关于“language”的介绍

What is Language?

给language下定义 如何给语言下定义

Many animal and even plant species communicate with each other. Humans are not unique in this capability. However, human language is unique in being a symbolic communication system that is learned instead of biologically inherited. Symbols are sounds or things which have meaning given to them by the users. Originally, the meaning is arbitrarily assigned. For instance, the English word "dog" does not in any way physically resemble the animal it stands for. All symbols have a material form but the meaning can not be discovered by mere sensory examination of their forms. They are abstractions.

Do the following words sound or look

like the animal shown here: canis ,

chien , hund , perro ?

(They all are words for dog in

European languages.)

A word is one or more sounds that in combination have a specific meaning assigned by a language. The symbolic meaning of words can be so powerful that people are willing to risk their lives for them or take the lives of others. For instance, words such as "queer" and "nigger" have symbolic meaning that is highly charged emotionally in America today for many people. They are much more than just a sequence of sounds to us.

A major advantage of human language being a learned symbolic communication system is that it is infinitely flexible. Meanings can be changed and new symbols created. This is evidenced by the fact that new words are invented daily and the meaning of old ones change. For example, the English word "nice" now generally means pleasing, agreeable, polite, and kind. In the15th century it meant foolish, wanton, lascivious, and even wicked. Languages evolve in response to changing historical and social conditions. Some language transformations typically occur in a generation or less. For instance, the slang words used by your parents were very likely different from those that you use today. You also probably are familiar with many technical terms, such as "text messaging" and "high definition TV", that were not in general use even a decade ago.

Language and speech are not the same thing. Speech is a broad term simply referring to patterned verbal behavior. In contrast, a language is a set of rules for generating speech. A dialect is a variant of a language. If it is associated with a geographically isolated speech community, it is referred to as a regional dialect. However, if it is spoken by a speech community that is merely socially isolated, it is called a social dialect. These latter dialects are mostly based on class, ethnicity , gender , age, and particular social situations. Black English (or Ebonics ) in the United States is an example of a social dialect. Dialects may be both regional and social. An example is the Chinese spoken dialect and written form called nushu. It apparently was known and used only by women in the village of Jiang-yong in Hunan Province of South China. Women taught nushu only to their daughters and used it to write memoirs, create songs, and share their thoughts with each other. While women also knew and used the conventional Chinese dialect of their region, they used nushu to maintain female support networks in their male dominated society. Nushu is essentially gone now due to its suppression during the 1950's and 1960's by the communist government of China. The last speaker and writer of nushu was a woman named Yang Huanyi. She died in 2004. Not all societies have distinct dialects. They are far more common in large-scale diverse societies than in small-scale homogenous ones.

Over the last few centuries, deaf people have developed sign languages that are complex visual-gestural forms of communicating with each other. Since they are effective communication systems with standardized rules, they also must be considered languages in their own right even though they are not spoken.

Birth of a Language--the emergence of a new sign language among deaf children in Nicaragua.

This link takes you to a video at an external website. To return here, you must click the "back"

button on your browser program. (length = 4 mins, 57 secs)

Women in Papua New Guinea

conversing in Pidgin English

A pidgin is a simplified, makeshift language that develops to fulfill the communication needs of people who have no language in common but who need to occasionally interact for commercial and other reasons. Pidgins combine a limited amount of the vocabulary and grammar of the different languages. People who use pidgin languages also speak their own native language. Over the last several centuries, dozens of pidgin languages developed as Europeans expanded out into the rest of the world for colonization and trade. The most well known one is Pidgin English in New Guinea. However, several forms of Pidgin English and Pidgin French also developed in West Africa and the Caribbean. There have been pidgins developed by non-European cultures as well, including the Zulus in South Africa, the Malays in Southeast Asia, the Arabs in North Africa, and several American Indian societies. The most well known pidgin developed by American Indians is Chinook, which was used on the Northwest Coast of North America.

At times, a pidgin language becomes the mother tongue of a population. When that happens, it is called a creole language. As pidgins change into creoles over several generations, their vocabularies enlarge. In the small island nation of Haiti, a French-African pidgin became the creole language. It is still spoken there by the majority of the population as their principle or only language. The same thing happened among some of the peoples of Papua New Guinea , the Pacific Islands of Vanuatu , and Sierra Leone in West Africa, where different versions of Pidgin English became creoles. Similarly, on the outer banks of Georgia and South Carolina in the United States, isolated former African slaves made another version of Pidgin English into a creole known as Gullah or Geechee . Creoles also developed in Louisiana, Jamaica, and the Netherlands Antilles .

It is common for creole speakers to also speak another "standard" language as well. In Haiti, for instance, the more educated and affluent people also speak French among themselves. Their creole language is used on the street in dealing with poor Haitians. The Gullah speakers of Georgia and South Carolina speak English when dealing with outsiders. Which language is spoken depends on the social situation. This same phenomenon is often found in societies with different dialects of the same language. People may quickly switch back and forth between dialects, depending on the person they are talking to at the time. This pattern is referred to as diglossia or "code switching." The African American situational use of standard and Black English is a prime example. Black English is usually reserved for talking with other African Americans. North American reporters and announcers on national television programs are often diglossic. They must learn to speak with a Midwestern, European American dialect regardless of the region or social class they came from originally. We become so accustomed to this that it is usually a shocking surprise to hear them speak in their own dialects.

