The Structure of Language

Abstract

There is a privileged situation in which language becomes apparent as both elusive and systematic; it is the situation in which someone is to be taught formally how to speak. The language to be taught is in some sense a second language, either a foreign or a literary idiom. Language shows itself to be elusive in that the object language can rather easily be taught in bits of actual usage, but is very recalcitrant to attempts at giving a systematic and economical account of it. Yet language appears to be highly systematic; its rules are frequently and patently violated by the student even after he has acquired a certain competence and can make himself understood. Such learning situations presumably have arisen as soon as two different languages came in contact or a distinction between ordinary and elevated usage came about within one language. Such situations can be coped with in an informal way through rote and practice. But success is then achieved without insight.