Linguistics differed in their opinions about language function. Yule suggests that it has either communicative or informative function. M. A. K. Halliday thinks that it has ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions. However, it is often described as having descriptive, expressive, and social functions. In the following few paragraphs, I will try to make a general overview about the function of language.
Yule suggests in his book: The Study of Language that language has two main functions (i.e. communicative and informative)*. He asserts the point of intention as a separator between the two functions; on the one hand, when you are unintentionally sending information about you to a person, you are informing him something about you. Here the language’s function is considered as informative. To illustrate, if you “unintentionally” sneezed while sitting with somebody, he will get “informed” that you have a cold. On the other hand, when you use language to tell somebody something, you are intentionally trying to communicate something; e.g. when you tell somebody to close the window for you.
The British linguist Halliday considers language as having three main functions**. The first is the ideational function (has to do with thinking). That is to organize the speaker’s or writer’s experience of the real or imaginary world, i.e. language refers to real or imagined persons, things, actions, etc. second, the interpersonal function is to indicate, establish, or maintain social relationships between people. It has to do with society. Third, the textual function helps us to produce texts whether written or spoken.
Language is often described as having three main functions***: descriptive, expressive, and social. The Descriptive function is concerned with facts; it describes facts (e.g. a report on a newspaper). It is used to convey factual information, for example: “I have 10 pounds in my pocket”. It is also subjected to the test of being right or wrong. The second function is the expressive function. That is to use language as a mean of expressing the self’s emotions, feelings, preferences, prejudices, and past experience, for instance: “I am happy”. Literature in general is expressive language, because it conveys what the poet feels. The last function of language is the expressive function, meaning that we use language to start (the focus), maintain, and end relationships. Exemplification, we say ‘good morning’ just to tell I am aware of you being there, and not to tell something. Naturally, these functions overlap at times, particularly the expressive and the social functions.
findcreate 