NAME

TAIWO DAMILOLA EMMANUEL

MATRIC NUMBER

168208117

DEPARTMENT

ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES

FACULTY

ARTS

COURSE CODE

ELS 308

COURSE TITLE

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

QUESTION

HOW DOES THE ACQUISITION OR LEARNING OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS SUPPORT
THE ASSERTION THAT MAN IS A SOCIAL ANIMAL

LECTURER IN CHARGE

DR. BAMIGBOYE
INTRODUCTION

To be able to have an appreciable understanding of this context, it is pertinent to

define the key words in this context;
i. Language
ii. Communication
iii. Language Acquisition
LANGUAGE
As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings: an abstract
concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French". The Swiss linguist
Ferdinand de Saussure, who defined the modern discipline of linguistics, first
explicitly formulated the distinction using the French word langage for language as
a concept, langue as a specific instance of a language system, and parole for the
concrete usage of speech in a particular language.
Language is a system that consists of the development, acquisition, maintenance
and use of complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to
do so; a language is any specific example of such a system.
Natural languages are spoken or signed, but any language can be encoded into
secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, in writing,
whistling, signing, or braille. This is because human language is modality-
independent. Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of
language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to
the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to
describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances
that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of
semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages
contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form
sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs
how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances.
Human language has the properties of productivity and displacement, and relies
entirely on social convention and learning. Its complex structure affords a much
wider range of expressions than any known system of animal communication.
Language is thought to have originated when early hominins started gradually
changing their primate communication systems, acquiring the ability to form a
theory of other minds and a shared intentionality. This development is sometimes
thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists
see the structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative
and social functions. Language is processed in many different locations in the
human brain, but especially in Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Humans acquire
language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally
speak fluently by approximately three years old. The use of language is deeply
entrenched in human culture. Therefore, in addition to its strictly communicative
uses, language also has many social and cultural uses, such as signifying group
identity, social stratification, as well as social grooming and entertainment.
Languages evolve and diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be
reconstructed by comparing modern languages to determine which traits their
ancestral languages must have had in order for the later developmental stages to
occur. A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a
language family.
The study of language, linguistics, has been developing into a science since the
first grammatical descriptions of particular languages in India more than 2000
years ago, after the development of the Brahmi script. Modern linguistics is a
science that concerns itself with all aspects of language, examining it from all of
the theoretical viewpoints described above
COMMUNICATION
Communication (from Latin communicare, meaning "to share") is the act of
conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of
mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.
There are two broad types of communication, namely;
i. Verbal Communication
ii. Non Verbal Communication
i. VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Verbal communication is the spoken or written conveyance of a message. Human
language can be defined as a system of symbols (sometimes known as lexemes)
and the grammars (rules) by which the symbols are manipulated. The word
"language" also refers to common properties of languages. Language learning
normally occurs most intensively during human childhood. Most of the thousands
of human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable
communication with others around them. Languages tend to share certain
properties, although there are exceptions. There is no defined line between a
language and a dialect. Constructed languages such as Esperanto, programming
languages, and various mathematical formalisms are not necessarily restricted to
the properties shared by human languages.
As previously mentioned, language can be characterized as symbolic. Charles
Ogden and I.A Richards developed The Triangle of Meaning model to explain the
symbol (the relationship between a word), the referent (the thing it describes),
and the meaning (the thought associated with the word and the thing).
The properties of language are governed by rules. Language follows phonological
rules (sounds that appear in a language), syntactic rules (arrangement of words
and punctuation in a sentence), semantic rules (the agreed upon meaning of
words), and pragmatic rules (meaning derived upon context).
The meanings that are attached to words can be literal, or otherwise known as
denotative; relating to the topic being discussed, or, the meanings take context
and relationships into account, otherwise known as connotative; relating to the
feelings, history, and power dynamics of the communicators.
Contrary to popular belief, signed languages of the world (e.g., American Sign
Language) are considered to be verbal communication because their sign
vocabulary, grammar, and other linguistic structures abide by all the necessary
classifications as spoken languages. There are however, nonverbal elements to
signed languages, such as the speed, intensity, and size of signs that are made. A
signer might sign "yes" in response to a question, or they might sign a sarcastic-
large slow yes to convey a different nonverbal meaning. The sign yes is the verbal
message while the other movements add nonverbal meaning to the message.
ii. NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Nonverbal communication describes the processes of conveying a type of
