Language
hideA language is a system for encoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using language. Essential to both meanings is the systematic creation and usage of systems of symbols—each referring to linguistic concepts with semantic or logical or otherwise expressive meanings.
The most obvious manifestations are spoken languages such as English or Spoken Chinese. However, there are also written languages and other systems of visual symbols such as sign languages.
Although some other animals make use of quite sophisticated communicative systems, and these are sometimes casually referred to as animal language, none of these are known to make use of all of the properties that linguists use to define language in the strict sense.
When discussed more technically as a general phenomenon then, "language" always implies a particular type of human thought which can be present even when communication is not the result, and this way of thinking is also sometimes treated as indistinguishable from language itself.
In Western Philosophy for example, language has long been closely associated with reason, which is also a uniquely human way of using symbols. In Ancient Greek philosophical terminology, the same word, logos, was used as a term for both language or speech and reason, and the philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the English word "speech" so that it similarly could refer to reason, as will be discussed below.
For more information about Language, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with language
Experts offer strategies for working with immigrant victims of violence (w/ Video)
16 hours ago |
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Last year, the United States provided asylum and resettlement assistance for nearly 80,700 people from other countries, an increase from 71,300 individuals in 2007, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees ...
Words, gestures are translated by same brain regions, says new research
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Your ability to make sense of Groucho's words and Harpo's pantomimes in an old Marx Brothers movie takes place in the same regions of your brain, says new research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication ...
Language support in schools vital for children with autism
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Teachers and parents must be vigilant in observing difficulties with language comprehension, reading and spelling in children and young people with autism, Asperger's syndrome and ADHD.
Babies' language learning starts from the womb
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- From their very first days, newborns' cries already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, reveals a new study published online on November 5th in Current Biology, a Cell Press ...
Baby Einstein Controversy: Professor Offers Healthy Language Learning Alternatives for Young Children
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Baby Einstein videos have become a staple in many American households until recently when the Walt Disney Company decided to refund the product, acknowledging that these ever-popular videos were not intended ...
What is unique in the brain of an Arabic speaker?
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 04, 2009 |
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Literary Arabic is expressed in the brain of an Arabic speaker as a second language and not as a native language. This has been shown in a new study by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim of the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the ...
Babble Of Baby Reveals Language Skills
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Children have a remarkable ability to learn new languages. As little as five hours of exposure to a second language is enough to help infants incorporate characteristics of that language into their babbling ...
Multilingual web address system approved
Oct 30, 2009 |
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The nonprofit body that oversees Internet addresses approved Friday the use of Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and other scripts not based on Latin characters in a decision that could make the Web dramatically more ...
Finding the seat of language? Researchers look into Broca's brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Harvard and University of California, San Diego, researchers report having pinpointed an area of the brain where three essential components of language -- word identification, grammar, ...
White House opens Web site programming to public
Oct 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A programming overhaul of the White House's Web site has set the tech world abuzz. For low-techies, it's a snooze - you won't notice a thing.
Scholar helps classify clicks in African languages
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Linguistics scholar Amanda Miller is doing research with high-speed ultrasound technology to help her and fellow researchers successfully record and classify clicks in an endangered African ...
Latino toddlers lag in cognitive growth
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two new studies led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers find that immigrant Latina mothers, who typically live in poor neighborhoods, give birth to healthy babies, but their toddlers start ...
EU launches digital library at Frankfut Book Fair
Oct 18, 2009 |
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The European Union used the world's biggest book fair to launch the EU Bookshop's digital library, making more than 50 years of documents in about 50 languages available for free on the Internet.
Researchers document how brain computes language
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 15, 2009 |
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A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports a significant breakthrough in explaining gaps in scientists' understanding of human brain function. The study - ...
Technology brings new insights to ancient language
Oct 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New technologies and academic collaborations are helping scholars at the University of Chicago analyze hundreds of ancient documents in Aramaic, one of the Middle East's oldest continuously ...
