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
Sign language puzzle solved
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have known for 40 years that even though it takes longer to use sign language to sign individual words, sentences can be signed, on average, in the same time it takes to say them, ...
Taking the drudgery out of software development
Nov 24, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (19) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Software developers will no longer have to reinvent the wheel when writing new programs and applications thanks to a clever new set of tools and a central repository of 'building blocks'.
Three of a kind: Revealing language’s universal essence
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- On the surface, English, Japanese, and Kinande, a member of the Bantu family of languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have little in common. It is not just that the vocabularies ...
Glasgow's joking computer
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 11, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Glasgow Science Centre in Scotland is exhibiting a computer that makes up jokes using its database of simple language rules and a large vocabulary.
Efforts to save endangered languages
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (11) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are an estimated 6,500 languages in the world, with around fifty percent of them endangered and likely to cease to exist by 2100, but efforts are now being made to save them from extinction.
Researchers create cell phones for sign language
Dec 02, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers and colleagues have created cell phones that allow deaf people to communicate in sign language, the same way hearing people use phones to talk.
Green tea chemical combined with another may hold promise for treatment of brain disorders
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein ...
IBM Researchers Lower Language Barrier With Text Translator
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (5) |
0
IBM Researchers are helping to break the language barrier with the advent of technology dubbed "n.Fluent" -- smart software that translates text between English and 11 other languages. IBM employees use it to instantaneously ...
Google adds translation to main search engine
Dec 04, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (4) |
0
Google has began weaving an automated language translation feature into its universal search service.
Finding more in 'most': Scientific study of an everyday word
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 19, 2009 |
4 / 5 (4) |
0
William Shakespeare, who knew a thing or two about words, advised that "An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told." But the exact meaning of plain language isn't always easy to find. Even simple words like "most" and ...
How do we understand written language?
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 16, 2009 |
4 / 5 (4) |
1
How do we know that certain combinations of letters have certain meanings? Reading and spelling are complex processes, involving several different areas of the brain, but researchers from Johns Hopkins University in the ...
Scientists set their sights on hearing breakthrough for babies
Dec 11, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first year to two years of life is a critical time for hearing impaired children and their language development. Whilst young babies with hearing difficulties can now be fitted with cochlear ...
Emulating Western lifestyles: Consumption and carbon footprints in less industrialized countries
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
In recent decades, a new global middle class has exploded, with a total population exceeding one billion people. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores the consumption attitudes of some of these members of the ...
Early intervention for toddlers with autism highly effective, study finds
Nov 30, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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A novel early intervention program for very young children with autism - some as young as 18 months - is effective for improving IQ, language ability, and social interaction, a comprehensive new study has found.
2009: the Year of Twitter
Nov 30, 2009 |
1 / 5 (1) |
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The year has not yet ended but Microsoft says "Twitter" was among the top searches of 2009 on its new search engine Bing and a company which monitors language has crowned it the top word of the year.
