Functions of language

The question of identifying distinct functions of the language is an old and hot debated one in philosophy, linguistics and translation theory. Depending on the authors, the number varies from 3 to 6.

Karl Bühler offered (1918) the shortest list, which Karl Popper later (1953) accepted as a basis, saying that it was hierarchical:

1. the expressive or symptomatic function;
2. the stimulative or signal function;
3. the descriptive function.

Elsewhere, Bühler's split has been attributed to Eugene Nida and Charles Taber (1969). See also e.g. Jakobson.

Often, one stops at the stage of using language as a means of expression, i.e. below the stage of using it as a means of communications. This happens when one doesn't consider the reception, the effort related to it.