Language is BIOLOGICAL The human vocal apparatus is unique
Language is CULTURAL
Language is ARBITRARY There is no relation between words and the things they represent [3 kinds of memory: procedural (how to do something)-as in bees episodic (what actually happened) -as in mammals semantic (arbitrarily represented memory)-people ]
Language is GENERATIVE There are an infinite number of possible sentences. Yet we understand new sentences that we hear; and we constantly produce new sentences.
Language is UNIVERSAL All cognitively normal children acquire a language, early and relatively effortlessly. [principle of effability: you can say in one language anything that you can say in another]
Language tends to CHANGE Paradox: if communication is important, isn't consistency an absolute value?
Language is HISTORICAL We speak the way we speak today because of series of historical accidents and contingencies