Language - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Definitions Toggle Definitions subsection 1.1 Mental faculty, organ or instinct 1.2 Formal symbolic system 1.3 Tool for communication 1.4 Human versus animal language 2 Origin 3 Study Toggle Study subsection 3.1 Subdisciplines 3.2 Early history 3.3 Modern linguistics 4 Physiological and neural architecture of language and speech Toggle Physiological and neural architecture of language and speech subsection 4.1 The brain 4.2 Anatomy of speech 5 Modality 6 Structure Toggle Structure subsection 6.1 Semantics 6.2 Sounds and symbols 6.3 Grammar 6.3.1 Grammatical categories 6.3.2 Word classes 6.3.3 Morphology 6.3.4 Syntax 6.4 Typology and universals 7 Social contexts of use and transmission Toggle Social contexts of use and transmission subsection 7.1 Usage and meaning 7.2 Acquisition 7.3 Culture 7.4 Writing, literacy and technology 7.5 Change 7.6 Contact 8 Linguistic diversity Toggle Linguistic diversity subsection 8.1 Languages and dialects 8.2 Language families of the world 8.3 Language endangerment 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References Toggle References subsection 11.1 Works cited 12 Further reading 13 External links Toggle the table of contents Language 276 languages Аԥсшәа Acèh Afrikaans Alemannisch Алтай тил አማርኛ Pangcah Aragonés Ænglisc अंगिका العربية ܐܪܡܝܐ الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Авар अवधी Aymar aru Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Žemaitėška Batak Toba Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Betawi Български भोजपुरी Bislama Banjar ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ Bamanankan বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Brezhoneg Bosanski Batak Mandailing Буряад Català Chavacano de Zamboanga 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano Chamoru ᏣᎳᎩ کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Kaszëbsczi Словѣньскъ / ⰔⰎⰑⰂⰡⰐⰠⰔⰍⰟ Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Dagbanli Deutsch Zazaki डोटेली ދިވެހިބަސް ཇོང་ཁ Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Mfantse Fulfulde Suomi Võro Na Vosa Vakaviti Føroyskt Français Arpetan Nordfriisk Furlan Frysk Gaeilge 贛語 Kriyòl gwiyannen Gàidhlig Galego گیلکی Avañe'ẽ गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni Bahasa Hulontalo 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌹𐍃𐌺 ગુજરાતી Gaelg Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî עברית हिन्दी Fiji Hindi Hrvatski Kreyòl ayisyen Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Jaku Iban Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Igbo Iñupiatun Ilokano ГӀалгӀай Ido Íslenska Medžuslovjansky Italiano 日本語 Patois La .lojban. Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Taqbaylit Tyap Kongo Kumoring Gĩkũyũ Қазақша ភាសាខ្មែរ ಕನ್ನಡ Yerwa Kanuri 한국어 Перем коми Къарачай-малкъар کٲشُر Ripoarisch Kurdî Коми Kernowek Кыргызча Latina Ladino Lëtzebuergesch Лакку Лезги Lingua Franca Nova Limburgs Ligure Ladin Lombard Lingála ລາວ Lietuvių Latgaļu Latviešu Madhurâ मैथिली Basa Banyumasan Мокшень Malagasy Олык марий Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ मराठी Bahasa Melayu Malti မြန်မာဘာသာ مازِرونی Napulitano Nedersaksies Plattdüütsch नेपाली नेपाल भाषा Li Niha Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Novial ߒߞߏ Nouormand Occitan ଓଡ଼ିଆ Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Kapampangan Papiamentu Picard Deitsch पालि Polski Piemontèis پنجابی پښتو Português Pinayuanan Runa Simi Rumantsch Romani čhib Română Armãneashti Русский Русиньскый संस्कृतम् Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sardu Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Davvisámegiella Sängö Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Taclḥit සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina سرائیکی Slovenščina Gagana Samoa Anarâškielâ ChiShona Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski Sranantongo Sesotho Seeltersk Sunda Svenska Kiswahili Ślůnski Sakizaya தமிழ் ತುಳು తెలుగు Тоҷикӣ ไทย Türkmençe Tagalog Tolışi Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Seediq Xitsonga Татарча / tatarça Twi ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Tshivenda Vèneto Vepsän kel’ Tiếng Việt Volapük Walon Winaray Wolof 吴语 IsiXhosa მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá Vahcuengh Zeêuws ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikivoyage Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Structured system of communication This article is about human language in general. For other uses, see Language (disambiguation). "Spoken words" redirects here. For the album by Indecent Obsession, see Spoken Words (album). A mural in Teotihuacan, Mexico (c. 2nd century) depicting a person emitting a speech scroll from his mouth, symbolizing speech A Cuneiform tablet Children of deaf adults using American Sign Language Braille, a tactile writing system Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time.[1] Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. 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. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects.[2] Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille. 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. Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances. 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 at least since Gorgias and Plato in ancient Greek civilization. Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) argued that philosophy is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky. Language is thought to have gradually diverged from earlier primate communication systems when early hominins acquired the ability to form a theory of mind and shared intentionality.[3][4] This development is sometimes thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists see the structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative and social functions. 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 and culture are codependent. Therefore, in addition to its strictly communicative uses, 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 to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had in order for the later developmental stages to occur. A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family; in contrast, a language that has been demonstrated not to have any living or non-living relationship with another language is called a language isolate. There are also many unclassified languages whose relationships have not been established, and spurious languages may have not existed at all. 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.[5][6][7] Definitions Main article: Theory of language The English word language derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s "tongue, speech, language" through Latin lingua, "language; tongue", and Old French language.[8] The word is sometimes used to refer to codes, ciphers, and other kinds of artificially constructed communication systems such as formally defined computer languages used for computer programming. Unlike conventional human languages, a formal language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information. This article specifically concerns the properties of natural human language as it is studied in the discipline of linguistics. As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings: an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French". The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who defined the modern discipline of linguistics, first explicitly formulated the distinction using the French word langage for language as a concept, langue as a specific instance of a language system, and parole for the concrete use of speech in a particular language.[9] When speaking of language as a general concept, definitions can be used which stress different aspects of the phenomenon.[10] These definitions also entail different approaches and understandings of language, and they also inform different and often incompatible schools of linguistic theory.[11] Debates about the nature and origin …