language

Definition:

A human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. The study of language is called linguistics.

See also:

• What Is Language?
• Where Does Language Come From?


• Common Myths About Language
• Speech
• Writing


• Anti-Language
• Biased Language
• Bilingualism
• Block Language
• Body Language
• Code Switching
• Constructed Language
• Contact Language
• Creole
• Dialect
• Discourse
• English Language
• Figurative Language
• Home Language
• Interlanguage
• Language Acquisition
• Language Change
• Language Death
• Language Family
• Language Maven
• Language Planning
• Language Variety
• Langue
• Lect
• Lexicon
• Lingua Franca
• Linguicism
• Linguistic Ecology
• Linguistic Imperialism
• Linguistic Insecurity
• Metalanguage
• Multilingualism
• Natural Language
• Parole
• Pidgin
• Register
• Sexist Language
• Symbolic Action
• Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
• Taboo Language
• Vernacular
• Writing System

Etymology:

From the Latin, "tongue"

Observations:

• "Would I had phrases that are not known, utterances that are strange, in new language that has not been used, free from repetition, not an utterance which has grown stale, which men of old have spoken."
  (ancient Egyptian inscription)



• "Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground."
  (Walt Whitman)



• "A language can be compared to a sheet of paper. Thought is one side of the sheet and sound the reverse side. Just as it is impossible to take a pair of scissors and cut one side of the paper without at the same time cutting the other, so it is impossible in a language to isolate sound from thought, or thought from sound."
  (French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure)



• "Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden."
  (Karl Kraus)



• "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
  (Ludwig Wittgenstein)



• "But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication."
  (Abraham Maslow)



• "All words, in every language, are metaphors."
  (Marshall McLuhan)



• "Now, our language, Tiger, our language. Hundreds of thousands of available words, frillions of legitimate new ideas. Hm? So that I can say the following sentence and be utterly sure that nobody has ever said it before in the history of human communication: 'Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers.'"
  (Stephen Fry, A Bit of Fry and Laurie)

Pronunciation: LANG-gwij