Chapter 1 Language is the invention that made life all the easier, so that
any homo sapiens do not have to guess other people’s meanings.
Concepts of Language
Overview : This module introduces students to the general concepts
of language, its structure, designs ; uses and its importance.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the learner is expected to have :
1. gained concepts on the importance and principles of language
learning;
2.recognized the nature of both written and oral Language
3.engaged actively in socio-linguistic tasks through dyad /group tasks.
I. Preliminary Task.
Brainstorming Activity. Do you agree with this statement quoted by
Webster ?
“ If all possessions were to be taken from me with one
exception, I would choose to keep the power of communication. for it, I
would regain all the others.”
-Daniel Webster
I.The Concepts of Language
1. Language is the greatest achievement of culture.
The ability to speak using specific language is man’s greatest
attribute.It is absolutely a sign of intelligence. No other animal on earth
has been proven to have the ability to use language like people. Language
allows a person to express thoughts to other people, thus making one’s
intent perfectly clear. Without language, one would be forced to use
grunts and hand signals that would make communication difficult, if not
impossible.
All languages are somewhat the same in a way that they all share
the same set of characteristics. They use sounds and symbols to convey
meaning. It consists of two sub- systems : (1) the system of sound ; and
(2 ) the system of meaning.
2. Language is a set of symbols by which social beings cooperate.
Language, a social phenomenon, is a system of arbitrary
symbols by which social cooperates. It is unique yet dynamic because of
its creativeness.
3.Humans are the only animals that can use language. While
some animals do communicate to a degree, only humans can really use
language with the function of the vocal chord. Scientists have claimed
that the human brain is uniquely designed to acquire language. This
means that through studying Linguistics, one can try and find out how
the brain works. Dialects are important,too. Linguists can compare
closely-related dialects and can use information to make judgments on
how syntax works.
4. Language is an essential part of human existence. The use and
misuse of language hold unavoidable consequences for the user.
Sometimes,one may conclude that people who speak English as a fecond
language (EFL) are not that smart, because they use the wrong
words. However, the speakers have perfect clarity of language in their
native tongues, and the ideas are in his head. This person must translate
their thoughts into English before speaking, choosing the right words all
the time.
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 1
 5. English is a communicative tool to cope up with the
presentation skills needed by students and professionals in this 21st
century era of media- saturated society.
Presentation skills consist of linguistic and communicative
competence. The charisma of a well- versed speaker ( ESL and EFL )
becomes an edge in this era of globalized village.
II. IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE
Language can be used in many ways. Most often, it is used to
exchange concepts with others. A simple conversation about the weather
provides the opportunity for two people to share their idea about the
current state.They may both be in agreement that the day is cold, and are
able to acknowledge to each other that they, too, are cold as a result of
the temperature. Or, if the day is nice, they may be sharing a mutual
enjoyment of the weather.
Language can also express emotion. The tones or inflections of
the voice are clear signs of persons’ feelings. The choice of language may
signal emotions above tone. A person may use profanity to express
strong emotions.
Language can help a person to clarify a thought. Searching for
the right word or phrase can best express a thought. To simply say that
an object is nice does not best suit a situation when a more descriptive
word like sublime, exquisite or beautiful is a better indication of the
degree to which one has associations with the object. To simply describe
a person as fat mat sounds as derogatory remark and can be better
described as chubby.
Language, from these descriptions, would appear to be a help by
expressing clarity. But it can also be a hindrance. Many times people
misunderstand a person’s meaning; either the words are interpreted
wrong or the tone to the language is different from the speaker’s
intent. People in the news are always complaining about being
misquoted; even in daily life people often have misunderstandings about
language. “That is not what I meant,” is the common answer to
misunderstandings.
Incorporating Language Into Everyday Life
The crux of the issue is this: We are in a world –an extremely
verbal word. Verbal personal contacts pervade everywhere.
Communication skill especially speaking becomes a symbolic interaction.
In the current media- saturated society, presentation skill or speaking
skill becomes a 21st century skill necessary of today’s era.
Hence, language is the most effective medium of
communication. It becomes the code for the transmission of m messages
between and among people. Language is the greatest achievement of
culture.
We discover our identity as individual and social
beings through our dialect.
Language has social, referential and functional
meaning in all aspects of a man’s everyday life.
Language certainly figures centrally in our lives.
It serves as means of cognition and communication. It provides for
present needs and future plans, and at the same time it carries the
impressions of the past. Expressions are done through language.
Language and Communication.God created the world word by word.
Instantaneously, whatever more mystically meaning these inscriptions
might have , they both point to the primacy of language in the way human
conceive of the world.
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 2
 The Power of Language; A Tool for Harmony and Human understanding . . . Hence, language learning helps to solve all the problems faced
High tower in Biblical
references: In the Bible, a tower
that people started to build too
tall, causing God to show his
