Hockett’s 13 Design Features of Language

[flowrish]

[Hockett’s 13 Design Features of Language

Charles Hockett proposed identifying descriptive characteristics
Hockett’s 13 Design Features used to compare animal communication to human communication
–Is human communication unique?

1. Vocal-Auditory Channel
– humans communicate via speech, out of mouth, into ear
– advantages compared with other forms: touch, odor, visual
• able to use hands while talking
• able to hear speech in the dark
2. Broadcast Transmission & Directional Reception
– anyone in broad range can hear speech
– also get information regarding direction and timing of sound

3. Rapid Fading
– speech signal is transitory, so gone quickly
– this is generally a disadvantage
– writing and recording are strategies to assist this
4. Interchangeability
– any human can say what any other human can say
• animal communication sometimes has gender constraints
5. Total Feedback
– hear and feel our speech, so able to adjust
– compensate for loss of hearing or motor speech skill

6. Specialization
– Communication mode (speech) is only used for communication
– unique structures
7. Semanticity
– human language is able to convey very specific, detailed messages
– words have stable relationships to the objects/events they represent

8. Arbitrariness
– words don’t refer directly to objects
– nothing about a “pen” requires that it be called a “pen”
9. Discreteness
– language is limited to a small number of sounds
– relatively small differences between sounds
– speakers aren’t able to perceive or produce nonnative sounds

10. Displacement
– ability to talk about things remote in place and time
• example of history lessons or science fiction
11. Productivity
– human language is creative, able to say things never said before
– create new words
– say old things in new ways (metaphors, poetry)
– yet the message is still understandable

12. Duality of Patterning
– a finite number of units combine in infinite ways to create meaning
– sounds combine to form morphemes which combine to form utterances, etc.
– meaning cannot be predicted from the bottom levels
13. Traditional Transmission
– capacity for language appears to be innate
– some aspects are learned, because you learn the language of the environment

[حسام III]

Thank you Flowrish
good thread

I like it

[M.o_o.N]

thanx alot sister :)

[Abu Ahmad & SM]

Thanks a lot my colleage.