Languages

Languages are systems of conventional use for communication, employing spoken sounds, written symbols, and, in the case of sign languages, manual gestures. A language includes a lexicon of words and morphemes, a set of grammatical rules, and phonological or visual-gestural patterns that specify how units combine. Languages are learned by individuals through immersion and social interaction and vary across communities in pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and usage. They enable the expression of ideas, social identity, and cultural knowledge, and they change over time as communities adopt new terms and structures.

Languages are studied in linguistics, which analyzes their structure, history, and use. They are grouped into families that reflect historical relationships, such as Indo-European or Niger-Congo, though genetic classification can be complex due to contact, borrowing, and language shift. Variants of a language spoken in different regions are called dialects; some dialects are considered separate languages for political or cultural reasons. Creoles and pidgins arise in contact situations when speakers of different languages need a common means of communication. Multilingualism is common in many societies, and lingua francas serve as shared languages in regional or professional settings.

Writing systems render language visible in text and can be alphabetic, syllabic, logographic, or a combination. Literacy, education, and media influence language standardization, while natural languages continuously evolve in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Sign languages are natural languages that use handshape, movement, facial expression, and body posture to convey meaning, and they have their own grammatical structures independent of the surrounding spoken languages.

Technology, globalization, and digital communication affect language use, with languages being documented and revitalized through fieldwork, corpora, and language technology.