List the characteristics of human language in linguistics.

The characteristics of human language are often described as a set of features that distinguish it from other forms of animal communication. Here are some of the key characteristics of human language in linguistics:

1. Productivity: Human language is creative and productive, which means that speakers can produce and understand an infinite number of sentences, including ones they have never heard before.

2. Arbitrariness: The relationship between linguistic signs (e.g., words) and their meanings is arbitrary and conventional, rather than based on a natural or logical connection.

3. Discreteness: Language is composed of distinct units, such as sounds, words, and grammatical structures, that can be combined and rearranged to create different meanings.

4. Displacement: Language allows speakers to talk about things that are not present in the immediate environment, such as past events, future possibilities, or abstract concepts.

5. Duality: Language has two levels of structure, with units of sound (phonemes) combined to create units of meaning (morphemes), which are then combined to create larger units such as words and sentences.

6. Cultural transmission: Language is learned and transmitted through socialization within a particular cultural or linguistic community.

7. Universality: All human societies have some form of language, although there is significant variation across languages in terms of their structure, grammar, and vocabulary.

These characteristics are not exhaustive, and different linguists may describe language using slightly different features. However, these are generally agreed upon as being key features that distinguish human language from other forms of communication.