Functions of language

The Functions of languageAbstractI will come in to the subjects before, we need to make clear the key concept of" language". Then, what is language? Language is a kind of both ordinary and special phenomenon. Say it is common, because people every day in the use of language, every language organ sound age people, are able to speak at least one language. Say it is special, because it is not exactly the same as with other social phenomena, it is what kind of generation and development, it has nothing to do with the brain and the mind. It is what are the specific rules, how people learn to use the language. For the problem and so on, is still hard to make a satisfactory explanation. So the language is a very complicated phenomenon, is a kind of extremely complex psychological and physiological phenomena.The language is the human cannot leave instantly, spoken and written language in the expression and the exchange, memory, history, bearing the cultural role of denying. Can say, no language and words are not a nation, a country and the whole of human memory.Language in human life to play how to say too much for the very important function. The function of language is varied, according to the usual view, these functions can be divided into two aspects: social and cultural aspects of functional and psychological aspects of function.IntroductionWe use language for an almost infinite number of purposes,from writing letters to gossiping with our friends ,making speeches and talking to ourselves in the mirror.But ,the primary function of language is to transmit information and to convey commands,feeling and emotions.That is, language is a tool of communication.Therefor,communication can be use to cover much of the function of language social and cultural aspects of the function .Language in social and cultural aspects of many functions, is the main.Communicative functionCommunicative functions, mark function, cultural recording and spreading function and so municative function of language is the most important social function. The society can be established and maintained one of the basic conditions, is the need to have a variety of communication tools to communicate, coordinate each other members of society. Human society is such that, even the social animal is so.A variety of philosophers and social scientists regard the view of language as primarily communicative in function as the “conduit metaphor” (Reddy, 1979).The human society to communicate with each other by means of a lot of, hear, such as language, music, car, bicycle bell, the work on the bell, the clarion call sound, coordinate pace whistle; has the vision, such as text, picture, Morse code, gesture, dance vocabulary, traffic lights, ancient beacon, a variety of trademark, armbands, logo; tactile, such as Braille, shake hands, hug.Thus, the interaction order of talk, what Whalen and Zimmerman (1987) call an “interactional machinery,” is intimately involved in the means whereby, in institutional settings, participan ts “exhibit for one another (and for the analyst) their appreciation of who, situationally speaking, they are, and what, situationally speaking, they are up to.”In many of these means of communication, language is the most important. Because the other means of communication, either with limited information, eitherapplied field of communication limited, or use by other conditions. Language can be load information is almost unlimited, almost all life domains may be applicable, but as long as the normal pronunciation physiological conditions and the necessary neuropsychological conditions, you can use it freely.Thus, the language is indispensable to human is the most important communication tool, other means of communication are complementary. In the specific speech activity, people will use some methods to help language; in some special field of communication, people will use some other means of communication, such as on the road traffic signs, to celebrate the harvest when the gongs and drums dance, on behalf of the state image of the emblem and flag, secret communication in all situations real signal. However, this does not mean that language is the most important communication tool for human.Mark functionThe title of John Austin’s famous book, How to Do Things with W ords, conveys the essence of speech act theory. Austin (1962, p. 12)In general, each nationality has its own language, a nation of different regions have regional dialect, a different ethnic community social dialect. Each and every one of them wore a language badge, that he belongs to a nation, belonging to the nation in a particular region or social class. Individuals in long-term language practice, but also the formation of their own differs from others in the unique language habits, language is a social experience is also a refraction, intentionally or unintentionally, to a style of language imitation and the result of the pursuit of. Therefore, a person's words will be revealed about his personal situation of some news. This is the language of the sign function.Despite the centrality of language use in human society, social psychology textbooks often ignore the topic (Clark, 1985, p. 179).Since the language is a nation, an area, a corporate logo, it became a national, regional and community identity symbol and the emotion maintenance link. The same people, the same area, the same club man, require the use of native language, natives words or with society, otherwise,it may make the listener misunderstanding even disgust, thus impeding the smooth communication. A foreigner, outsider or other communities, if