information in the form of non-linguistic representations. Examples of nonverbal
communication include haptic communication, chronemic communication,
gestures, body language, facial expressions, eye contact etc. Nonverbal
communication also relates to the intent of a message. Examples of intent are
voluntary, intentional movements like shaking a hand or winking, as well as
involuntary, such as sweating. Speech also contains nonverbal elements known as
paralanguage, e.g. rhythm, intonation, tempo, and stress. It affects
communication most at the subconscious level and establishes trust. Likewise,
written texts include nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, the spatial
arrangement of words and the use of emoticons to convey emotion.
Nonverbal communication demonstrates one of Paul Wazlawick's laws: you
cannot not communicate. Once proximity has formed awareness, living creatures
begin interpreting any signals received. Some of the functions of nonverbal
communication in humans are to complement and illustrate, to reinforce and
emphasize, to replace and substitute, to control and regulate, and to contradict
the denotative message.
Nonverbal cues are heavily relied on to express communication and to interpret
others' communication and can replace or substitute verbal messages. However,
non-verbal communication is ambiguous. When verbal messages contradict non-
verbal messages, observation of non-verbal behaviour is relied on to judge
another's attitudes and feelings, rather than assuming the truth of the verbal
message alone.
There are several reasons as to why non-verbal communication plays a vital role in
communication:
"Non-verbal communication is omnipresent." They are included in every single
communication act. To have total communication, all non-verbal channels such as
the body, face, voice, appearance, touch, distance, timing, and other
environmental forces must be engaged during face-to-face interaction. Written
communication can also have non-verbal attributes. E-mails and web chats allow
an individual's the option to change text font colours, stationary, emoticons, and
capitalization in order to capture non-verbal cues into a verbal medium.
"Non-verbal behaviours are multifunctional." Many different non-verbal channels
are engaged at the same time in communication acts and allow the chance for
simultaneous messages to be sent and received.
"Non-verbal behaviours may form a universal language system." Smiling, crying,
pointing, caressing, and glaring are non-verbal behaviours that are used and
understood by people regardless of nationality. Such non-verbal signals allow the
most basic form of communication when verbal communication is not effective
due to language barriers.
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware
of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and
sentences to communicate.
Language acquisition involves structures, rules and representation. The capacity to
successfully use language requires one to acquire a range of tools including
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and an extensive vocabulary. Language
can be vocalized as in speech, or manual as in sign. Human language capacity is
represented in the brain. Even though human language capacity is finite, one can
say and understand an infinite number of sentences, which is based on a syntactic
principle called recursion. Evidence suggests that every individual has three
recursive mechanisms that allow sentences to go indeterminately. These three
mechanisms are: relativization, complementation and coordination.
There are two main guiding principles in first-language acquisition: speech
perception always precedes speech production and the gradually evolving system
by which a child learns a language is built up one step at a time, beginning with
the distinction between individual phonemes.
Linguists who are interested in child language acquisition for many years question
how language is acquired, Lidz et al. states "The question of how these structures
are acquired, then, is more properly understood as the question of how a learner
takes the surface forms in the input and converts them into abstract linguistic
rules and representations.
"Language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, which studies
infants' acquisition of their native language, whether that be spoken language or
signed language as a result of prelingual deafness, though it can also refer to
bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA), which refers to an infant's simultaneous
acquisition of two native languages. This is distinguished from second-language
acquisition, which deals with the acquisition (in both children and adults) of
additional languages. In addition to speech, reading and writing a language with
an entirely different script compounds the complexities of true foreign language
literacy. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because
non-humans do not communicate by using language.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The aim of study of this work is to analyse and justify the fact that the acquisition
or learning of language and communication skills supports the assertion that man
is a social animal
* To make us know that man is a social animal
* Language acquisition to in man society
* Man is important to society as society is important to man
* Society affects man behavior and language
BODY
Man is a social animal and that, he loves to live in society with other human
beings, is a general conception about his basic behavioural pattern. Almost all
sociological thinkers agree that there is a very close relation between the
individual and the society. Whether any particular individual could have been
nurtured under conditions in which there did not exist any society is a different
question; but the fact remains that without a social environment, be it his home,
his community or his state, no stability would be brought to his status as an
individual.
One would almost conclude from the foregoing statement that the individual is a
product of society. Instantly, other thinkers would raise a hue and cry that the
truth is just the contrary, that is, the society is the product of an individual and
another.
Language is so fundamental to human life that it's hard to imagine what life would
be like without it. In fact, the original term for language referred to it as part of
the body—language is derived from the Latin word lingua, meaning tongue.
Barnett highlights the inseparability of language from man when he says, “Verbal
communication is a condition of the existence of human society.”

