Language

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This article is about the properties of language in general. For other uses, see Language
(disambiguation).
Cuneiform is one of the first known forms of written language, but spoken language is believed
to predate writing by tens of thousands of years at least.
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using comple
systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of comple
communication. !he scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics.
!he approimately "###$%### languages that are spoken by humans today are the most salient
eamples, but natural languages can also be based on visual rather than auditive stimuli, for
eample in sign languages and written language. Codes and other kinds of artificially constructed
communication systems such as those used for computer programming can also be called
languages. & language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information.
!he 'nglish word derives from (atin lingua, )language, tongue.) !his metaphoric relation
between language and the tongue eists in many languages and testifies to the historical
prominence of spoken languages.
*+,
When used as a general concept, )language) refers to the
cognitive faculty that enables humans to learn and use systems of comple communication.
!he human language faculty is thought to be fundamentally different from and of much higher
compleity than those of other species. -uman language is highly comple in that it is based on
a set of rules relating symbols to their meanings, thereby forming an infinite number of possible
utterances from a finite number of elements. (anguage is thought to have originated when early
hominids first started cooperating, adapting earlier systems of communication based on
epressive signs to include a theory of other minds and shared intentionality. !his development
is thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume. (anguage is processed in many
different locations in the human brain, but especially in .roca/s and Wernicke/s areas. -umans
acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak
fluently when they are around three years old. !he use of language has become deeply
entrenched in human culture and, apart from being used to communicate and share information,
it also has social and cultural uses, such as signifying group identity, social stratification and for
social grooming and entertainment. !he word )language) can also be used to describe the set of
rules that makes this possible, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules.
&ll languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate a sign with a particular meaning. 0poken
and signed languages contain a phonological system that governs how sounds or visual symbols
are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs
how words and morphemes are used to form phrases and utterances. Written languages use
visual symbols to represent the sounds of the spoken languages, but they still require syntactic
rules that govern the production of meaning from sequences of words. (anguages evolve and
diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be reconstructed by comparing modern
languages to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had for the later stages
to have occurred. & group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a
language family. !he languages that are most spoken in the world today belong to the 1ndo2
'uropean family, which includes languages such as 'nglish, 0panish, 3ussian and -indi4 the
0ino2!ibetan languages, which include 5andarin Chinese, Cantonese and many others4 0emitic
languages, which include &rabic and -ebrew4 and the .antu languages, which include 0wahili,
6ulu, 7hosa and hundreds of other languages spoken throughout &frica.
Contents
*hide,
+ 8efinitions
o +.+ & mental faculty, organ or instinct
o +.9 & formal symbolic system
o +." & tool for communication
o +.: What makes human language unique
9 !he study of language
o 9.+ 'arly grammarians
o 9.9 -istoricism
o 9." 0tructuralism
" (anguage and its parts
o ".+ 0emantics
o ".9 0ounds and symbols
o "." ;rammar
".".+ ;rammatical categories
".".9 Word classes
"."." 5orphology
".".: 0ynta
: (anguage and culture
< =rigin
% >atural languages
? &rtificial languages
@ &nimal communication
A >otes
+# 0ee also
++ 3eferences
+9 Further reading
+" (ists
+: 'ternal links
[edit] Definitions
!he word )language) has two meanings: language as a general concept, and )a language) Ba
specific linguistic system, e.g. )French)C. (anguages other than 'nglish often have two separate
words for these distinct concepts. French for eample uses the word langage for language as a
concept and langue as the specific instance of language.
*9,
When speaking of language as a general concept, several different definitions can be used that
stress different aspects of the phenomenon.
*",
[edit] A mental faculty, organ or instinct
=ne definition sees language primarily as the mental faculty that allows humans to undertake
linguistic behaviour: to learn languages and produce and understand utterances. !his definition
stresses the universality of language to all humans and the biological basis of the human capacity
for language as a unique development of the human brain.
*:,*<,
!his view often understands
language to be largely innate, for eample as in ChomskyDs theory of Eniversal ;rammar or
Jerry Fodor/s etreme innatist theory. !hese kinds of definitions are often applied by studies of
language within a cognitive science framework and in neurolinguistics.
[edit] A formal symbolic system
&nother definition sees language as a formal system of symbols governed by grammatical rules
combining particular signs with particular meanings. !his definition stresses the fact that human
languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular
signs to particular meanings. !his structuralist view of language was first introduced by
Ferdinand de 0aussure. 0ome proponents of this view of language, such as >oam Chomsky,
define language as a particular set of sentences that can be generated from a particular set of
rules.
