Definitions of language
Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet, an English phonetician and language scholar, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.” The American linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager formulated the following definition: “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.” Any succinct definition of language makes a number of presuppositions and begs a number of questions. The first, for example, puts excessive weight on “thought,” and the second uses “arbitrary” in a specialized, though legitimate, way.
A number of considerations (marked in italics below) enter into a proper understanding of language as a subject:
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Every physiologically and mentally typical person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as both sender and receiver, of a system of communication that comprises a circumscribed set of symbols (e.g., sounds, gestures, or written or typed characters). In spoken language, this symbol set consists of noises resulting from movements of certain organs within the throat and mouth. In signed languages, these symbols may be hand or body movements, gestures, or facial expressions. By means of these symbols, people are able to impart information, to express feelings and emotions, to influence the activities of others, and to comport themselves with varying degrees of friendliness or hostility toward persons who make use of substantially the same set of symbols.
Ways of studying language
Languages are immensely complicated structures. One soon realizes how complicated any language is when trying to learn it as a second language. If one tries to frame an exhaustive description of all the rules embodied in one’s language—the rules by means of which a native user is able to produce and understand an infinite number of correct well-formed sentences—one can easily appreciate the complexity of the knowledge that a child acquires while mastering a native vernacular.
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Ways of studying language
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Languages are immensely complicated structures. One soon realizes how complicated any language is when trying to learn it as a second language. If one tries to frame an exhaustive description of all the rules embodied in one’s language—the rules by means of which a native user is able to produce and understand an infinite number of correct well-formed sentences—one can easily appreciate the complexity of the knowledge that a child acquires while mastering a native vernacular. The descriptions of languages written so far are in most cases excellent as far as they go, but they still omit more than they contain of an explicit account of native users’ competence in their language, whether that language is English, Swahili, or Japanese Sign Language (nihon shuwa). Likewise, ongoing work in the study of language has underscored just how much effort is needed to bring palpable fact within systematic statement.
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Ways of studying language
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Languages are immensely complicated structures. One soon realizes how complicated any language is when trying to learn it as a second language. If one tries to frame an exhaustive description of all the rules embodied in one’s language—the rules by means of which a native user is able to produce and understand an infinite number of correct well-formed sentences—one can easily appreciate the complexity of the knowledge that a child acquires while mastering a native vernacular. The descriptions of languages written so far are in most cases excellent as far as they go, but they still omit more than they contain of an explicit account of native users’ competence in their language, whether that language is English, Swahili, or Japanese Sign Language (nihon shuwa). Likewise, ongoing work in the study of language has underscored just how much effort is needed to bring palpable fact within systematic statement.
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human nervous system: Language
The language area of the brain surrounds the Sylvian fissure in the dominant hemisphere and is divided…
This article proposes simply to give a brief outline of the way language or languages can be considered and described from different points of view, or at different levels, each contributing something essential and unique to a full understanding of the subject. A more detailed treatment of the science of linguistics can be found in the article linguistics.