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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 written forms, and may also be, conveyed through sign languages. 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,/both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli â 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 (1712â1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724â1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889â1951) argued that philosophy is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics of these times include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky. (Full article...)
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Yoruba (US: /ËjÉËrÉbÉ/, UK: /ËjÉrĘbÉ/; Yor. Ădè YorĂšbĂĄ, IPA: [jĹrĂšbĂĄ]; Ajami: ŘšŮدؚ٠ŮŮŮŘąŮبا) is a language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 47 million, including about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in CĂ´te d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Yoruba vocabulary is also used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as CandomblĂŠ, in the Caribbean religion of SanterĂa in the form of the liturgical LucumĂ language and in various Afro-American religions of North America. Most modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas do not actually speak or understand the Yoruba language, rather they use Yoruba words and phrases for songs that for them are incomprehensible. Usage of a lexicon of Yoruba words and short phrases during ritual is also common. But they have gone through changes due to the fact that Yoruba is no longer a vernacular for them and fluency is not required. (Full article...)Did you know (auto-generated)
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Categories
Linguistics: Computational linguistics ⢠Grammar ⢠Historical linguistics ⢠Morphology ⢠Phonetics ⢠Phonology ⢠Pragmatics ⢠Reading ⢠Semantics ⢠Sociolinguistics ⢠Syntax ⢠Writing
Languages: Language families ⢠Pidgins and creoles ⢠Sign languages
Linguists: By nationality ⢠Historical linguists ⢠Morphologists ⢠Phoneticians ⢠Phonologists ⢠Sociolinguists ⢠Syntacticians ⢠Translators
Stubs: Constructed languages ⢠Languages ⢠Linguists ⢠Pidgins and creoles ⢠Typography ⢠Vocabulary and usage ⢠Writing systems
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Language News
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- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs a law establishing English as an official language of international communication in Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent)
- 25 April 2024 â International reactions to the IsraelâHamas war
- The Arabic language spokesperson of the United States Department of State resigns in opposition to U.S. Gaza policy. (Reuters)
Topics
Languages of Africa: Arabic, Chadic, Cushitic, Kanuri, Maasai, Setswana, Swahili, Turkana, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu, more...
Languages of the Americas: Aleut, Carib, Cherokee, Inuktitut, Iroquois, Kootenai, Mayan, Nahuatl, Navajo, Quechuan, Salish, American Sign Language, more...
Languages of Asia: Arabic, Assamese, Balochi, Bengali, Chinese, Japanese, Hajong, Hebrew, Hindustani, Kannada, Kokborok, Marathi, Khasi, Korean, Kurdish, Malayalam, Manipuri, Meithei, Mongolian, Persian, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Sanskrit, Sylheti, Tamil, Tanchangya, Tulu, Telugu, Tibetan, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Khowar, more...
Languages of Austronesia: Austric, Fijian, Hawaiian, Javanese, Malagasy, Malay, Maori, Marshallese, Samoan, Tahitian, Tagalog, Tongan, Auslan, more...
Languages of Europe: Basque, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (book), French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Leonese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Ukrainian more...
Constructed languages: Esperanto, Ido, VolapĂźk, more...
Agglutinative language, Analytic language, Constructed language, Creole, Context-free language, Extinct language, Dialect, Fusional language, Inflectional language, International language, Isolating language, Language isolate, National language, Natural language, Pidgin, Pluricentric language, Polysynthetic language, Proto-language, Sign language, Spoken language, Synthetic language, Variety (linguistics)
Applied linguistics, Cognitive linguistics, Accent (dialect), Computational linguistics, Descriptive linguistics, Eurolinguistics, Generative linguistics, Historical linguistics, Lexicology, Lexical semantics, Morphology, Onomasiology, Phonetics, Phonology, Pragmatics, Prescription, Prototype semantics, Psycholinguistics, Semantics, Stylistics, Sociolinguistics, Syntax
See also: List of linguists
Alphabets: Arabic alphabet, Bengali alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Latin alphabet, more...
Other writing systems: Abjad, Abugida, Braille, Hieroglyphics, Logogram, Syllabary, SignWriting, more..
See also: History of the alphabet, Script
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