*%,
!he structuralist viewpoint is commonly used in formal logic, semiotics, and in formal
and structural theories of grammar, the most commonly used theoretical frameworks in linguistic
description. 1n the philosophy of language these views are associated with philosophers such as
.ertrand 3ussell, early Wittgenstein, &lfred !arski and ;ottlob Frege.
[edit] A tool for communication
Fet another definition sees language as a system of communication that enables humans to
cooperate. !his definition stresses the social functions of language and the fact that humans use it
to epress themselves and to manipulate obGects in their environment. !his view of language is
associated with the study of language in a functional or pragmatic framework, as well as in
socio2linguistics and linguistic anthropology. 1n the Hhilosophy of language these views are often
associated with Wittgenstein/s later works and with ordinary language philosophers such as ;. '.
5oore, Haul ;rice, John 0earle and J. (. &ustin.
[edit] What makes human language unique
-uman language is unique in comparison to other forms of communication, such as those used
by other animals, because it allows humans to produce an infinite set of utterances from a finite
set of elements,
*?,
and because the symbols and grammatical rules of any particular language are
largely arbitrary, so that the system can only be acquired through social interaction. !he known
systems of communication used by animals, on the other hand, can only epress a finite number
of utterances that are mostly genetically transmitted.
*@,
-uman language is also unique in that its
comple structure has evolved to serve a much wider range of functions than any other kinds of
communication system.
[edit] The study of language
Main articles: linguistics and History of linguistics
!he study of language, linguistics, has been developing into a science since the first grammatical
descriptions of particular languages in 1ndia more than 9### years ago. !oday linguistics is a
science that concerns itself with all aspects relating to language, eamining it from all of the
theoretical viewpoints described above.
(anguage can be studied from many angles and for many purposes: For eample, 8escriptive
linguistics eamines the grammar of single languages so that people can learn the languages4
theoretical linguistics develops theories how best to conceptualiIe language as a faculty4
sociolinguistics studies how languages are used for social purposes, such as differentiating
regional or social groups from each other4 neurolinguistics studies how language is processed in
the human brain4 computational linguistics builds computational models of language and
constructs programmes to process natural language4 and historical linguistics traces the histories
of languages and language families by using the comparative method.
[edit] Early grammarians
Main article: Philology
&ncient !amil inscription at the .rihadeeswara !emple in !hanGavur
!he formal study of language began in 1ndia with HJnKini, the <th century .C grammarian who
formulated ",A<A rules of 0anskrit morphology. HJnKini/s systematic classification of the sounds
of 0anskrit into consonants and vowels, and word classes, such as nouns and verbs, was the first
known instance of its kind. 1n the 5iddle 'ast 0ibawayh BLMNOPQC made a detailed description of
&rabic in ?%# &8 in his monumental work, l!"itab fi al!nah# BNRSTU VW XYZ[TU, The $oo" on
%rammarC, the first known author to distinguish between sounds and phonemes Bsounds as units
of a linguistic systemC.
Western interest in the study of languages began as early as in the 'ast,
*A,
but the grammarians of
the classical languages did not use the same methods or reach the same conclusions as their
contemporaries in the 1ndic world. 'arly interest in language in the West was a part of
philosophy, not of grammatical description. !he first insights into semantic theory were made by
Hlato in his &ratylus dialogue, where he argues that words denote concepts that are eternal and
eist in the world of ideas. !his work is the first to use the word etymology to describe the
history of a wordDs meaning.
&round 9@# .C one of &leander the ;reat/s successors founded a university Bsee 5usaeumC in
&leandria, where a school of philologists studied the ancient tets in and taught ;reek to
speakers of other languages. !his school was the first to use the word )grammar) in its modern
sense, Hlato had used the word in its original meaning as )t\chn] grammatik]^ ) B_`abc
defggfhijkC, the )art of writing,) which is also the title of one of the most important works of
the &leandrine school by 8ionysius !hra.
*+#,
!hroughout the 5iddle &ges the study of language was subsumed under the topic of philology,
the study of ancient languages and tets, practiced by such educators as 3oger &scham,
Wolfgang 3atke and John &mos Comenius.
*++,
[edit] istoricism
1n the +@th century, the first use of the comparative method by William Jones sparked the rise of
comparative linguistics.
*+9,
.loomfield attributes )the first great scientific linguistic work of the
world) to Jacob ;rimm, who wrote 'eutsche %rammati".
