language

Language is a system of conventional vocal, manual, or written symbols that humans use to communicate. It encodes ideas, experiences, and emotions and enables complex interaction within and across communities. Languages are learned from caregivers and communities and are shaped by social, cultural, and cognitive factors.

Every language has components such as phonology (the sound system), morphology (the structure of words), syntax (the rules for combining words), semantics (meaning), and pragmatics (contextual use). Linguists study competence, performance, and the ways languages change over time through contact and innovation.

Languages vary in modality: spoken, signed, and written forms. They typically have dialects and sociolects reflecting region, social group, and style. Some languages are mutually unintelligible but culturally linked; others are varieties of the same language rather than separate languages. Language families trace historical relatedness.

Acquisition begins in infancy and proceeds through pattern recognition, imitation, and social interaction. Languages evolve through contact, borrowing, and rapid innovation, producing loanwords, calques, and new grammatical constructions. Writing often supplements speech and can accompany or supplant it in literate communities.

Writing systems include alphabets, syllabaries, and logographic scripts. Literacy and education shape language use, and digital media have expanded reach and variation, including language standardization, transliteration, and emoji-based communication.

Language technologies support analysis, translation, speech recognition, and generation. Documentation and revitalization efforts aim to preserve endangered languages and maintain linguistic diversity, which scholars view as a resource for culture, cognition, and human versatility.