跨文化翻译0704-16.docVIP

What is language? ???? Sue Zhao The omniscient God was afraid that we, the common people, would climb to the Heaven by the tower called Babel that we had built. God felt obliged to restrict it. God then decided to put an end to our common language. As described in Genesis, Chapter 11, God gave his reason. Due to the common language, we, the common people, could do what we planed to do together. From this, some argue that our thoughts are impossible without speech. We can not cooperate with others without speech. Due to the fact that human beings can speak, we become the dominant group on earth. Without speech, it is difficult to refer to anything that is removed from us in space and time. We can have plans, but we can not communicate and express our thoughts without common language. In this way, it is impossible for us to accomplish powerful plans. So, we can see the significance of language in our life. Language is so important that it makes us wonder what language is. Many experts in linguistics gave their definitions and explanations of languages. Language is something that is spoken by human beings. We use language to communicate however, animals can communicate. They may use their sounds, their action, and their way of fly to express certain meaning. In this way, communication is not the only element of language. Charles F. Hocket, an American linguist tried to define human language. He said that language had three Characteristics: interchangeability, which means language, can be used to transmit information; productivity, the ability to vary a message; cultural transmission, which means that we learn from others and we acquire our native tongue by cultural transmission. Although, as we mentioned above, animals can communicate, they can transmit information through certain ways. Their ways of communication fit the first two criteria of being a language. However, animals can not receive cultural transmissions. Charles F Hocket gave us a rough idea about the