*+",
1t was soon followed by other
authors writing similar comparative studies on other language groups of 'urope. !he scientific
study of language was broadened from 1ndo2'uropean to language in general by Wilhelm von
-umboldt, of whom .loomfield asserts:
*+",
)!his study received its foundation at the hands of the Hrussian statesman and scholar Wilhelm
von -umboldt B+?%?l+@"<C, especially in the first volume of his work on mavi, the literary
language of Java, entitled (ber die )erschiedenheit des menschlichen *prachbaues und ihren
+influ, auf die geistige +nt#ic"elung des Menschengeschlechts Bn=n the oariety of the 0tructure
of -uman (anguage and its 1nfluence upon the 5ental 8evelopment of the -uman 3ace/C.)
[edit] !tructuralism
'arly in the 9#th century, de 0aussure introduced the idea of language as a )semantic code.)
*+:,

0ubstantial additional contributions similar to this came from -Gelmslev, pmile .enveniste and
3oman Jakobson,
*+<,
which are characteriIed as being highly systematic.
*+<,
[edit] Language and its "arts
Main article: semiotics
When described as a system of symbolic communication, language is traditionally seen as
consisting of three parts: signs, meanings and a code connecting signs with their meanings. !he
study of how signs and meanings are combined, used and interpreted is called semiotics. 0igns
can be composed of sounds, gestures, letters or symbols, depending on whether the language is
spoken, signed or written, and they can be combined into comple signs such as words and
phrases. When used in communication a sign is encoded and transmitted by a sender through a
channel to a receiver who decodes it Ba signalC.
0ome of the properties that define human language as opposed to other communication systems
are: the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign, meaning that there is no predictable connection
between a linguistic sign and its meaning4 the duality of the linguistic system, meaning that
linguistic structures are built by combining elements into larger structures that can be seen as
layered, e.g. how sounds build words and words build phrases4 the discreteness of the elements
of language, meaning that the elements out of which linguistic signs are constructed are discrete
units, e.g. sounds and words, that can be distinguished from each other and rearranged in
different patterns4 and the productivity of the linguistic system, meaning that the finite number of
linguistic elements can be combined into a theoretically infinite number of combinations.
*+%,
!he rules under which signs can be combined to form words and phrases are called synta or
grammar. !he meaning that is connected to individual signs, words and phrases is called
semantics. !he division of language into separate but connected systems of sign and meaning
goes back to the first linguistic studies of de 0aussure and is now used in almost all branches of
linguistics.
[edit] !emantics
(anguages epress meaning by relating a sign to a meaning. !hus languages must have a
vocabulary of signs related to specific meaninglthe 'nglish sign )dog) denotes, for eample, a
member of the genus &anis. 1n a language, the array of arbitrary signs connected to specific
meanings is called the leicon, and a single sign connected to a meaning is called a leeme. >ot
all meanings in a language are represented by single words2often semantic concepts are
embedded in the morphology or synta of the language in the form of grammatical categories.
&ll languages contain the semantic structure of predicationla structure that predicates a
property, state or action that has truth value, i.e. it can be true or false about an entity, e.g. )* *is
y,,) or )* *does y,,.)
[edit] !ounds and symbols
Main article: Phonology
!he ways in which spoken languages use sounds to construct meaning is studied in phonology.
!he study of how humans produce and perceive vocal sounds is called phonetics. 1n spoken
language meaning is constructed when sounds become part of a system in which some sounds
can contribute to epressing meaning and others do not. 1n any given language only a limited
number of the many distinct sounds that can be created by the human vocal apparatus contribute
to constructing meaning
0ounds as part of a linguistic system are called phonemes. &ll spoken languages have phonemes
of at least two different categories: vowels and consonants that can be combined into forming
syllables. &part from segments such as consonants and vowels, some languages also use sound in
other ways to convey meaning. 5any languages, for eample, use stress, pitch, duration and tone
to distinguish meaning. .ecause these phenomena operate outside of the level of single segments
they are called suprasegmental.
Writing systems represent the sounds of human speech using visual symbols. !he (atin alphabet
Band those on which it is based or that have been derived from itC is based on the representation
of single sounds, so that words are constructed from letters that generally denote a single
consonant or vowel in the structure of the word.
1n syllabic scripts, such as the 1nuktitut syllabary, each sign represents a whole syllable
1n logographic scripts each sign represents an entire word. .ecause all languages have a very
large number of words, no purely logographic scripts are known to eist. 1n order to represent the
sounds of the world/s languages in writing, linguists have developed an 1nternational Hhonetic
&lphabet, designed to represent all of the discrete sounds that are known to contribute to
meaning in human languages.
