Assignment of Theories of Language Description

Title

A Critique on the Definition of Language by Edward Sapir

Submitted to:

Mr. Waseem

Submitted by:

Ali Furqan Syed

Class:

MPhil (1st semester)

LAHORE INSTITUTE FOR FUTURE EDUCATION LAHORE

Critique

When we read Sapir’s definition between the lines, two questions arises mainly. First, if language is a method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols, how it can be purely human ? Simply, the answer is not because human beings as well as other species communicate symbolically. Second, is language non instinctive or not ?

Firstly, we illuminate the idea: language either purely human or not ? Language, a method of communication, is not unique to human beings. Other animal species communicate in variety of ways. Animals might not be able to speak or master advanced language techniques, but certainly have communicating capability. Animals often rely on verbal and non verbal forms and so human beings, such as by sounds, odor, body language etc. e.g. a bird may call that a territory is his and no one can invade. Sound is also considered a primary source of communication.

Another means of communication is by odor. Many animals and human beings as well communicate by odor. They release pheromones (a chemical substance produced and released by an animal, affecting the behavior or physiology of others of its species) to send messages to others. These chemical play an important role reproduction and other social behavior e.g. ants uses chemical cues to help or guide their foraging adventures, as well as for other activities like telling friend to foe etc.

Third means of communication is body language. Most animals (including human beings) use body movements as well as sound and smell in order to communicate with one another. Here are some general ways, which animals and human beings use, of expressing themselves through body movements. Bees dance when they have found nectar. The scout bee will dance in the hive, and direct other bees to the location of the nectar. Fireflies glow to attract mates. Cats rub against objects to mark them with their scent for future assistance. Male whales use songs to communicate with fee males. Animals as well as human beings communicate their own kind or other species for food, attract mates, and bring up young, escape from danger.

When we say language is symbolic, it means language exists in animals as well so it is not purely human. Human beings and animals communicate one another symbolically through gestures, facial expression, color change and touch too. Language is a kind of communication in which we send a message from source to the destination through different ways.

First, we take gestures to elaborate. When we make circle of his hand, have different meanings e.g. in UK it means OKAY, in RUSSIA it means ZERO, but in JAPAN it means

an ABUSE. There is another interesting example to strengthen the concept of gestures is that a traffic warden waves his hand with five fingers, and we generally take a meaning; STOP but in an African tribe it means something abusing; you have five fathers (BASTARD).

Second, facial expressions also belong to animal species as well as human beings. These reveal emotions such as happiness (through smile) and sadness (through mouth trembling and tears). Nose and cheek bulge in animals and human beings shows pain and in fear a dog changes the direction of his ears and pull back his eyes.

Third, color change, in human beings and animals, has its own importance and it happens when social factors or psychological factors involve in an activity e.g. red color symbolizes anger and yellow identifies fear.

Fourthly, touch can be an important factor in social interactions in animal species and human beings e.g. in fights, touch can be used to challenge an opponent or coordinate movements and in mating contexts It will increase interaction escalates.

Now, I put forward the question: is language non- instinctive or not ? On the one hand, those who believe that language is instinctive expresses that language is not learned and does not depend on having had best education. Chomsky strengthens the argument by stating that language is not learned therefore it is doubtful that language is obtained through a method which consists of learning only. He considered that a significant part of language is innate e.g. if a newborn English baby grows up in China by Chinese speaking adoptive parents, he will fluent in Chinese rather than speaking English.

Darwin also supports the theory that language is “instinctive”. He focuses that language ability is ‘an instinctive tendency to acquire an art’ that is not peculiar to humans but seen in other species such a song-learning birds.

On the other hand Sampson has found the idea that children are born with blank slates and it is observed that they develop their linguistic ability by observation and imitation of parents and those who belong to their surroundings. To justify his argument he says: “Eve was not a born know-well. She was ignorant. But she was good learner”.

Since language is symbolic, it is also debatable that symbols have to be learned and are not instinctive. It is the cultural tradition which gives meaning to various sounds and gestures that are innate ability of human beings and animal species e.g. it has been observed that monkeys in the wild consider at least three alarm calls symbolically for different predators – eagles, pythons and leopards- monkeys react differently to each call. Interestingly infant vervets often make the ‘eagle’ warning call when they see any

flying bird and learn the appropriate call as they grow up. This is similar to human ‘infants’ who often first apply the ‘dada’. So it can be considered that all such calls as symbolic.

So, it can be concluded that language is not ‘purely human’ as Edward Sapir has said, because it also relates to other animal species and language is neither ‘instinctive’ nor ‘non-instinctive’ the story goes from instinctive to non- instinctive.