Typically, the dialects of a society are ranked relative to each other in terms of social status. In the London area of England, the upper class speak "public school" English, while the lower class often use a Cockney dialect. Because of the stigma against the latter, upwardly mobile Cockneys in the business world may take language lessons to acquire the "public school" speech patterns.

language的用法和解析

language的用法和解析

语言是基础，在英语词汇中，“language”就是翻译成“语言”的意思，除此之外，还有其他的用法哦！下面是我为大家整理了language的用法和解析，希望能帮到大家！

一、详细释义：

n.

语言，语言文字

例句：

Students are expected to master a second language.

学生们要掌握一门外语。

例句：

Holidays are for seeing the sights, hearing the language and savouring the smells.

度假是为了赏风景之美，听语言之妙，品百味之香。

言语，语言表达，表达能力

例句：

Students examined how children acquire language.

学生们仔细研究儿童如何习得语言。

例句：

Language is not art but both are forms of human behavior.

言语不是艺术，但两者都是人类的行为方式。

专门用语，术语

例句：

In speaking about temperature and in the language of science zero is used.

说到温度时以及在科学术语中用“零”。

例句：

I'm learning the language of business.

我在学习商业用语。

粗话，脏话

例句：

Television companies tend to censor bad language in feature films.

电视公司往往会在审查故事片时删去其中的粗话。

例句：

There's a girl gonna be in the club, so you guys watch your language.

俱乐部里会有一位女孩，你们男的说话注意点。

语言风格，文风，文体，措辞

例句：

The tone of his language was diplomatic and polite.

他说话圆通得体、彬彬有礼。

例句：

Mr Harris has not been afraid to use language that many in his party despise.

哈里斯先生素来不怕使用为许多党内人士所不齿的言辞。

二、词义辨析：

language,speech,tongue,dialect,idiom,slang

这些名词均含“语言”之意。 language普通用词，含义广。指人的语言或文字，或动物的语言。既可指口头或书面语言，也可指手势语等。 speech特指人的口语，也指正式的讲话。 tongue书面用词，指人的语言，亦指人的母语。 dialect指一种语言中，某一地方所特有的语言形式，即方言。 idiom指一种语言中一般由几个词结合成短语或句子的特殊表达方式，即惯用语、成语。也指方言。 slang指俚语。

三、词义辨析：

word,vocabulary,language,term,lexicon

这些名词均有“文字，词，语言”之意。 word普通用词，指语言的最小单位的单词、字，也可指话、整句话或一段话。 vocabulary集合名词，指词汇、语汇或词汇量。 language普通用词，指国家、民族或种族内部使用，已经系统化的语言。 term指有特定意义的词，词语或术语。 lexicon指某种语言、某人或某一知识领域的`全部词汇。

四、相关短语：

body language

n.身体语言,手势语言(由手势或姿态无意中传递之讯息)

dead language

已经废弃的语言

first language

第一语言,本国语,母语

machine language

用机关枪扫射

native language

母语,祖国语言

sign language

n.手语

source language

n.[计] 源语言

spoken language

口语

target language

n. 被翻译的语言

tone language

n. 声调语言

written language

书面语

algebraic language

代数处理语言，代数语言

一、参考例句：

Language externalizes thought.

语言使思想具体化。

The English language is allied to the German language,

英语和德语属于同一语系。

My native language is Chinese.

我的母语是汉语。

Explain with straightaway language please.

请用通俗易懂的语言说明一下。

His profane language annoyed us.

他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。

Language is a communicative tool.

语言是交流的工具。

English is a Germanic language.

英语属于日耳曼语系。

Abusive language prohibited on campus.

校园内不准说粗话。

Her first language is Spanish.

她的第一语言是西班牙语。

Body language is also important.

肢体语言也很重要。 ;

与语言 language 有关的英语词语 有多少给多少啊！！在线等

Machine

language机器语言；[计]

机械语言；计算机语言；[计]

人机语言

Assembly

Language[计]

汇编语言；组合语言；[计]

汇编言语；汇

Programming

language[计]

编程语言；[计]

程序设计语言；[计]

程序语言；[计]

程式语言

target

language目的语；目标语言；目标语；译入语

FORTRAN

LanguageFORTRAN语言；福传语言

source

language源语言；译出语；原文；来源语言

level

language高级语言；低级语言；中阶语言；高阶语言

artificial

language人工语言；人造语言；助记语言；人为语言

formal

language形式语言；正规语言；正式语言

英语专业人士帮下忙。

1.语言是一个系统，其能够而且必须在其同步声援考虑部分。（索绪尔，1916）

2.[语言是]一个句子集合（有限或无限），每个的长度有限，构建一个有限集合的元素了。（乔姆斯基1957）

3.语言是一种沟通所产生的符号来自愿思想，情感和欲望纯粹的人，非本能的.方法。（萨皮尔，1921年）

definition下定义

Definition of "Native English"

The term Native English,if used with reference to an individual of limited English proficiency,means:

-- The language normally used by that individual,or,in the case of a child,the language normally used by the parents of the child (except as provided below);

-- In all direct contact with a child (including his or her evaluation),the language normally used by the child in the home or learning environment.

For an individual with deafness or blindness or no written language,the mode of communication is that normally used by the individual (such as oral communication).

出处：

Office of Special Education Programs

Training Overheads on the IDEA '97 Regulations