What is language?

Many language definitions are provided. “Language is the expression of ideas through spoken sounds that are combined into words,” said Henry Sweet, an English phonologist and linguist. Words are combined into sentences, and this combination corresponds to the combination of ideas in thoughts. American linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager gave the following definition: "Language is a system of arbitrary sound symbols through which a social group interacts." Each brief definition of a language raises a series of background information and a series of questions. The former, for example, places too much emphasis on “thought,” while the latter uses the word “arbitrarily” in special, albeit legal, ways. Every normal person, physiologically and psychologically in childhood, has the ability to use a communication system as a sender and receiver, which includes a limited set of symbols (for example, sounds, gestures, written or printed characters). In colloquial speech, this set of symbols includes sounds that are created by the movement of certain organs in the throat and mouth. In sign language, these symbols can be hand or body movements, movements or facial expressions. Through these symbols, people can convey information, express their feelings and emotions, influence the actions of others, and behave with varying degrees of friendliness or hostility towards people who are essentially using the symbol set. Different communication systems make up different languages. The degree of difference required to create another language cannot be precisely defined. No two people are alike. Thus, you can recognize the voices of friends on the phone and highlight the number of invisible speakers while playing the radio. But it is clear that no one says that they speak different languages. As a rule, communication systems are called different languages ​​if they are not understood by both parties without special training, although it is difficult to determine the exact boundaries of mutual understanding, and they indicate the same scale, not both sides. scales. Clear dividing lines are, in fact, different communication systems that can interfere with mutual understanding, but do not interfere with mutual understanding, called dialects of the language. The term idiolect, meaning expressive habits of a person, was coined to accurately describe the various linguistic models of people. Linguistics is known as linguistics. This includes what is commonly referred to as descriptive linguistics and historical linguistics. Linguistics is now an advanced technology subject. This book, both descriptively and historically, covers major topics such as phonetics, grammar (including syntax and grammar), semantics and pragmatics, which deal in detail with these various aspects of the language.

List of languages by number of speakers

  • English 1.5 billion
  • Mandarin Chinese 1.12 billion
  • Hindi600 million
  • Spanish 543 million
  • Arabic274 million
  • Bengali 268 million
  • French 267 million
  • Russian 258 million
  • Portuguese 258 million
  • Urdu Chinese 231 million
  • Indonesian199 million
  • German 136 million
  • Japanese127 million
  • Marathi 101 million
  • Telugu 97 million
  • Turkish 91 million
  • Tamil 86 million
  • Yue Chinese 85 million
  • Wu Chinese82 million
  • Korean 82 million
  • Vietnamese78 million
  • Hausa 75 million
  • Persian Dari, Tajiki 75 million
  • Egyptian Spoken Arabic 71 million
  • Swahili 69 million
  • Javanese 68 million
  • Italian68 million
  • Western Punjabi 66 million
  • Gujarati63 million
  • Thai 61 million
  • Kannada 60 million
  • Amharic 57 million
  • Bhojpuri 52.20 million
  • Eastern Punjabi 52 million
  • Min Nan Chinese49 million
  • Nigerian Pidgin 48 million
  • Jin Chinese47 million
  • Filipino 45 million
  • Hakka Chinese 44 million
  • Yoruba 43 million
  • Burmese43 million
  • Sudanese Spoken Arabic 42 million
  • Polish 41 million
  • Odia 40 million