[edit] #rammar
Main article: grammar
;rammar is the study of how meaningful elements BmorphemesC within a language can be
combined into utterances. 5orphemes can either be free or bound. 1f they are free to be moved
around within an utterance, they are usually called words, and if they are bound to other words or
morphemes, they are called affies. !he way in which meaningful elements can be combined
within a language is governed by rules. 1n standard linguistic theory the rules of the internal
structure of words is called morphology. !he rules of the internal structure of the phrases and
sentences is called synta.
*+?,
1n the generativist tradition of Chomsky morphology is seen as a
part of synta.
[edit] #rammatical categories
;rammar contributes to producing meaning by encoding semantic distinctions in forms that are
systematic. !he predictability resulting from systematiIation allows language users to produce
and understand new words and meanings by applying their knowledge of the language/s
grammatical categories.
(anguages differ widely in whether categories are encoded through the use of categories or
leical units. -owever, several categories are so common as to be nearly universal. 0uch
universal categories include the encoding of the grammatical relations of participants and
predicates by grammatically distinguishing between their relations to a predicate, the encoding of
temporal and spatial relations on predicates, and a system of grammatical person governing
reference to and distinction between speakers and addressees and those about whom they are
speaking.
[edit] Word classes
(anguages organiIe their parts of speech into classes according to their functions and positions
relative to other parts. &ll languages, for instance, make a basic distinction between a group of
words that prototypically denote things and concepts and a group of words that prototypically
denote actions and events. !he first group, which includes 'nglish words such as )dog) and
)song,) is usually called nouns. !he second, which includes )run) and )sing,) is called verbs.
&dditionally, some languages have adGectives, such as )red) or )big,) that describe properties or
qualities of nouns, and adverbs, such as such as )quickly) and )hopefully,) that modify verbs.
!he word classes also carry out differing functions in grammar. Hrototypically verbs are used to
construct predicates, while nouns are used as arguments of predicates. 1n a sentence such as
)0ally runs,) the predicate is )runs,) because it is the word that predicates a specific state about
its argument )0ally.) 0ome verbs such as )curse) can take two arguments, e.g. )0ally cursed
John.) & predicate that can only take a single argument is called intransiti-e, while a predicate
that can take two arguments is called transiti-e.
5any other word classes eist in different languages, such as conGunctions that serve to Goin two
sentences and articles that introduces a noun.
[edit] $or"hology
5any languages use the morphological processes of inflection to modify or elaborate on the
meaning of words. 1n some languages words are built of several meaningful units called
morphemes, the 'nglish word )unepected) can be analyIed as being composed of the three
morphemes )un2), )epect) and )2ed). 5orphemes can be classified according to whether they
are roots to which other bound morphemes called affies are added, and bound morphemes can
be classified according to their position in relation to the root: prefies precede the root, suffies
follow the root and infies are inserted in the middle of a root. &ffies serve to modify or
elaborate the meaning of the root. 0ome languages change the meaning of words by changing the
phonological structure of a word, for eample the 'nglish word )run) which in the past tense is
)ran). Furthermore morphology distinguishes between processes of inflection which modifies or
elaborates on a word, and derivation which instead creates a new word from an eisting one 2 for
eample in 'nglish )sing) which can become )singer) by adding the derivational morpheme 2er
which derives an agentive noun from a verb. (anguages differ widely in how much they rely on
morphology 2 some languages, traditionally called polysynthetic languages depend so much on
morphology that they epress the equivalent of an entire 'nglish sentence in a single word. For
eample the ;reenlandic word )o.aatiginerluppaa) )BheqsheC speaks badly about himqher)
which consists of the root o.aa and si suffies.
*+@,
[edit] !ynta%
(anguages that use inflection to convey meaning often do not have strict rules for word order in
a sentence. For eample in (atin both )dominus ser-os -ituperabat) and )ser-os -ituperabat
dominus) mean )the master was cursing the slaves), because )ser-os) )slave) is in the accusative
case showing that they are the grammatical obGect of the sentence and )dominus) )master) is in
the nominative case showing that he is the subGect. =ther languages, however, use little or no
inflectional processes and instead use the sequence of words in relation to each other to describe
meaning. For eample in 'nglish the two sentences )the slaves were cursing the master) and )the
master was cursing the slaves) mean different things because the role of grammatical subGect is
encoded by the noun being in front of the verb and the role of obGect is encoded by the noun
appearing after the verb.
0ynta then, has to do with the order of words in sentences, and specifically how comple
sentences are structured by grouping words together in units, called phrases, that can occupy
different places in a larger syntactic structure. .elow is a graphic representation of the syntactic
analysis of the sentence )the cat is on the mat). !he sentence is analysed as being constituted by
a noun phrase, a verb and a prepositional phrase, the prepositional phrase is further divided into a
preposition and a noun phrase, and the noun phrases consist of an article and a noun.
