Zooming In: What is Language?

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September 17, 2005

What is Language?

What is and what is not language? Why make a distinction?

My definition of language is a means of communication that both parties involved understand and can reciprocate in some way. In the case of the wolf in question number seven, I would say that this is an example of language because all of the wolfs would be able to understand and convey their emotions through the position of the tail. However, in question number eight, this is not language because the dog cannot talk back to the human and have the human understand. There is a distinction in what is language and what is not language because language is a very complicated thing.

You might say that you learned a new word today, but not I learned a new sentence today. Why?

These two statements are not equally probable. It is more likely to learn a new word than a new sentence because there are so many possibilities of sentences. Learning a new sentence will not apply as much as learning a new word would in specific situations. For example, if you learn a new word, then you can apply it in numerous situations, but learning a new sentence will not apply in as many situations. Therefore it is more logical to learn new words instead of new sentences and that is why it is more probable to learn new words.

-Jessica F.

Posted by lcisfaria at September 17, 2005 04:17 PM

Comments

I definitely agree with you Jessica. Language is a form of communication that has to exist between two individuals. There has to an interaction for communication to be produced.

It is so true that we can learn new words each day. All we have to do is turn on the television or the radio, and there you have it. Plus there's language all around us, and we can't escape it.

Good Entry!

--Yasmin

Posted by: Yasmin at September 17, 2005 09:39 PM