anger by making them speak
different languages, which led to
the collapse of the project and
ultimately to the scattering of
people across the world.
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
Even the pre- historic men, the nomadic tribes, as they wander
from one place to another, use scripted symbols on cave walls to express
themselves. Hence, it a way of writing symbols to reflect their culture and
lifestyle.
Historically, man used to make sounds to express his thoughts and
feelings. Scholars were fascinated to study stones with inscriptions as
symbols of the past. Later on, with the progress of studies in Language,
these sounds became words. Words were then structured in the form of
different languages.
Up to now, Language, as it is dynamic and creative is very
important to generate and express thoughts. It has social, referential and
functional meaning in all aspect of a man’s everyday life. Countries in the
world communicate well through language learning, as learning different
languaages broadens our mind to accept the lifestyle of various societies
in the world. Language learning also helps in the study of primitive
writings in different languages and scripts.
As scholars discovered much about the past, they are becoming
more fascinated as they relate their findings for future use. Language has
made inventions of man possible because it allows him to share his ideas
in terms of technology and discoveries. Nowadays, communication
through language becomes easier and faster due to technology. The use
of one language across different continents an interesting concept .
due to lack of communication and understanding between people of
different nations and cultures.
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
1. LANGUAGES HAVE SYMBOLS
As you walk along the highway, you may encounter signs or
symbols along your path. Upon interpreting each symbol, a possible
response may be made by you. Often, every symbols has meaning. It
represents something more that the object it resembles.
Anything that represents something else is called a symbol.
Much as each men survive daily, he encounters symbols in some aspects
of his life.
Just as man uses particular pictures or symbols, he may also use
combinations of symbols. Sounds are systematically put together to from
words and phrases. Indeed they become symbol of his thoughts which
may be put into writings or may be express verbally. All words are
arbitrary symbols. It means that there is a mutual agreement among
speakers to present an idea with the use of a specific language. Language
employs essentially two different sets of symbols, spoken and written
which users of the language must learn to manipulate.
2. LANGUAGES HAVE STRUCTURES.
All language have structure, just as all languages have sounds
and symbols. It has been perceived that languages tend to be organized
around grammatical categories or the arrangement of words to form a
meaningful sentence. In English, a change in the position of words often
changes the meaning of a sentence. The arrangement or order of words
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 3
play a role in the speakers intention to express his thoughts. The grammar
of a language is organized around such fundamental categories, though
many languages express the relationships between words and syntax in
other discrete ways .Only when someone understand the structure of a
language can he arrange words to produce a sensible and accepted
sentences.
A learner comes across two main obstacles in the learning of a
second language.
1. To acquire linguistic competence ; and
2. To extend linguistic competence to communicative
competence i.e. to use grammatical items appropriately in various real-
life situations while communicating with others. ( Mishra,2010) ELT WEEKLY
,INDIA Teaching Grammar Through Situational Approach, Issue #45)
How does your knowledge of the structure of English help you to
make meaningful sentences ?
Try to arrange the following words to form a meaningful sentence:
 arranged, quickly, the, the paintings , on, wall, old
,woman, classic
As you analyzed the set of words, you may have these arrangements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why were you able to arrange the words to from these
sentences ?It is because you know something about the structure of
English, and this knowledge helps you to arrange words in their proper
places to form meaningful and acceptable sentences.
3 .LANGUAGES HAVE MEANING
Language combines sounds into words and arranges those
words into acceptable sentences. The words should be understood in
their contexts; that is their meanings are made clear by the meaning of
other words around them.
Language seems even more complex when one considers that
the arbitrary symbols , or words, it uses for its purpose can communicate
different levels of meanings. For example, which of the following words
refer to things that you can see, smell, touch, hear, or taste ?
Canoe integrity sledges of church bells
Noodles suppleness cackle
The words such as canoe, noodles, and suppleness can be
understood by one or more of your senses. Such words are called
concrete words. The words integrity, and perfection cannot be
understood through your senses. Such words are called abstract words.
Concrete and abstract are two levels of meaning in language.
The words of language, whether concrete or abstract, are tricky
symbols that suggests level of meaning beyond their dictionary
definitions .For instance, the dictionary definition of angel is a winged
heavenly rapture. But the word angel may have another meaning. It may
include a wide range of suggestions that are associated with the word
angel : protector, kindness, beauty, defender and others.
People do not react to words in the same way. On another level
of language—the emotional level- the same word may have a variety of
meanings that convey an attitude or an emotion which is favorable to one
person but may be unfavorable to another. Take for instance, the word
thirteen may have various emotional meaning to people. One person
may take thirteen as “ a number after twelve “ but for some, thirteen
connotes misfortune.
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 4
 How can anyone be reasonably sure of the intended meaning of
a word ? Try to analyze the meaning of the word crown in these