Verb Phrase/Sentence
/ | \
/ | \
/ | Prepositional Phrase
/ | / \
Noun Phrase | / Noun Phrase
/ \ | / / \
Article Noun Verb Preposition Article Noun
| | | | | |
the cat is on the mat
"The cat is on the mat"
[edit] Language and culture
Main article: &ulture
)!he !ower of .abel) by Hieter .ruegel the 'lder. =il on board, +<%".
!he !ower of .abel symbolises the division of mankind by a multitude of tongues provided
through heavenly intervention.
&s far back as the classical period the connection between human culture and language has been
noted and probably long before. !he ancient ;reeks, for eample, distinguished between
civiliIed peoples and brrbaros )those who babble), i.e. those who speak unintelligible languages.
*+A,
!he fact that different groups speak different, unintelligible languages is often considered
more tangible evidence for cultural differences than other less obvious cultural traits.
(anguages, understood as the particular set of speech norms of a particular community, are also a
part of the larger culture of the community that speak them. -umans use language as a way of
signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others. 'ven among speakers of
one language several different ways of using the language eist, and each is used to signal
affiliation with particular subgroups within a larger culture. (inguists and anthropologists,
particularly sociolinguists, ethnolinguists and linguistic anthropologists have specialiIed in
studying how ways of speaking vary between speech communities.
& communityDs ways of using language is a part of the communityDs culture, Gust as other shared
practices are, it is way of displaying group identity. Ways of speaking function not only to
facilitate communication, but also to identify the social position of the speaker. (inguists call
different ways of speaking language varieties, a term that encompasses geographically or
socioculturally defined dialects as well as the Gargons or styles of subcultures. (inguistic
anthropologists and sociologists of language define communicative style as the ways that
language is used and understood within a particular culture.
*9#,
!he differences between languages does not consist only in differences in pronunciation,
vocabulary or grammar, but also in different )cultures of speaking). 0ome cultures for eample
have elaborate systems of )social deiis), systems of signalling social distance through linguistic
means.
*9+,
1n 'nglish, social deiis is shown mostly though distinguishing between addressing
some people by first name and others by surname, but also in titles such as )5rs.), )boy),
)8octor) or )Four -onor), but in other languages such systems may be highly comple and
codified in the entire grammar and vocabulary of the language. 1n several languages of east &sia,
for eample !hai, .urmese and Javanese, different words are used according to whether a
speaker is addressing someone of higher or lower rank than oneself in a ranking system with
animals and children ranking the lowest and gods and members of royalty as the highest.
*9+,
[edit] &rigin
0kull of -omo >eanderthalensis discovered in (a Chapelle &u 0aints, France. 1t is unknown
whether >eanderthal humans had language.
Main article: /rigin of language
!heories about the origin of language can be divided according to their basic assumptions. 0ome
theories are based on the idea that language is so comple that one can not imagine it simply
appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have evolved from earlier pre2linguistic
systems among our pre2human ancestors. !hese theories can be called continuity based theories.
!he opposite viewpoint is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared
to anything found among non2humans and that it must therefore have appeared fairly suddenly in
the transition from pre2hominids to early man. !hese theories can be defined as discontinuity
based. 0imilarly some theories see language mostly as an innate faculty that is largely genetically
encoded, while others see it as a system that is largely cultural, that is learned through social
interaction.
*99,
Currently the only prominent proponent of a discontinuity theory of human
language is >oam Chomsky who however does not present any scenario for how human
language appeared. Continuity based theories are currently held by a maGority of scholars, but
they vary in how they envision this development. !hose who see language as being mostly
innate, for eample 0teven Hinker, hold the precedents to be animal cognition, whereas those
who see language as a socially learned tool of communication, such as 5ichael !omasello see it
as having developed from animal communication, either primate gestural or vocalic
communication. =ther continuity based models see language as having developed from music.
.ecause the emergence of language is located in the early prehistory of man, the relevant
developments have left no direct historical traces and no comparable processes can be observed
today. !heories that stress continuity often look at animals to see if, for eample, primates
display any traits that can be seen as analogous to what pre2human language must have been like.
&lternatively early human fossils can be inspected to look for traces of physical adaptation to
language use or for traces of pre2linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour.
1t is mostly undisputed that pre2human australopithecines did not have communication systems
significantly different from those found in great apes in general, but scholarly opinions vary as to
the developments since the appearance of Homo some 9.< million years ago. 0ome scholars
assume the development of primitive language2like systems Bproto2languageC as early as Homo
habilis, while others place the development of primitive symbolic communication only with
Homo erectus B+.@ million years agoC or Homo heidelbergensis B#.% million years agoC and the
development of language proper with Homo sapiens sapiens less than +##,### years ago.
