with their physiological production and their acoustic qualities. Hence it studies the configuration of the vocal tract, which is evidently important during the articulation of the speech sound, its acoustic
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properties and the manner in which these individual sounds combine with one another to form syllables and words which in turn forms phrases and sentences. Phonology, on the other hand, is the study of how sounds are organised and used in a specific language. And Morphology is the study of the internal construction of the words in a language. It is the identification, analysis and description of the structure of a given languages morphemes and other linguistic units. These three sections of linguistics study the physical properties and the physical articulation of any given language and this is the part that deals with the physical production of the language. One must always keep in mind that this part of the language system, which expresses the physical utterances, is only a continuation of the earlier psychological part that translates the signified symbols into the signifiers. The part that conducts the third and the most important work in the whole system of language is the part where each of these individual utterances is lined up in an ordered flank to produce a concrete meaning. This is the section which works with absolute discipline and order and any form of disorder can lead to an absolute misinterpretation of the uttered sentence. In terms of linguistic, this part of the language system is controlled by Syntax and Semantics. Syntax is the arrangement of words in a sentence and it is also the study of the formation of sentences and the relationship of their component parts. It is, hence, the arrangement of the syntactic units, which are formed by individual morphemes, which in turn are formed by the basic speech sounds or the phones. Here producer of the sentence is expected to be syntactically correct in order to avoid misinterpretation of its meaning. For instance, the sentence, The piper does not need a paper, he needs a flute, does produce a proper meaning in our mind but if the same sentence was constructed in this way, Paper piper need the does not a, then anyone with the slightest knowledge of the English language would point it out as a grammatically incorrect or a gibberish sentence constructed out of real English words. Hence syntax is the process that organises the words in a proper order so as to produce a proper meaning and in turn project a proper image in the mind of the speaker or the listener of the sentence. On the other hand, semantics is the study of meanings. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, sentences and signs and the signified, that is the symbol that appears in the mind when a word or a phrase or a sentence is articulated or uttered. If a word is not uttered then it will not project an image in the mind, which in turn will not produce the meaning of the word. Further, different utterances produce different meanings in the mind of the perceiver. For instance the
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words, paper and piper clearly produces two completely different images in the mind of the speaker or the listener. With the slightest change in one of its vowel sound, the earlier words projects the image of a white sheet on which one can write upon, while the latter produces the image of a flute player. Finally, the part that completes the system of language is how it is used in actual verbal communication or in other words, the relationship of the language with its user. Linguistically, this is the part that is studied under Pragmatics. For instance, the phrase, A stitch in time, saves nine, does not really draw the image of the stitching practice of someone, or the fine artistry of stitch craft or even the stitching industry as a whole, in our mind. It actually means something completely different from the literary meaning of the said words. Why does it form such a drastically different meaning in our minds than that is projected out of the literary meaning? Hence we come to community factor of the spoken language. Language is not only a programmed utterance of sounds that form words that form sentences that projects a literal meaning. It might be true in the robotic world, but in the human world it has a completely different approach. The study of human languages is clearly nullified if one does not consider the importance of the human emotions, the socio-political, historical, cultural and religious upbringing of the society or the community in which the language is being practiced. One can never understand the language and its meanings if one remains ignorant towards these aspects. For instance, the downfall of Icarus, might have had a mythological importance in the Greek civilisation, pointing out to the escape of Icarus from Crete with the help of the wings, made out of wax and feather that melted due to the heat of the sun, as he tried to fly high and his fall from the sky into the sea, where he drowned. But the same words have a completely different connotation in the present world that point out to the downfall of any individual with extreme ambitions. Hence the study of pragmatics helps one to understand the meanings, keeping in mind the different context that is a part of the communication. This part of the language system completes the structure that makes a language into a concrete and at the same time a complete system. Hence, in order to conclude, it can be said that language is a complete system which translates the symbols into appropriate signs, in the mind of the user; which is expressed through the physical articulation of the basic verbal sounds or phones; which in turn combines with other
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phones to form words or syntactical units; which joins with other syntactical units under a strict grammatical system or syntax in order to produce the meaning; which is to be finally brought in relation to the context of the communication; then only can it be ideally perceived by the listener. And the whole process is conducted repeatedly in the matter of a few seconds. Hence language is definitely a system, which is a very complicated one but is surely complete in its sense.

Works Cited
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. Mouton de Gruyter. Goldstein, E. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Thomson. Sapir, E. (1921). Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company. Trager, G. a. (1942). Outline of Linguistic Analysis. Waverly Press.