The Differences Between Animal and Human Communication

Duality of Patterning: Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have
no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to
create meaning via words and sentences. Other animals do not communicate by
arranging arbitrary sounds, which limits the number of messages they can create.
Creativity: Humans invent words easily while animals have to evolve in order for
their signs to change.
Displacement: Humans can talk about remote, abstract, or imaginary things that
aren't happening in their immediate environments. While animal communication
is context driven—they react to stimuli, or indexes.
Interchangeability: Any gender of human can use the same languages. Certain
animal communications in the animal world can only be used by one gender of
that animal.
Cultural Transmission: Humans acquire language culturally—words must be
learned. The way that animals communicate are biological, or inborn.
Arbitrariness: Human language is symbolic, using a set number of sounds
(phonemes) and characters (alphabet), which allows ideas to be recorded and
preserved. Animal communication is not symbolic, so it cannot preserve ideas of
the past.
Biology: On a purely biological level, the human voice box and tongue are very
unique, and are required to make the sounds we recognize as language. Other
animals have different biological structures, which impact they way they make
sounds.
Ambiguity: A word, or sign, can have several meanings know human
communication. Every sign has only one meaning. Human language can arrange
words into an infinite number of ideas, sometimes referred to as discrete infinity.
Animals only have a limited number of combinations they can use to
communicate.
Some Scholars add seven properties that are largely unique to human language:
duality, creativity, displacement, interchangeability, cultural transmission,
arbitrariness, and biology.
1. Duality
Duality of patterning: Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have
no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to
create meaning via words and sentences.
Duality of patterning: Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have
no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to
create meaning via words and sentences.
The primary difference is known as duality of patterning, or structure. Each human
language has a fixed number of sound units called "phonemes." These phonemes
are combined to make morphemes, the smallest unit of sound that contains
meaning. Thus, language has got two levels of patterning that are not present in
other animals' communication.
2. Creativity
Yet another distinctive feature is creativity. Human beings use their linguistic
resources to produce new expressions and sentences. They arrange and rearrange
phonemes, morphemes, words, and phrases in a way that can express an infinite
number of ideas. This is also called the open-endedness of language. Animal
communication is a closed system. It cannot produce new signals to communicate
novel events or experiences.
3. Displacement
Displacement: Human language can talk about things that aren't happening here
or now. Other animals react only to stimuli in the present.
Displacement: Human language can talk about things that aren't happening here
or now. Other animals react only to stimuli in the present.
Human beings can talk of real or imaginary situations, places, or objects far
removed from their present surroundings and time. Other animals, on the other
hand, communicate in reaction to a stimulus in the immediate environment, such
as food or danger. Because of this, human language is considered context-free,
whereas animal communication is mostly context bound.
4. Interchangeability
Human language is interchangeable between sexes. But certain communications
in animal world are performed only by one gender. For example, bee dancing is
only performed by worker bees, which are female.
5. Cultural Transmission
Another important difference is that human language is culturally transmitted.
Human beings brought up in different cultures acquire different languages. Man
can also learn other languages via the influence of other cultures. Animals lack
this capacity. Their communication ability is transmitted biologically, so they are
unable to learn other languages.
6. Arbitrariness
Human language is a symbolic system. The signs, or words, in language have no
inherent connection to what they signify, or mean (that's why one object can have
so many names in different languages). These signs can also be written with the
symbols, or alphabet, of that language. Both verbal and written language can be
passed down to future generations. Animal communication is not symbolic, which
means ideas cannot be preserved for the future.
7. Biology
Biological differences also play a vital role in communication. Human vocal cords
can produce a large number of sounds. Each human language uses a number of
those sounds. Animal and birds have entirely different biological structures, which
impact the way they can form sounds.

CONCLUSION
After critical researches, analysis, facts, definitions and assertions made in the
above work, I've been driven to the conclusion and assertion that the acquisition
and learning of language and communication skills support the assertion that man
is a social animal.The above is further proved by the numerous and lengthy
definitions of each key words and terms as illustrated in the above text.
Conclusively, the acquisition of language and communication skills supports the
statement that man is a social animal.

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