Essay On Language And Communication

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Wherever life exists, communication occurs. Language and communication dominates every aspect of human life. Language is always evolving and adapting to the needs of its user. Yet, the fact that language is the medium of communication has never change. In short, language and communication are different things that cannot be separated.
According to Edward Sapir (1921), language is defined as a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols. As stated in ‘Language and Communication’ by Jack C. Richard, communication is understood as the exchange and negotiation of information between at least two individuals through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols. The …show more content…

He has developed a theory of grammar that is supposed to describe the universal properties underlying the grammars of every language in the world known as ‘Universal Grammar’ and claims that it is so abstract and complex that it cannot be learned at all through environment stimuli. He believes that every child has a ‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures. In fact, it is amazing how children are able to acquire a new language quickly and effortlessly despite language being so complex and irregular. To sum up, language is a product of innate abilities that evolved to serve human goals especially …show more content…

Speech is given primary importance because we do not know any society that does not have a language which is spoken. Speech existed long before writing. Writing is no doubt important but language without speech is unthinkable. Linguist John Lyons (1968) stated that writing is essentially a means of representing speech in another medium. Therefore, as language does not exist in a vacuum, language is primarily vocal. As a result, speech also plays a major role in communication as language and communication are highly

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