using a hearer when speaking the language or dialect, often get the listener.Cultural recording and transmission functionHuman culture is a means to create all corporeal product and mental product. Language is a special kind of culture, it is the human have one kind of the most important cultural, but also the cultural record and spread.The conduit metaphor reinforces an idea that problems of meaning in human society are essentially referential or concerned with how concepts correspond to or represent reality, and that language operates to make propositions about the world (Pitkin, 1972, p. 3)Human use of language, we must own to find and create everything, in the language. Language is only recorded human discovery and creation, can play a very good means of communication. Because of this, the language can become the cultural record. But, along with the language in the same generation in the lateral communication and to the offspring of longitudinal inheritance, culture will reach remote post. Therefore, language is not only the cultural record, also the disseminators of culture. Thus, the exotic culture can communicate with each other, the previous generation culture can people afterwards; and the culture in the lateral communication and longitudinal, following the development of. Language culture in recording and communication, not only through language works, but also in the language itselfDevelopment of functionLanguage is a kind of developing human capability. The language itself has a development ability, have a combined capacity, there is a derivative of ability. Meaning that the language itself in person to invent it later becomes a special world,, itself is in continue to multiply, combination, development, it develops the level, make people in the use of language and thinking about it more logical, thus avoiding thedesperate logic and thinking disorder. Knowledge of function independent of naming became increasingly stronger and diverse over ndau.B & Smith.L & Jones.S(1998) .And as the emergence of neologisms have contributed to more of the emergence of new concepts, make human limited experience to create unlimited space to consider. We can be a positive thinking process in the unlimited expansion, such as synonyms, in negative thinking, we create the opposite opposites, such as antonyms occur. It is not just alterations in turn taking that characterize institutional talk. Another implication of regarding conversation as primordial is that some mundane conversational sequences might be imported more or less wholesale as a resource for tasks that actors in institutional settings face recurrently. Thus, in medical settings, physicians and others are occupationally predisposed to having to deliver “bad news” in the form of diagnostic information.Maynard (1991) .On the language variation process we now will be very difficult to make a value judgement, it is good or not, because of the different historical environment, language variation and portfolio to meet the special needs. So the language itself has a variation in May, a derivative of the ability, the compensatory capacity, and the capacity of self-improvement. Sometimes the language combination of a rich people's thinking, of course, is the human mind enriched language, but in turn the language combination and enrich people's thoughts. People's thinking and language change is the interaction. Therefore, a language without words, a lost their language and language of their own nation is the most tragic.ConclusionThe most important function of language is nothing more than the expression. The social aspects of the functional and psychological aspects of the function, whether it is communication, is a symbol, is recorded, in politics, is the development, aesthetic, philosophical theology or the game is still psychological function, are essential to the expression of " language". Communication is a kind of expression, only the expression can form communication, here, expression by carrier of course can be varied language; different expression became a distinguished regional culture sign,different geographical and cultural formation of different modes of expression, so this particular expression logical became the geographical indication; language is recorded on a carrier, and record the end use is also the expression, to record a history, certainly must make use of text patterns of power, however, words and patterns and did escape from the category of language, is recorded history and ultimately for backward world expression prior to generation of the event. Therefore, language is the most simple and most profound function, is the expression of.ReferenceAustin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Clark, H. H. (1985). Language use and language users. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, volume 2 (pp. 179–231). New York: Random House.Landau.B & Smith.L & Jones.S Object Shape, Object Function, and Object Name JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 38, 1–27 (1998)Reddy, M. J. (1979). The conduit metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (pp. 284–324). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Maynard, D. W., & Clayman, S. E. (1991). The diversity of ethnomethodology. Annual Review of Sociology, 17,385–418.Pitkin, H. F. (1972). Wittgenstein and justice: On the significance of Ludwig Wittgenstein for social and political thought. Berkeley: University of California Press.Whalen, M., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Sequential and institutional contexts in calls for help. Social Psychology Quarterly, 50, 172–185.。