Language

Language may refer either to the specifically <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human" title="Human" >human</a> capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication" title="Communication" >communication</a>, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics" >linguistics</a>.

The approximately 3,000–6,000 languages that are spoken by humans today are the most salient examples, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language" title="Natural language" >natural languages</a> can also be based on visual rather than auditory <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulus(physiology)" title="Stimulus (physiology)" >stimuli</a>, for example in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_language" title="Sign language" >sign languages</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_language" title="Written language" >written language</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code" title="Code" >Codes</a> and other kinds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language" title="Constructed language" >artificially constructed communication systems</a> such as those used for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language" title="Programming language" >computer programming</a> can also be called languages. A language in this sense is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System" title="System" >system</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign(linguistics)" title="Sign (linguistics)" >signs</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encoding" title="Encoding" class="mw-redirect" >encoding</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics" title="Phonics" >decoding</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information" title="Information" >information</a>. The English word derives ultimately from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" title="Latin" >Latin</a> lingua, "language, tongue", via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French" >Old French</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language#cite_note-AHD-1" >[2]</a> When used as a general concept, "language" refers to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive" title="Cognitive" class="mw-redirect" >cognitive</a> faculty that enables humans to learn and use systems of complex communication.

Language as a communication system is thought to be fundamentally different from and of much higher complexity than those of other species as it is based on a complex system of rules relating symbols to their meanings, resulting in an indefinite number of possible innovative utterances from a finite number of elements. Language is thought to have originated when early hominids first started cooperating, adapting earlier systems of communication based on expressive signs to include a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind" title="Theory of mind" >theory of other minds</a> and shared <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentionality" title="Intentionality" >intentionality</a>. This development is thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists see the structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative functions. Language is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurolinguistics" title="Neurolinguistics" >processed</a> in many different locations in the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain" title="Human brain" >human brain</a>, but especially in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area" title="Broca's area" >Broca’s</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke%27s_area" title="Wernicke's area" >Wernicke’s areas</a>. Humans <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition" title="Language acquisition" >acquire</a> language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently when they are around three years old. The use of language has become deeply entrenched in human <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture" title="Culture" >culture</a> and, apart from being used to communicate and share information, it also has social and cultural uses, such as signifying group <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_(social_science)" title="Identity (social science)" >identity</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratification" title="Social stratification" >social stratification</a> and for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_grooming" title="Social grooming" >social grooming</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment" title="Entertainment" >entertainment</a>. The word "language" can also be used to describe the set of rules that makes this possible, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules.

All languages rely on the process of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiosis" title="Semiosis" >semiosis</a> to relate a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign(linguistics)" title="Sign (linguistics)" >sign</a> with a particular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning(linguistics)" title="Meaning (linguistics)" >meaning</a>. Spoken and signed languages contain a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology" >phonological</a> system that governs how sounds or visual symbols are used to form sequences known as words or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme" >morphemes</a>, and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax" title="Syntax" >syntactic</a> system that governs how words and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphemes" title="Morphemes" class="mw-redirect" >morphemes</a> are used to form phrases and utterances. Written languages use visual symbols to represent the sounds of the spoken languages, but they still require syntactic rules that govern the production of meaning from sequences of words. Languages <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_change" title="Language change" >evolve</a> and diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be reconstructed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics" >comparing</a> modern languages to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had for the later stages to have occurred. A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family" title="Language family" >language family</a>. The languages that are most spoken in the world today belong to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages" >Indo-European family</a>, which includes languages such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language" title="English language" >English</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language" >Spanish</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language" >Russian</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_language" title="Hindi language" class="mw-redirect" >Hindi</a>; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Tibetan_languages" title="Sino-Tibetan languages" >Sino-Tibetan languages</a>, which include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese" title="Mandarin Chinese" >Mandarin Chinese</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese" title="Cantonese" >Cantonese</a> and many others; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages" title="Semitic languages" >Semitic languages</a>, which include<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language" title="Arabic language" >Arabic</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic" title="Amharic" class="mw-redirect" >Amharic</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language" title="Hebrew language" >Hebrew</a>; and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_languages" title="Bantu languages" >Bantu languages</a>, which include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili_language" title="Swahili language" >Swahili</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_language" title="Zulu language" >Zulu</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_language" title="Shona language" >Shona</a> and hundreds of other languages spoken throughout <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" title="Africa" >Africa</a>. Forty per cent of the world's languages are endangered and likely to become extinct.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language#cite_note-2" >[3]</a>

Language

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