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Language and Communication SYNOPSIS: Human language is a unique communication system which is different from that of other species. It is so complex and perfect that people couldn¡¯t help wondering where it comes from. It is believed that language is part of our essential human nature and is therefore neither invented nor handed down as a gift. All humans are innately or genetically equipped with a unique language learning ability. When people use language, they do more than just try to get another person to understand the speaker¡¯s thoughts and feelings. At the same time, people use language in subtle ways to define their relationship to each other, to identify themselves as part of a social group. Introduction Let¡¯s see what a modern civilized man does a day, from the moment he switches on an early morning news broadcast until he falls asleep over a novel. He talks to his friends, his associates, and his parents. He talks to bus drivers and total strangers. Television and radio further provide more words of talking. Hardly a moment of his waking life is free from talking. He is swimming in words. Human beings talk, i.e. they use extremely complicated systems of sputtering, hissing, gurgling, clucking, cooing noises called language, to express what goes on in their mind. This is called communication. People communicate with each other. They tell others what they are thinking about and they get others¡¯ thoughts at the same time. This is a kind of cooperation, to some extent. Scholars believe that widespread interpersonal cooperation through the use of language is the fundamental mechanism of human survival. The principle that if we don¡¯t hang together we shall all hang separately was discussed by nature long before it was put into words by man. Most of us probably have had the following experience. When you are walking in the street, someone shouts at you, ¡°Look out!¡± and you jump just in time to avoid being hit by an automobile. You owe your escape from injury to the fundamental cooperation act by which most of the higher animals survive, namely, communication by means of noise. You did not see the car coming. Nevertheless, someone did, and he made certain noises to communicate his alarm to you. Indeed, most of the time when we are listening to the noises people make, we are drawing upon the experiences of others in order to make up for what we ourselves have missed. Obviously, the more an individual can make use of the nervous systems of others to supplement his own, the easier it is for him to survive. In addition to having developed language, man has also developed means of making more or less permanent marks and scratches which stand for language.
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