Why is language an essential part of life?

 

The Peak of Human Intellect

 By Alejandro Cobo

Geraldine Molina.



Language is the wheel that moves the world every day, it is present in every society and today, there are more than 6,000 all around the world. Throughout the history of the human race, many elements and concepts have been continuously created by the mere intellect; however, the most significant one is undoubtedly the development of language. Right after humans started to live in society, they noticed that it was necessary to have an appropriate channel that would let them communicate ideas, fears, thoughts, etc. Thus, the language was born, and it has been instinctively present in our lives ever since that moment. Up to this day, many specialists on the field try to give explanations about what language really is, and even if there is not a general consensus, most of them agree on a single principle: language are words, rules, and interfaces.

The firsts elements that are needed to create and understand language are Words.  This is a conclusion that comes up after the exhaustive research commanded by the father of modern linguistics, Ferdinand De Saussure. The main idea behind his theory is that language is composed of smaller signs in which sound and meaning do not have a relationship. This concept receives the name of arbitrariness, and it complements previous investigations that clarified the way how an average person stores more than 60.000 different words, being capable of remembering them in both representations, visual and auditory. This helps us know how the human brain is prodigious in terms of capacity as it recognizes all the input that comes from the outside. In short, words are basic structures of language, they are stored in the brain while at the same time they are ready to be used to develop more complex ideas whenever the user wants to communicate something.

The second set of elements that are required to have a functional language is rules. The concept of structures being present in language has been introduced recently by the guidelines of Noam Chomsky. As a whole, having rules means that there are principles governing the use of language, this semantic field receives the name of grammar, and it is divided into phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatic, semiotics, and stylistics. Following Chomsky, we use these rules to assemble words and create new content, this is a feature that the user of language is capable to handle on a daily basis which is known as productivity. In this sense, it could be said that language is innate to humans, as children display this ability since the moment they are able to understand and produce short phrases on their own. To sum up, language is infinite as endless possibilities to create are at the hand of the user, and it is wired to the brain as it can be used for children who do not handle structures, but are able to produce on their own.

Finally, Interfaces are the last set of elements needed to develop language in an appropriate manner. To understand interfaces, it is necessary to remember that evolution made possible the development of language through the changes the human vocal track suffered, and the augment in the size of the brain. Language interfaces refer to speech comprehension and production, processes that require different abilities in order to understand and create a message. When both processes are combined together, and your counterpart is working with you to speak, communication occurs and an exchange of ideas takes place. Is important to note that context defines the meaning of what people say, as a single word might have many connotations. In brief, speech comprehension is a naturally performed task to humans, and it is easily achieved as long as both parts speak the same tongue and cooperate with each other to give and receive a clear message.


 To conclude, language is a phenomenon that has made possible the construction of the world and society in which we live today. To understand its nature, how and why it works the way it does are questions that still look for an answer. From linguists to researches of any kind, an answer is searched restlessly, and with every effort that results in a new conclusion, a new approach to the truth comes up to the light. In that sense, mankind continues to look up for new information, so that the boundaries and barriers that are present in language, can be surpassed one day.

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