sentences .
Match the meaning of crown in column A to the choices in column B.
A B
The king maintained his crown A head dress with luxurious
throughout the ages. stones to manifest royalty
Charlene Gonzalez, with her wits A beauty title
and beauty deserved her crown.
She bought the silver crown form supremacy
the boutique.
The sentences above show that the word crown goes beyond the
literal meaning of word. Plainly, words can be used imaginatively or on a
figurative level. Words may be used more than one level.
At all levels of language, of course, a person’s responses to
meanings depend greatly on his experience with the symbols they
represent.
4. LANGUAGE HAVE SOUNDS
Basically, during the prehistoric era, men did not have an exact
record of how they utter their speech. Nobody knows when man first
started to make use of language. However, it is known that primitive men
used sounds such as growling or shouting to communicate. Later, speech
sounds were developed by men. The speech sounds which is the
fundamental system of all languages. Man learned to put speech sounds
into combination called words. Then ,man invented language, which is
really a series of systematically arranged speech sounds that carry
meaning from one human to another.
5.LANGUAGE AS A TOOL IN COMMUNICATION
Language, as a scientific system used as the most important
communicative means to serve society and reflects social life.
“ Words can either uplift or destroy other people. ”
III. The Properties of Language
Language has the following properties or characteristics:
1. Language is a socially learned behavior.
Exposure to language leads to learning. It is transmitted
culturally. Language is a skill learned through the environment and
through the culture where a certain child or adult has been submerged
with.
2.It is systematic.
Language is a highly orderly and organized system in which each
unit plays an important part, which is related to other parts, and which
when arrange together constitute a whole.
3.It is arbitrary.
The relationship between meaning and the symbols employed
is a matter of convention. There is no necessary connection between the
sounds people used and the objects to which these sounds refer.
Example: The word noodle does not any connection with the word poodle
though they have same sounds.
4.Language is intended for social interaction.
Hence, language is the most effective medium of
communication. It becomes the code for the transmission of m messages
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 5
between and among people. Language is the greatest achievement of
human for dealing with others.
5.It has dual structure.
Language is a system consisting of two subsystem : the
subsystem of sound and subsystem of meaning.
6.It is generative.
This refers to the speaker’s ability to understand and produce
any number of sentences or utterances in the native tongue by recursion.
Familiarity of language occurs through frequent hearing or uttering a
language.
7. It is rule- governed
This feature of language demonstrates that there are underlying
rules or patterns that occur frequently. The rules that govern language
is what we called grammar. There are rules to follow to obtain correct
sentences. IPA is a sample of phonetic guide in the enunciation of English
words.
LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
Language, as a scientific system used as the most important
communicative means to serve society, reflects social life on the one
hand- and on the other. its use is , to great extent, influenced by various
social factors. Language is used in almost every field of human society.
When people come together or get contact with each other they use
language to exchange ideas, The use of language is not only linguistic
behavior, hut also a social activity. Without a language intelligible to all
the members of a community, the community could by no means exist,
not to speak of its development. So language is indispensable to the
existence and development of a society. On the other hand, language
would never earn into existence without society. which is the essential
conditions on which language relies for its existence. It is clear that
neither language nor society could exist without the existence of the
other.
Language is spoken by people of various social groups who may use
language in different ways. So language often socially varies in use with
various social factors. There are two approaches to the relation between
language and society. One approach is that society is taken as a whole,
how language functions in it and how it reflects various social
differentiations, and the other is that society is studied from the point of
view of an individual social member. Sociolinguists are more concerned
with how language functions in communication between members of a
society.
FILIPINISMS AMONG FILIPINOS
Filipinism is a term refers to the wrong way Filipinos use the English
language. usually, Filipinisms result from the literal translation of words
from the native tongue to English, with the famous example (1) “ patayin
mo ang ilaw “ to kill the lights,; “ Ang sama sama ng araw ko ” ;“It is
very very bad day to me “or it could be that the use resulted to replacing
the correct word or words with similar sounding or even spelling words.
LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
Language and social interaction refers to language and its
function in the real world. Three subfields of sociolinguistics investigate
this relationship: pragmatics, the ethnography of communication and
discourse analysis.
Pragmatics is the study of the ways in which context affects
meaning. Thus, as a function of context, the intending of an utterance is
very often significantly different from its literal meaning. For example, a
sentence such as "I'm expecting a phone call" can have a variety of
meanings. It could be a request to leave the phone line free; or a reason
for not being able to leave the house; or it could suggest to a listener who
already has background information that a specific person is about to call
to convey good or bad news.
Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 6
 motivation he will have to learn it. If a learner wants to communicate
English as the Language of Technology and Commerce with speakers of a language, he will be more motivated to learn it.