(inguistic analysis, used by Johanna >ichols, a linguist at the Eniversity of California, .erkeley,
to estimate the time required to achieve the current spread and diversity in modern languages
today, indicates that vocal language arose at least +##,### years ago.
*9",
[edit] 'atural languages
Main article: 0atural language
0ome of the areas of the brain involved in language processing: .rocaDs area B.lueC, WernickeDs
area B;reenC, 0upramarginal gyrus BFellowC, &ngular gyrus B=rangeC, Hrimary &uditory Corte
BHinkC
-uman languages are usually referred to as natural languages, and the science of studying them
falls under the purview of linguistics. & common progression for natural languages is that they
are considered to be first spoken and then written, and then an understanding and eplanation of
their grammar is attempted.
(anguages live, die, polymorph, move from place to place, and change with time. &ny language
that ceases to change or develop is categoriIed as a dead language. Conversely, any language that
is in a continuous state of change is known as a li-ing language or modern language. 1t is for
these reasons that the biggest challenge for a speaker of a foreign language is to remain
immersed in that language in order to keep up with the changes of that language.
5aking a principled distinction between one language and another is sometimes nearly
impossible.
*9:,
For instance, there are a few dialects of ;erman similar to some dialects of 8utch.
!he transition between languages within the same language family is sometimes gradual Bsee
dialect continuumC.
0ome like to make parallels with biology, where it is not possible to make a well2defined
distinction between one species and the net. 1n either case, the ultimate difficulty may stem
from the interactions between languages and populations. B0ee 8ialect or &ugust 0chleicher for a
longer discussion.C
!he concepts of &usbausprache, &bstandsprache and 8achsprache are used to make finer
distinctions about the degrees of difference between languages or dialects.
& sign language Balso signed languageC is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed
sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns Bmanual communication, body languageC
to convey meaninglsimultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the
hands, arms or body, and facial epressions to fluidly epress a speakerDs thoughts. -undreds of
sign languages are in use around the world and are at the cores of local 8eaf cultures.
[edit] Artificial languages
!he first book ever published in 'speranto, the worldDs most widely spoken constructed
language.
&n artificial language is a language the phonology, grammar, andqor vocabulary of which have
been consciously devised or modified by an individual or group, instead of having evolved
naturally. !here are many possible reasons to create a constructed language: to ease human
communication Bsee international auiliary language and codeC4 to bring fiction or an associated
constructed world to life4 for linguistic eperimentation4 for artistic creation4 and for language
games.
!he epression )planned language) is sometimes used to mean international auiliary languages
and other languages designed for actual use in human communication. 0ome prefer it to the term
)artificial), as that term may have peGorative connotations in some languages. =utside the
'speranto community, the term language planning means the prescriptions given to a natural
language to standardiIe it4 in this regard, even )natural languages) may be artificial in some
respects. Hrescriptive grammars, which date to ancient times for classical languages such as
(atin, 0anskrit, and Chinese are rule2based codifications of natural languages, such codifications
being a middle ground between naive natural selection and development of language and its
eplicit construction.
!he &0C11 !able, a scheme for encoding character strings.
5athematics, (ogics and computer science use artificial entities called formal languages
Bincluding programming languages and markup languages, and some that are more theoretical in
natureC. !hese often take the form of character strings, produced by a combination of formal
grammar and semantics of arbitrary compleity.
& programming language is a formal language endowed with semantics that can be utiliIed to
control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer, to perform specific tasks.
Hrogramming languages are defined using syntactic and semantic rules, to determine structure
and meaning respectively.
Hrogramming languages are employed to facilitate communication about the task of organiIing
and manipulating information, and to epress algorithms precisely. 0ome authors
*#ho1,
restrict the
term )programming language) to those languages that can epress all possible algorithms4
sometimes the term )computer language) is applied to artificial languages that are more limited.
