Editing Charles F. Hockett (section)

====Hockett's 13 design features of language====
{{Main|Design Features of Language}}
#[[Vocal-Auditory Channel]]: Much of human language is performed using the [[vocal]] tract and [[auditory system|auditory]] channel. Hockett viewed this as an advantage for human [[primates]] because it allowed for the ability to participate in other activities while simultaneously communicating through spoken language.
#[[Broadcast transmission and directional reception]]: All human language can be heard if it is within range of another person's auditory channel. Additionally, a listener has the ability to determine the source of a sound by [[binaural direction]] finding.
#[[Rapid Fading (transitoriness)]]: Wave forms of human language dissipate over time and do not persist. A hearer can receive specific auditory information only at the time it is spoken.
#Interchangeability: A person has the ability to speak and hear the same [[signaling theory|signal]]. Anything that a person is able to hear can be reproduced in spoken language.
#[[Complete Feedback|Total Feedback]]: Speakers can hear themselves speak and monitor their [[speech production]] and internalize what they are producing by language.
#Specialization: Human language sounds are specialized for communication. When dogs pant it is to cool themselves off. When humans speak, it is to transmit information.
#[[Semanticity]]: Specific signals can be matched with a specific [[meaning (linguistics)|meaning]].
#[[Arbitrariness]]: There is no limitation to what can be communicated about and no specific or necessary connection between the sounds used and the message being sent.
#Discreteness: [[Phonemes]] can be placed in distinct categories which differentiate them from one another, like the distinct sound of /p/ versus /b/.
#[[Displacement (linguistics)|Displacement]]: People can refer to things in space and time and communicate about things that are not present.
#[[Productivity (linguistics)|Productivity]]: People can create new and unique meanings of utterances from previously existing utterances and sounds.
#[[Traditional Transmission]]: Human language is not completely [[innate]], and acquisition depends in part on the learning of a language.
#[[Duality of patterning]]: Meaningless phonic segments ([[phoneme]]s) are combined to make meaningful words, which, in turn, are combined again to make sentences.

While Hockett believed that all communication systems, animal and human alike, share many of these features, only human language contains all 13 design features. Additionally, [[Traditional Transmission|traditional transmission]], and [[duality of patterning]] are key to human language.