Today, educators are faced with the challenge of addressing the Task 1.
needs of the growing number of students whose primary language Language is a part of human existence and is very important.
is not English … ( EFL Vs. ESL ) Indicate
some reasons why English is dubbed as the language of technology,
English is the global language at present. It is the only “other” commerce and education in the global village.
language Filipinos can use to connect with other countries. The
advantage of the English language is that it serves as an international
lingua franca. It is very versatile and useful especially among Filipinos. The
disadvantage of the English language is that people think they can speak
Importance
English and yet they don't. A lot of misunderstandings happen when two of Language
non-English persons converse with each other in English, each person has
a different conception of what was said. Hard to believe? English is a
difficult language to speak properly. Most people don't. A much more
serious disadvantage for learners of English is the extent of the
vocabulary. Since English draws from many different sources for Task 2 :
vocabulary words i.e Latin, Greek, French, German, Sanskrit,etc., we often Put check marks on sentences that conform to the structure of
have many words for the same concept. For example, 'sky' and 'heaven' English. Mark X for those which do not.
both point to that place upstairs but have different source languages. 1.Strike the hot while it is still iron.
Another disadvantage of English is its reliance on rigid word order for 2.A thing of beauty I a joy forever
meaning. Other languages that have meaning built into the words 3.The best policy honesty is.
themselves. German, English's mother language, is a good example. Since
learning is dynamic, one can learn English to be more competitive in this 4.When God closes a window, He opens a door.
global village. 5.The greatest failure is the failure to try.
English has become the medium of instruction and the vehicle 6.There is no like a book companion.
for the transmission of knowledge. It is the medium used to inspire and
7.Make sun while the hay shines.
enable students to reach their maximal development. It is further noted
that English is an intellectualized language and a valuable tool to source 8.There is no smoke if there is no fire.
information technology . The need to be proficient in the use of English Task 3 :
among non-native speakers has become a global phenomenon. Today,
How would you arrange the following sets of words to form acceptable
educators are faced with the challenge of addressing the needs of the
English sentences ?
growing number of students whose primary language is not English. The
1.in, mines, he, found, gold
more positive a person feel about the speakers of a language, the more 2.by, police, the, solved, crime, mysterious,was
3.hit,a, tornado , islands

Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 7

4.not, the, party, was, I to, attend, to, interested ,to Symbols are essential parts of the language. Through the use of
5. waves ,leafy, hands, tree ,the, its it , a person expresses his ideas and convey messages. Are you familiar
with symbols commonly use in our society ?
Task 4 : Read the paragraph and answer the questions that follow: Draw some and indicate the menaings they convey.

The quirty charns knagged the forik fobes chirpily. Task 7 : .Below is a poem about English words. Read it carefully. Think of
Therefore ,the foric fobes tored the charns. They also renked the possible reasons why this poem has been entitled as such.
berry boke.
? English Is a Crazy Language
- Anonymous
English Is a Crazy Language
There is no egg in eggplant
Nor ham in hamburger.
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple;
Questions : While no one knows
What is in the hotdog,
1. Who knagged the forik fobes ? You can be pretty sure
2. How did the charns kangged the foric fobes ? It is not a canine.
3. As a consequence, what did the foric fobbed do with the
English muffins were not invented in England;
charns ?
Nor French in France.
4. What else have they done with the berry boke ? Sweetmeats are candies
While sweetbreads aren’t sweets;
Task 5 : We encounter some foreign phrases/ statements in some We take English for granted
genres we read. Can you recall the meaning of the following foreign words But if we explore its paradoxes,
and phrases ? We fund hat quicksand works slowly.
How can a slim chance fat ?
And fat chance be the same ?
1.vis-a-vis ( Latin) 7. pot pourri ( French) While a wise man and wise guys are opposites.
2. tête-à-tête (Latin) 8. babushka( Russian) How can a weather be cold
3.e.g 9. hombre ( Spanish) Or hot as hell one day ?
4.verboten 10.sayonara ( Japanese) When a house burns up,
5.mi amore 11. Origami( Japanese)
6. Respondez Silvous Plait( RSVP)- \rā-pōⁿ-dā-sēl-vü-ple\ It burns down,
Or fill in a form by filing it out.
And an alarm clock
Task 6: Goes off by going on ?

Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 8

 Boxing rings are square;
And Guinea pig is neither from Guinea or it is a pig.
And why is that writers write;
But fingers don’t fings ?
Groceries don’t grocer
And hammers don’t ham.

If the plural of tooth is teeth;

Why isn’t the plural of both, beeth ?
One goose, two geese ?
So one moose, three meece ?

Is cheese the plural of choose ?

One mouse, two mice
One louse, two lice ;
One house, two hice ?
If teachers taught,
Why didn’t preachers praught ?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What does a humanitarian eats ?

Why do people recite at a play ?

And play at the recital ?
Ship by truck or a car ;
And send cargo by ship ?
Have noses that run;
And feet that smell.
Work on a driveway and drive on parkways ?
You get in and out of a car;
You get on and off a bus.
When the stars are out,
They are invisible.
And why when I wind up my watch,
I start it.
And when I end up this essay, I end it.

English is a silly language.

It doesn’t know
If it is coming or going.

Valerio, M. Methods of Teaching Linguistics, Revised Edition 2019 9