*citation needed,
[edit] Animal communication
Main article: nimal language
Figure2'ight20haped Waggle 8ance of the -oneybee B&pis melliferaC indicating a food source to
the right of the direction of the sun outside the hive. !he abdomen of the dancer appears blurred
because of the rapid motion from side to side
!he term )animal languages) is often used for non2human systems of communication. (inguists
and semioticians do not consider these to be true )language), but describe them as animal
communication on the basis on non2symbolic sign systems,
*9<,
because the interaction between
animals in such communication is fundamentally different in its underlying principles from
human language. 0ince animals arenDt born with the ability to reason, there is no true and
developed )culture) among animals as it eists in humans. Without this culture, there is no need
for comple language. & dog may successfully communicate an aggressive emotional state with
a growl, which may or may not cause another dog to keep away or back off. 0imilarly, when a
human screams in fear, it may or may not alert other humans of impending danger. While both of
these eamples are often successful in terms of communicating a feeling state, they are
instinctive, not linguistic, in nature, they are specific to their respective species and do not reflect
a comple language system that had been evolved through history. >evertheless, some scholars
have tried to disprove this mainstream premise through eperiments on training chimpanIees to
talk. marl von Frisch received the >obel HriIe in +A?" for his proof of the sign communication
and its variants of the bees.
*9%,
1n several publiciIed instances, non2human animals have been taught to understand certain
features of human language. ChimpanIees, gorillas, and orangutans have been taught hand signs
based on &merican 0ign (anguage. !he &frican ;rey Harrot, which possesses the ability to
mimic human speech with a high degree of accuracy, is suspected of having sufficient
intelligence to comprehend some of the speech it mimics. !hough animals can be taught to
understand human commands, they are not capable of repeating those commands. Without the
ability to reason, animals are also unable to learn the concepts of comple philosophical ideas
such as the past and future, which are core fundamentals of comple language. Without this
ability, animals are not able to pass these teachings on towards other animals of the same species.
!hus, even though we can teach animals to understand aspects of human language, they are
unable to develop that language around a culture suitable for them. -umans on the other hand,
have been proven to learn languages not native to them, and use those languages as a native
speaker would, and pass those along to other members of their native culture.
While proponents of animal communication systems have debated levels of semantics, these
systems have not been found to have anything approaching human language synta.
*9?,
[edit] 'otes
+. ( )language). The merican Heritage 'ictionary of the +nglish Language B"rd ed.C. .oston:
-oughton 5ifflin Company. +AA9.
9. ( (yons, John. +A@+. (anguage and (inguistics. p. 9
". ( (yons, John. +A@+. (anguage and (inguistics. pp. +$@
:. ( 5arc 8. -auser and W. !ecumseh Fitch B9##"C. )What are the uniquely human components of
the language facultys). 1n 5.-. Christiansen and 0. mirby. Language +-olution: The *tates of the
rt. =ford Eniversity Hress.
http:qqwww.isrl.uiuc.eduqtamagqlangevqpaperqhauser#"what&re.html.
<. ( Hinker, 0teven B+AA:C. The Language 2nstinct: Ho# the Mind &reates Language. Herennial.
%. ( Chomsky, >oam B+A<?C. *yntactic *tructures. the -ague: 5outon.
?. ( -auser,5arc 8.4 >oam Chomsky u W. !ecumseh Fitch B9##9C. )!he Faculty of (anguage:
What 1s 1t, Who -as 1t, and -ow 8id 1t 'volves). *cience 33 )*+ B<<A@C: +<%A$+<?A.
@. ( !omasello, 5ichael B9##@C. /rigin of Human &ommunication. 51! Hress.
A. ( .loomfield +A+:, p. "#?.
+#. ( 0'E3'>, H1'!'3 &. 5. B+AA@C. 4estern linguistics: n historical introduction. Wiley2blackwell.
pp. 9$9:. 10.> #%"+9#@A+?
++. ( .loomfield +A+:, p. "#@.
+9. ( .loomfield +A+:, p. "+#.
+". v
a

b
.loomfield +A+:, p. "++.
+:. ( Clarke, 8avid 0. B+AA#C. *ources of semiotic: readings #ith commentary from anti.uity to the
present. Carbondale: 0outhern 1llinois Eniversity Hress. pp. +:"$+::.
+<. v
a

b
-olquist +A@+, pp. vii2viii.
+%. ( (yons, John B+A@+C. Language and linguistics. Cambridge Eniversity Hress. pp. +?$9:.
+?. ( (yons, John B+A@+C. Language and linguistics. Cambridge Eniversity Hress. pp. +#".
+@. ( 3ischel, Jwrgen. ;rwnlandsk sprog.*+, 8en 0tore 8anske 'ncyklopxdi ool. @, ;yldendal
+A. ( .aepler, Haul. 9##". )White slaves, &frican masters.) !he &>>&(0 of the &merican &cademy
of Holitical and 0ocial 0cience <@@B+C: A#$+++. p. A+
9#. ( Clancy, Hatricia. B+A@%C )!he acquisition of communicative style in Japanese.) 1n .. 0chieffelin
and '. =chs BedsC Language *ociali5ation across &ultures. Cambridge: Cambridge Eniversity
Hress.
