"Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary."
A system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar used by a particular group or people.
Language Families: The classification of languages into groups based on their historical and linguistic roots.
Linguistic Diversity: The study of the number, distribution, and variation of languages spoken in a particular region, country, or community.
Language Contact: The social and cultural interactions that occur between people who speak different languages, which can lead to the development of new languages or dialects.
Language Acquisition: The process by which individuals learn a new language, including the factors that affect it, such as age, social environment, and motivation.
Language Policy: The rules and regulations that govern the use of language in a particular society or country, including issues such as language education, language rights, and language planning.
Language Change: The phenomenon of how languages evolve over time, including the factors that drive these changes, such as social, historical, and technological forces.
Multilingualism: The ability to speak and understand multiple languages, and the implications of this phenomenon on language use and communication.
Dialects: The variations of a language that occur within a particular region or community, including differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
Language and Identity: The role that language plays in shaping individual and group identity, including issues such as language choice and language-based discrimination.
Language and Globalization: The impact of global forces such as media, technology, and economic integration on the use and spread of language around the world.
National Language: The official language of a country that is recognized and used by the government, education, and media.
Official Language: A language that is recognized by a government or an organization as the primary means of communication.
Regional Language: A language spoken in a specific region of a country.
Minority Language: A language spoken by a minority population in a country, usually with low numbers of speakers.
Endangered Language: A language that is in danger of disappearing because it has few or no speakers.
Indigenous Language: A language that is native to a particular region or country and has been spoken there for centuries.
Creole Language: A language that has evolved from a combination of different languages, often created by mixing indigenous languages with the language of colonizers.
Pidgin Language: A simplified language created for communication between people who do not share a common language.
Sign Language: A visual language that uses gestures and facial expressions as a means of communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Lingua Franca: A language that is used as a common means of communication between people who speak different languages.
International Language: A language that is used internationally, such as English or French.
Artificial Language: A language created for a specific purpose, such as Esperanto or programming languages.
Slang: Informal language used among a particular group of people, often characterized by its use of nonstandard grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
Jargon: Technical language used in specific industries or professions, often characterized by its use of specialized terminology.
Dialect: A regional or social variation of a language, often including differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
Accent: The way in which a language is spoken, which varies depending on the speaker's regional or social background.
Code-switching: The practice of switching between two or more languages or language varieties within a conversation or sentence.
Style: The manner in which a language is spoken or written, often reflecting the speaker or writer's personality or intent.
"It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and written forms."
"The vast majority of human languages have developed writing systems that allow for the recording and preservation of the sounds or signs of language."
"Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time."
"Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences."
"The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning."
"Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000."
"In other words, human language is modality-independent, but written or signed language is the way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures."
"When used as a general concept, 'language' may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication."
"The scientific study of language is called linguistics."
"Critical examinations of languages, such as philosophy of language, the relationships between language and thought, how words represent experience, etc., have been debated..."
"Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) have argued that language originated from emotions."
"Others like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought."
"Language is processed in many different locations in the human brain, but especially in Broca's and Wernicke's areas."
"Humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently by approximately three years old."
"...language has social uses such as signifying group identity, social stratification, as well as use for social grooming and entertainment."
"Languages evolve and diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be reconstructed by comparing modern languages..."
"A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family."
"A language that has been demonstrated to not have any living or non-living relationship with another language is called a language isolate."
"Academic consensus holds that between 50% and 90% of languages spoken at the beginning of the 21st century will probably have become extinct by the year 2100."