1. Arbitrariness: This means that there is no inherent connection between a word and its meaning. The word "cat" doesn't sound like a cat, and the word "chien" doesn't sound like a dog in French, even though both words refer to the same animal. This allows language to be flexible and evolve over time.
2. Duality of Patterning: Language has two levels of structure:
* Sounds (phonemes): These are the basic building blocks of language, like individual letters or syllables.
* Meaning (morphemes): These are the smallest units of meaning, like words or parts of words.
This allows us to create an infinite number of meaningful combinations from a finite set of sounds.
3. Productivity (Creativity): This means we can constantly create new sentences and expressions, even if we have never heard them before. We can talk about new things, express new ideas, and understand sentences we've never heard. This is possible because of the rules of grammar and the combination of words and morphemes.
4. Displacement: Language allows us to communicate about things that are not present in the immediate context. We can talk about the past, the future, imaginary things, or even concepts that are abstract and difficult to visualize.
5. Cultural Transmission: Language is learned, not innate. We acquire language through interaction with others in our social environment. This means that language can change and evolve over time, adapting to new cultural contexts and needs.
Important Note: Some linguists argue that there are other important characteristics of language, such as discreteness (language is made up of distinct units), systematic ambiguity (language can have multiple interpretations), and recursion (language allows for nested structures, like clauses within clauses). Ultimately, the "five characteristics" of language depend on how you define and classify them.