nyelv

Nyelv is a Hungarian term that primarily means language or tongue. In linguistics and everyday use, a language is a system of conventional signs used to communicate and express thoughts. It is human-specific, capable of infinite variation, and learned within a community. A language comprises levels such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and is typically expressed through speech and often in writing. It is acquired socially, usually in childhood, and can be spoken, signed, or written.

Languages vary greatly in form and content, yet they share certain universal properties, such as discrete units, hierarchical structure, and the ability to convey past, present, and future events, abstract ideas, and complex social meaning. They are organized into families based on historical relatedness, such as Indo-European or Finno-Ugric, though some languages are isolates with no demonstrable relatives.

In addition to its linguistic sense, nyelv also denotes the anatomical organ—the tongue. The tongue is a muscular, movable structure in the mouth essential for tasting, swallowing, and articulating sounds. It plays a central role in shaping phonetic contrasts and intelligibility across languages.

Writing systems extend language by recording sounds, words, and meanings on visible media, enabling transmission across time and space. Language use is influenced by sociocultural factors, including education, policy, and identity, and many languages face endangerment as communities shift toward more dominant tongues. See also linguistics, phonology, syntax, language families, endangerment of languages, and Hungarian language.