Characteristics of Human Language

1.1. Discreteness

       The sounds used in language are meaningfully distinct. For example, the difference between a /p/ sound and a /b/ sound is not actually so great, but when these sounds are used in speech, they have different meanings. The fact that the pronunciation of the forms ‘pack’ and ‘back’ leads to a distinction in meaning can only be due to the difference between the /p/ and the /b/ sound. This property of language is described as ‘discreteness’. Each sound in the language can be thought as discrete. For example:
cut/put-----fine/wine-----boot/foot

       The above mentioned properties of language do not constitute a complete set that all linguists unanimously accept. There are many more proposals concerning the features of language; but owing to their minor importance and not very frequent occurrence in literature, they have been omitted in this lecture. We can conclude that human language is a unique system of communication with a number of distinctive features that are not shared by other animal communicative systems.