Functions of the language. What does it mean?

Language is a harmonious system of signs, in which sound, writing and semantic content are correlated.

The study of the language itself is engaged in science, which is called linguistics or linguistics. The features of signs are studied by semiotics. How the structure of language influences thinking, establishes psycholinguistics.

The language of any community is a very heterogeneous, extremely complex, multifunctional phenomenon. Everyone has heard of the communicative function of the language, but there is still a long series of other appointments besides it. Let's try to consider them.

• Communicative function implies that the language is necessary for communication and information transfer.
• The thought-forming (mental, cognitive) function is closely connected with communication. It is the communicative purpose that underlies the intellectual function of language, determines it. B.Norman gives a very precise example of the cognitive role of language. He quotes the phrase of a little girl who says that she does not know what she is thinking about until she utters it out loud.
• The accumulative or cognitive function helps to accumulate knowledge, and then transfer them further to other people and generations. Many people have never been to the moon, but thanks to the knowledge of people who have been there, we are well aware of the lunar landscapes and the features of the movement in this place.

In addition, cognitive function forms the inner world of man, helps to create and assimilate the concepts that are formed as a result of his practical activities.

• Nominative function can still be called "man's faith in the name." This means that after hearing the word "table", we will imagine different objects. However, all of them will have significant signs, which will allow the item to be classified as a "table", not a "cabinet" or any other. This ability to isolate the general and to name objects is closely related to the cognitive function.
• Emotional-expressive purpose of the language allows you to convey your emotions with words. This ability is called the "emotional function of language". Its goal - the implementation of emotional communication of people. Compare the coloring of words meaning "big": huge, healthy, gigantic. This function uses a special semantics, individual interjections that can convey instant emotions.
• The language's phatic function is very important. It is inseparably linked with its regulatory function aimed at creating, developing and settling relations in micro-groups. With the help of the phatic function, the interlocutor establishes contact, attracts attention, and then, using the regulatory function, continues the contact. Next to them is a conative function, by means of which the language is oriented to the addressee.
• With the help of the voluntaristic function of language, one person can influence the other.
• The ideological function helps by means of language as a system to influence ideology. For example, the Irish language is used not to communicate, but to maintain its statehood, acting as a symbol.
• With the help of the metalanguage function, language as a system and phenomenon is analyzed by means of the language itself.
• Using a representative function, people transmit information.
• The sphere of creativity allows us to realize the aesthetic orientation of the language.
• The axiological function means that, with the help of the language, a person is able to create value judgments, to separate the concepts "bad" and "good."
• The reference function of language means that it is a means of accumulating human experience
• Omadative function helps create reality and control it.

All functions of the language are intertwined and intertwined, interdependent and inseparable.