Portal:Language

Introduction

Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning.

Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille. In other words, human language is modality-independent, but written or signed language is the way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures.

Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances.

The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Critical examinations of languages, such as philosophy of language, the relationships between language and thought, how words represent experience, etc., have been debated at least since Gorgias and Plato in ancient Greek civilization. Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) argued that philosophy is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky. (Full article...)

Outline of linguistics • Index of language articles

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Sign in Greenlandic and Danish

Greenlandic (Greenlandic: kalaallisut [kalaːɬːisʉt]; Danish: grønlandsk [ˈkʁɶnˌlænˀsk]) is an Eskimo–Aleut language with about 57,000 speakers, mostly Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut. It is the most widely spoken Eskimo–Aleut language. In June 2009, the government of Greenland, the Naalakkersuisut, made Greenlandic the sole official language of the autonomous territory, to strengthen it in the face of competition from the colonial language, Danish. The main variety is Kalaallisut, or West Greenlandic. The second variety is Tunumiit oraasiat, or East Greenlandic. The language of the Inughuit (Thule Inuit) of Greenland, Inuktun or Polar Eskimo, is a recent arrival and a dialect of Inuktitut.

Greenlandic is a polysynthetic language that allows the creation of long words by stringing together roots and suffixes. The language's morphosyntactic alignment is ergative, treating both the argument (subject) of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb in one way, but the subject of a transitive verb in another. For example, "he plays the guitar" would be in the ergative case as a transitive agent, whereas "I bought a guitar" and "as the guitar plays" (the latter being the intransitive sense of the same verb "to play") would both be in the absolutive case. (Full article...)

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... that the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1969 for members from all four Swiss language regions, and meets twice a year for rehearsals and a tour program?
... that English missionary Reverend Thomas Sparshott co-wrote a book in Swahili, and his daughter Margaret Elwyn Sparshott was responsible as matron for 22 hospitals in World War I?
... that Hirsch Sommerhausen worked as a court translator in a dozen languages?
... that the Brazilian social media page Tupinizando is dedicated to the promotion of Old Tupi, a dead language?
... that the Māori-language name for Cave Rock, Sumner—Tuawera—means 'cut down as if by fire'?
... that Alexina Kublu, a linguist, translator, Languages Commissioner, and the first justice of the peace in Nunavut, is her grandmother's father and her daughter's son, as per the Inuit namesake tradition?

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...that Otomi grammar, the grammar of the indigenous Otomi language of Mexico has traits of active/stative alignment, but has no adjectives?
...that Albert White Hat, translator for the movie Dances With Wolves, taught the Lakota language at Sinte Gleska University?
...that in 1998, the Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni, the first comprehensive Hopi language dictionary, was almost prevented from being published for fear of having non-Hopis learning the language?
...that the Native American Languages Act of 1990 was the first time Congress gave official status to Native American languages for the purpose of conducting tribal business?

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Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds. Almost 80 million people worldwide stutter, about 1% of the world's population, with a prevalence among males at least twice that of females. Persistent stuttering into adulthood often leads to outcomes detrimental to overall mental health, such as social isolation and suicidal thoughts.

Stuttering is not connected to the physical ability to produce phonemes (i.e. it is unrelated to the structure or function of the vocal cords). It is also unconnected to the structuring of thoughts into coherent sentences inside sufferers' brains, meaning that people with a stutter know precisely what they are trying to say (contrast with alternative disorders like aphasia). Stuttering is purely a neurological disconnect between intent and outcome during the task of expressing each individual sound. While there are rarer neurogenic (e.g. acquired during physical insult) and psychogenic (e.g. acquired after adult-onset mental illness or trauma) variants, the typical etiology, development, and presentation is that of idiopathic stuttering in childhood that then becomes persistent into adulthood.^{[citation needed]} (Full article...)

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Credit: © Hans Hillewaert

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek.