Language may be defined as a system of symbols — the way in which human beings communicate ideas.
Scientists use mathematics as a language; it is how they express their ideas, concepts, and theories to others.
When we use a language to communicate, there are not always two people involved.
Suppose you (or your parents) are driving your car on a public highway.
In this situation symbols you see on the traffic signs are certainly a language for you.
So you are using traffic signs as a language, but who is communicating with you.
Is it the state highway department?
Is it the law makers in the state government that established these signs?
Maybe it’s the culture and society, or the people that make them up.
They set up the legislature and the highway department in the first place.
What seems important in this case is that the driver is reading, interpreting, and understanding the signs that have been placed on the road.
The simple idea of language being a means of communicating thoughts between two human beings may need to be restricted in other ways.
Suppose you are speaking with a friend.
You may not even be aware that you are letting him know your true feelings and intentions by means of gestures and other movements and positions of your body.
These movements are part of what people call “body language.”
This phenomenon makes us ask whether we even have to be aware and conscious of language being involved.
And so here again you seem to be interpreting unconscious signals.
We lose sight of language being involved.
Even the results, such as, your feelings, your reaction to the message, might often remain below the conscious level of awareness.
Suppose you look up at the sky and tell your friend what you think the weather will be like.
Is it now the sky that is communicating something to you?
You are reading nature’s signs — what some people call the language of nature.
Here the effect is linked so closely with its cause that it does not seem at all reasonable to maintain that some individual or group is initiating communication.
If the above scenarios are examples of language, then what are the elements that they share in common.
The signals or symbols of language may or may not be made with conscious intent.
But, they are symbols nevertheless, for we interpret them as standing for something which they themselves are not.
For the moment we posit three aspects which together seem essential to the definition of language.
- Language consists in signs or symbols.
- Language organizes its symbols in some sort of system.
- The symbols carry meaning, because they can be interpreted.
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DEFINITION.—Language Proper consists of the spoken and written words used to communicate concepts and ideas.
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DEFINITION.—English Grammar is the science which teaches the forms, uses, and relations of the spoken or written symbols of the English language.
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DEFINITION.—A Sentence is the expression of a thought1 in words.
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| Direction.—Analyze the following sentences:—: |
| Model.—Spiders spin.—
Why is this a sentence?
Ans.—Because it makes an assertion.
Of what does it assert something?
Ans.—*Spiders.
Which word tells what is asserted about spiders?
Ans.—*Spin.
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| 1. | Tides ebb. | 4. | Carbon burns. | 7. | Leaves tremble. |
| 2. | Liquids flow. | 5. | Iron melts. | 8. | Worms crawl. |
| 3. | Steam expands. | 6. | Powder explodes. | 9. | Bunnies hop. |
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*The word spiders, standing in Roman, refers to our concept of the class of objects in the real world;
spin, used merely to refer to the word, is in Italics.
This use of Italics the teacher and the pupil will please note here and elsewhere. |
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DEFINITION.—The Subject of a sentence names that of which something is thought2.
DEFINITION.—The Predicate of a sentence tells what is thought3.
DEFINITION.—The Analysis of a sentence is the separation of it into its parts.
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| Direction.—Analyze these sentences:—: |
| Model.—Beavers build.—
This is a sentence because it makes an assertion.
Beavers is the subject because it names that of which something is asserted;
build is the predicate because it tells what is asserted about beavers.*
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| 1. | Squirrels climb. | 4. | Heralds proclaim. | 7. | Corn ripens. |
| 2. | Blood circulates. | 5. | Apes chatter. | 8. | Birds twitter. |
| 3. | Muscles tire. | 6. | Branches wave. | 9. | Hearts throb. |
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*When pupils are familiar with the definitions, let the form of analysis be varied.
The reasons may be made more specific if desired, by using such words as topic, stated, affirmed.
Here and elsewhere avoid mechanical repetition.
The student should also be cautioned that not all sentences make statements (e.g., questions, commands), assertions (e.g., proposals, performances), or affirmations (e.g., denials) and that these exercises are specially constructed to isolate subject and predicate into single words until these concepts are fixed in the mind.
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| Love conquers. |
Explanation.— Draw a heavy line and divide it into two parts.
Let the first part represent the subject of a sentence; the second, the predicate.
If you write a word over the first part, you will understand that this word is the subject of a sentence. If you write a word over the second part, you will understand that this word is the predicate of a sentence.
You see, by looking at this figure, that Love conquers is a sentence; that love is the subject, and conquers the predicate.
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DEFINITION.—A Diagram is a picture4 of the offices and the relations of the different parts of a sentence.
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| Direction.—Analyze these sentences:— |
| 2. | Frogs croak. | 6. | Flies buzz. | 10. | Books help. |
| 3. | Hens sit. | 7. | Sap ascends. | 11. | Noise disturbs. |
| 4. | Sheep bleat. | 8. | Study pays. | 12. | Hope strengthens. |
| 5. | Cows low. | 9. | Buds swell. | 13. | Cocks crow. |
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