9+. v
a

b
Foley +AA? pss
99. ( Elbaek, 1b B+AA@C. )!he =rigin of (anguage and Cognition). 1n J. 3. -urford u C. mnight.
pproaches to the e-olution of language. Cambridge Eniversity Hress. pp. "#$:".
9". ( .ower, .ruce B++ June +AA:C. )!alking back in time4 prehistoric origins of language attract new
data and debate 2 language evolution). *cience 0e#s on $net (Technology 2ndustry). C.0
1nteractive >ews 0ervice.
http:qqfindarticles.comqpqarticlesqmiym+9##qisyn9:yv+:<qaiy+<<+?"@%qstagzcontent4col+.
3etrieved 9A 0eptember 9#+#.
9:. ( )(anguage). The 0e# +ncyclop6dia $ritannica: M&7/P8'2. )). 'ncyclopxdia
.ritannica,1nc.. 9##<. pp. <:@ 9b.
9<. ( Cobley, H. 9#+#. 7outledge &ompanion to *emiotics. (ondon.
9%. ( Frisch, m. v. +A<". D0pracheD oder DmommunikationD der .ienens Psychologische 7undschau :.
9?. ( 0ebeok, !. &. +AA%. 0igns, bridges, origins. 1n: !rabant, J{rgen Bed.C, /rigins of Language.
.udapest: Collegium .udapest, @A$++<.
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[edit] ,eferences
.loomfield, (eonard B+A+:C. n introduction to the study of language. >ew Fork: -enry
-olt and Company.
.aepler, Haul B9##"C. )White slaves, &frican masters). The 00L* of the merican
cademy of Political and *ocial *cience -++ B+C: A#$+++.
doi:+#.++??q###9?+%9#"<@@##+##?.
Chakrabarti, .yomkes B+AA:C. comparati-e study of *antali and $engali. Calcutta: m.H.
.agchi u Co. 10.> @+2?#?:2+9@2A.
Crystal, 8avid B+AA?C. The &ambridge +ncyclopedia of Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge Eniversity Hress.
Crystal, 8avid B9##+C. The &ambridge +ncyclopedia of the +nglish Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge Eniversity Hress.
;ode, &leander B+A<+C. 2nterlingua!+nglish 'ictionary. >ew Fork: Frederick Engar
Hublishing Company.
-obbes, !homas B9##@C *+%<+,. Le-iathan. Forgotten .ooks.
http:qqwww.forgottenbooks.orgqinfoqA?@+%#<#%A???.
-olquist, 5ichael B+A@+C. )1ntroduction). 1n .achtin, 5ichail 5. !he 8ialogic
1magination: Four 'ssays. &ustin and (ondon: Eniversity of !eas Hress.
http:qqwww.uteas.eduqutpressqecerptsqebakdia.html|e+.
mandel, '34 0chwartI, J-4 Jessell, !5 B9###C. Principles of 0eural *cience Bfourth ed.C.
>ew Fork: 5c;raw2-ill. 10.> #2@"@<2??#+2%.
matIner, m B+AAAC. The Languages of the 4orld. >ew Fork: 3outledge.
5c&rthur, ! B+AA%C. The &oncise &ompanion to the +nglish Language. =ford: =ford
Eniversity Hress.
>}th, Winfried B+AA<C. Handboo" of semiotics. .loomington: 1ndiana Eniversiy press.
0aussure, Ferdinand de4 -arris, 3oy, !ranslator B+A@"C *+A+",. .ally, Charles4
0echehaye, &lbert. eds. &ourse in %eneral Linguistics. (a 0alle, 1llinois: =pen Court.
10.> #2@+9%2A#9"2#.
6velebil, mamil B+A?"C. The smile of Murugan on Tamil literature of *outh 2ndia. (eiden:
.rill.
[edit] .urther reading
8eacon, !errence William B+AA@C. The *ymbolic *pecies: The &o!+-olution of Language
and the $rain. >ew Fork: W. W. >orton u Company. 10.> #2"A"2"+?<:2:.
Holinsky, 5aria4 Comrie, .ernard4 5atthews, 0tephen B9##"C. The atlas of languages:
the origin and de-elopment of languages throughout the #orld. >ew Fork: Facts on File.
10.> #2@+%#2<+9"29.
(uca Corchia, La logica dei processi culturali. 9:rgen Habermas tra filosofia e
sociologia, ;enova, 'diIioni 'C1;, 9#+#, 10.> A?@2@@2?<::2+A<2+.
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