Language, Linguistics, and Speech: A Comprehensive Overview
Sign Language and Linguistics
What is Sign Language?
Sign language is a reality perceived by one or more human senses, referring to another reality that is not present. It consists of a signifier, a meaning, and a referent, producing an inseparable relationship between them called significance.
Components of Sign Language
The signifier of the linguistic sign is an “acoustic image” (string sound) and is the level of expression. It is also the set of letters which are written (orderly sequence of phonemes).
The meaning is the concept and builds the content level. It is the main idea that we have in mind for any word (which is created in our minds when we read or hear the orderly sequence of phonemes).
Arbitrariness: The tie that binds the significant with meaning is arbitrary; therefore, the linguistic sign is arbitrary. This arbitrariness is unwarranted and is the one linking mutability and immutability of the sign. Mutability is understood when the sign may change because society so chooses, and immutability is when there is no possibility to change the name of a thing.
Features Saussure defined language as:
- Language is a system of signs in which the only essential unity is meaning and image noise, and where the two sides of the sign are also psychic.
Language is a distinct object to the heterogeneous set of facts of language. It is a totality in itself and seems to be the only thing capable of self-definition. It is learned, conventional, and particular to each society. It is a social product of the language faculty. Language is a system of pure differences. It is concrete because it responds to something real and concrete. It is integral because it is entirely psychological.
Arguments that Differentiate Language from Speech
Language is multifaceted and heterogeneous. Through different domains, both physical, physiological, and psychological, it also belongs to individual and social domains, and one cannot conceive of one without the other.
It is not left classified in any of the categories of human events, instead of the tongue, which is a totality in itself and the beginning of calcification.
Language is supported by a faculty that nature gives us, while speech is learned and conventional.
Characteristics of Speech
Speech is an individual act of will and intelligence, which should be distinguished:
- Combinations for which the speaker uses the language code to express their thoughts.
- Psychophysical mechanisms that allow you to externalize these combinations (acts of phonation).
Language and speech are closely linked and involve each other. Language is necessary for intelligible speech and to produce all its effects, but it is necessary to establish that language evolves into speech: the impressions received by hearing others modify our linguistic habits.
System vs. Nomenclature
The notion that opposes the system is the nomenclature.
The nomenclature is joining existing ideas with a name, and the relationship between name and thing named is simple. This is a list of terms that bind to others.
In the system of language, the link is not direct because the sign does not involve the object. In change, nomenclature is tied to the object’s name.
Linguistics: The Study of Language
Linguistics is the scientific study of both the structure of natural languages and the knowledge that speakers have of them.
The goal of theoretical linguistics is the construction of a general theory of language structure or a general theoretical system for describing languages. The aim of applied linguistics is the application of discoveries and scientific study techniques of language to a variety of basic tasks, such as developing improved methods of language teaching.
Linguistics and Literary Language
When we refer to literary language, it should be understood as a linguistic manifestation materialized through letters or written expression, both for artistic purposes and communicative purposes.
The question here is to what extent the literary language, written, may define or even set the standard language of contemporary Spanish.
Language, Speech, and the Norm
The differences between language, speech, and the norm are very important when we study language and linguistics. We will try to give some basic definitions that allow us to discern other concepts.
We understand language as the ability to communicate through signs, whether oral or written. Thus, language has many different manifestations in different communities that exist on our planet. These events are what we know as languages, including Spanish, English, French, or German. It would be wrong to speak thus of “Spanish language” or “French language.” It is important to use terms with the accuracy they deserve.
Moreover, language is, as stated above, a system of signs that speakers learn and retain in their memory. It is a code, a code known by each speaker, and used whenever needed (which is very often). This code is very important for the normal development of communication between people because all speakers of a language know what it is and can communicate with each other.
What is Speech?
Speech is the translation of the above, the recreation of that model that the whole language community knows. It is a singular act, whereby a person, individually and voluntarily, encrypts a particular message, choosing for this code, signs, and rules as needed. Put another way, it is the act whereby the speaker, either through phonation (sound emission) or writing, uses the language to establish an act of communication.
The Role of the Norm
Between language and speech, there is a kind of intermediate layer that linguists understand as the norm. The norm is what prevents us from using some linguistic forms that, while abiding by the logic of language, might be incorrect. It occurs when a child says Andé rather than walked, the way they would say I played, I looked, or I sang. This type of rule has historically been well-considered and does not constitute any irregularity. The norm requires detours on certain aspects of language that we all accept, but the speaker does not have to know at first, which is why it is so common that among learners, such errors arise.