Aly Alnabawy

Al Azhar University
ILOs
1- Understand the definition of Language.
2- Recognize the functions of language.
3- Comprehend the various types of
Language and non verbal communication.
A language is a structured system
of communication used by humans.
Languages consist of spoken sounds
in spoken languages or written elements
in written languages.
Language, a system of conventional
spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols
by means of which human beings, as
members of a social group and participants in
its culture, express themselves.
The functions of language include
communication, the expression of identity,
play, imaginative expression, and emotional
release
Meaning And Style In Language.
The whole object and purpose of language is
to be meaningful.
Languages have developed and are
constituted in their present forms in order to
meet the needs of communication in all its
aspects.
Speech
Speech is human vocal communication using language.

Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and

consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all
English words sound different from all French words, even if
they are the same word, e.g., "role" or "hotel"), and using
those words in their semantic character as words in the
lexicon ‫معجم‬of a language according to the syntactic
constraints‫ القيود النحوية‬that govern lexical words‫'الحكم والرموز‬
function in a sentence.
Speech perception is the process by which the
sounds of language are heard, interpreted, and
understood.
The study of speech perception is closely linked to
the fields of phonology and phonetics in linguistics
and cognitive psychology and perception in
psychology.

Research in speech perception seeks to understand

how human listeners recognize speech sounds and
use this information to understand spoken language
Theories about the origin of language differ in regard to
their basic assumptions about what language is.

Some theories are based on the idea that language is so

complex that one cannot imagine it simply appearing
from nothing in its final form, but that it must have
evolved‫ تطورت‬from earlier pre-linguistic systems among
our pre-human ancestors‫األسالف‬.
These theories can be called continuity-based
theories.
The opposite viewpoint is that language is
such a unique human trait that it cannot be
compared to anything found among non-
humans and that it must therefore have
appeared suddenly in the transition from pre-
hominids to early man.
The brain is the coordinating center of all
linguistic activity; it controls both the
production of linguistic cognition and of
meaning and the mechanics of speech
production.
Nonetheless, our knowledge of the
neurological bases for language is quite
limited, though it has advanced considerably
with the use of modern imaging techniques.

The discipline of linguistics dedicated to

studying the neurological aspects of language
is called neurolinguistics.
Grammar is the study of how meaningful elements called
morphemes within a language can be combined into
utterances.
Morphemes can either be free or bound. If they are free to be
moved around within an utterance, they are usually called
words, and if they are bound to other words or morphemes,
they are called affixes.

The way in which meaningful elements can be combined

within a language is governed by rules. The study of the rules
for the internal structure of words are called morphology. The
rules of the internal structure of phrases and sentences are
called syntax
Neurolinguistics
Neurolinguistics is the study of
the neural mechanisms in the human brain that
control the comprehension, production, and
acquisition of language. As an interdisciplinary
field, neurolinguistics draws methods and theories
from fields such as neuroscience, linguistics,
cognitive science, communication
disorders and neuropsychology.
Word classes
Languages organize their parts of speech into
classes according to their functions and positions
relative to other parts.

All languages, for instance, make a basic distinction

between a group of words that prototypically
denotes things and concepts and a group of words
that prototypically denotes actions and events
Culture
Languages, understood as the particular set of speech
norms of a particular community, are also a part of the
larger culture of the community that speaks them.
Languages differ not only in pronunciation, vocabulary,
and grammar, but also through having different
"cultures of speaking." Humans use language as a way
of signalling identity with one cultural group as well as
difference from others
Contact
One important source of language change is contact
and resulting diffusion of linguistic traits between
languages.
Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more
languages or varieties interact on a regular basis.
Multilingualism is likely to have been the norm
throughout human history and most people in the
modern world are multilingual.
Body language is a type of a
nonverbal communication in which physical
behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to
express or convey the information.
Such behavior includes facial expressions, body
posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the
use of space.
Body language exists in both animals and humans,
but this article focuses on interpretations of human
body language. It is also known as kinesics.
Best Wishes
Aly Alnabawy