【答案解析】1) Arbitrariness. Language is arbitrary. It means that there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. Different sounds are used to refer to the same object in different languages.
2) Productivity. Language is productive or creative in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. They can produce and understand an infinitively large number of sentences, including sentences they have never heard before.
3) Duality. Language is a system, which consists of two sets Of structure, or two levels. Units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organizations. At the lower or the basic level there is a structure of sounds, which are meaningless by themselves. But the sounds of language can be grouped and regrouped into a larger number of units of meaning, which are found at the higher level of the system.
4) Displacement. Language can be used to refer to things which are present or not present, real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future, or in far-away places. In other words, language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situation of the speaker. This property provides speakers with an opportunity to talk about a wide range of things, free from barriers caused by separation in time and space.
5) Cultural transmission. While human capacity for language has a genetic basis, i.e. we were all born with the ability to acquire language, the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learned. This shows that language is culturally transmitted. It is passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning.