 LANGUAGE

A language is a structured system of communication. Language, in a

broader sense, is the method of communication that involves the use of –
particularly human – languages.

The definition of language is speech or other forms of communication.

An example of language is words spoken.
An example of language is words read in a book.
An example of language is people using their hands to express
themselves.

WHAT IS LANGUAGE FOR YOU?

 Language is the normal way humans communicate. Only humans
use language, though other animals communicate through other means.
Human language has syntax, a set of rules for connecting words together
to make statements and questions
.

DEFINITIONS OF LANGUAGE BY VARIOUS

LINGUISTS:

 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.” 

Aristotle
Speech is the representation of the experience of the mind. That is according
to Aristotle, language is a speech sound produced by human beings in order
to express their ideas, emotions, thoughts, desires and feelings.
Saussure
Language is an arbitrary system of signs constituted of the signifier and
signified. In other words, language is first a system based on no logic or
reason; secondly, the system covers both objects and expressions used for
objects; and thirdly objects and expressions are arbitrarily linked; and finally,
expressions include sounds and graphemes used by humans for generating
speech and writing respectively for the purpose of communication.

Sapir
According to Sapir, language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of
voluntarily produced sounds. The definition of Sapir expresses that language
is mainly concerned with only human beings and constituted a system of
sounds produced by them for communication.

Bloomfield
The totality of the utterances that can be made in a speech community is the
language of that speech community. Bloomfield’s definition of language
focuses on the utterances produced by all the people of a community, and
hence overlooks writing. Besides, he stresses form, not meaning, as the basis
of language.

Bloch and Trager

According to Bloch and Trager, a language is a system of arbitrary vocal
sounds by means of a social group cooperates. In their definition of language,
they point out that, language is an arbitrary system, vocal sounds, way of
communication, and collectivity.

Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky says the language is the inherent capability of the native
speakers to understand and form grammatical sentences. A language is a set
of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite length and constructed out of a finite
set of elements. This definition of language considers sentences as the basis
of a language. Sentences may be limited or unlimited in number, and are
made up of only limited components.

Derbyshire
Derbyshire says the language is undoubtedly a kind of means of
communication among human beings. It consists primarily of vocal sounds. It
is articulatory, systematic, symbolic and arbitrary. This definition of Derbyshire
clearly utters, language is the best source of communication. It also portrays
how human language is formed and what are the fundamental principles of
language.

Lyons
According to Lyons, languages are the principal systems of communication
used by particular groups of human beings within the particular society of
which they are members. Especially Lyons points out that, language is the
best communicative system of human beings by particular social groups.

Wardhaugh
A language is a system of arbitrary vocal sounds used for human
communication. This definition of language by Wardhaugh mainly insists on
arbitrariness, vocal sounds, humans and communication.

Patanjali
Indian linguist Patanjali utters, language is that human expression which is
produced by different speech organs of human beings. Through speech
organs, humans produced several expressions which are converted to
language.

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language.

It tries: • first, to observe languages and to describe them
accurately,
• then, to find generalizations within what has been described,
• finally, to draw conclusions about the general nature of human
language.
Applied linguistics attempts to make practical use of the
knowledge derived from general linguistic research – in order, for
example, to:
• improve the ways in which a student’s native language is taught
• help people learn foreign language more efficiently.
• write better dictionaries
• improve therapy for people with language problems
• search the Internet more efficiently and successfully
Linguistics overlaps and (ideally) cooperates with: psychology,
sociology, anthropology, philosophy, logic, mathematics,
computer science, speech pathology, acoustics, music,
cryptanalysis, etc.