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144-582: A national language is a language (or language variant , e.g. dialect ) that has some connection— de facto or de jure —with a nation . The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions. C.M.B. Brann , with particular reference to India, suggests that there are "four quite distinctive meanings" for national language in

288-704: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by one Suresh Kachhadia. The Supreme Court of India uses English in its proceedings and objects to use Hindi. The Union Government uses Hindi and English as official languages, such as for parliamentary proceedings and texts of federal laws. Communications between the Union Government and state governments are in Hindi with Region A and Region B states and in English with Region C states. State governments use their own native languages in official communications. They may adopt one or more of

432-421: A bonobo named Kanzi learned to express itself using a set of symbolic lexigrams . Similarly, many species of birds and whales learn their songs by imitating other members of their species. However, while some animals may acquire large numbers of words and symbols, none have been able to learn as many different signs as are generally known by an average 4 year old human, nor have any acquired anything resembling

576-484: A "mother tongue" corresponding to the student's ethnicity. Malay is only offered to non-Malay students as an optional third language in secondary schools. As a result, English has displaced Bazaar Malay as the common language among Singaporeans. Therefore, despite the status of Malay as the national language, the majority doesn't speak it as a first language. Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary . It

720-524: A "nation", these two languages may be considered two equal national languages of the nation of Canada, or the national languages of two nations within one state, English Canada and French Canada . Quebec nationalists consider Quebec French the language of the Quebec nation and is that province's official language (and recognized minority in Ontario , Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador ). Acadian French ,

864-504: A 2017 study on Ardipithecus ramidus challenges this belief. Scholarly opinions vary as to the developments since the appearance of the genus Homo some 2.5 million years ago. Some scholars assume the development of primitive language-like systems (proto-language) as early as Homo habilis (2.3 million years ago) while others place the development of primitive symbolic communication only with Homo erectus (1.8 million years ago) or Homo heidelbergensis (0.6 million years ago), and

1008-411: A clause can contain another clause (as in "[I see [the dog is running]]"). Human language is the only known natural communication system whose adaptability may be referred to as modality independent . This means that it can be used not only for communication through one channel or medium, but through several. For example, spoken language uses the auditive modality, whereas sign languages and writing use

1152-489: A combination of segmental and suprasegmental elements. The segmental elements are those that follow each other in sequences, which are usually represented by distinct letters in alphabetic scripts, such as the Roman script. In free flowing speech, there are no clear boundaries between one segment and the next, nor usually are there any audible pauses between them. Segments therefore are distinguished by their distinct sounds which are

1296-622: A comparison can be made, the differences between both varieties are analogous to those between American and British English even if differences in phonology and prosody for the latter are greater. Quebec's culture has only recently gained exposure in Europe, especially since the Quiet Revolution ( Révolution tranquille ). The difference in dialects and culture is large enough that speakers of Quebec French overwhelmingly prefer their own local television dramas or sitcoms to shows from Europe or

1440-495: A constitutional revision a law was passed on 24 February 1984 making Luxembourgish the national language. Furthermore, this law recognised the three languages of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish, French and German) as administrative languages. The Malay language is the national language of Malaysia in accordance with Article 152(1) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia . Dhivehi is the national language of Maldives per

1584-421: A different medium, include writing (including braille ), sign (in manually coded language ), whistling and drumming . Tertiary modes – such as semaphore , Morse code and spelling alphabets – convey the secondary mode of writing in a different medium. For some extinct languages that are maintained for ritual or liturgical purposes, writing may be the primary mode, with speech secondary. When described as

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1728-606: A finite, usually very limited, number of possible ideas that can be expressed. In contrast, human language is open-ended and productive , meaning that it allows humans to produce a vast range of utterances from a finite set of elements, and to create new words and sentences. This is possible because human language is based on a dual code, in which a finite number of elements which are meaningless in themselves (e.g. sounds, letters or gestures) can be combined to form an infinite number of larger units of meaning (words and sentences). However, one study has demonstrated that an Australian bird,

1872-522: A full non-breaking space is not used before the semicolon , exclamation mark , or question mark . Instead, a thin space (which according to Le Ramat de la typographie normally measures a quarter of an em ) is used; this thin space can be omitted in word-processing situations where the thin space is assumed to be unavailable, or when careful typography is not required. A notable difference in grammar which received considerable attention in France during

2016-427: A further seven more (totalling eleven official languages): Cree , Dënesųłiné , Gwich’in , Inuvialuktun, North and South Slavey and Tłı̨chǫ . As these official languages are legislated at a territorial (sub-federal) level, they can be construed as national languages. Besides these there many Indigenous languages of Canada , which are the national languages of one or more First Nations , Inuit or Métis peoples;

2160-534: A horse or a carriage), the Québécois variety in its informal register tends to use embarquer and débarquer , a result of Quebec's navigational heritage. With the onset of British rule in 1760 , the French of Canada became isolated from that of Europe. This led to a retention of older pronunciations, such as moé for moi ( audio comparison ) and expressions that later died out in France. In 1774,

2304-685: A natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal sentence structure . The second area is Broca's area , in the posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the dominant hemisphere. People with a lesion to this area develop expressive aphasia , meaning that they know what they want to say, they just cannot get it out. They are typically able to understand what is being said to them, but unable to speak fluently. Other symptoms that may be present in expressive aphasia include problems with word repetition . The condition affects both spoken and written language. Those with this aphasia also exhibit ungrammatical speech and show inability to use syntactic information to determine

2448-833: A number of First Nations and Inuit homelands at the Indigenous government level legislate their language as an official language of the Nation, such as the Nisg̱a’a language by Nisg̱a’a and Inuvialuktun by Inuvialuit . Notably the Cree language is spoken (with variations) from Alberta to Labrador, Anishinaabemowin is spoken across central Canada, and Inuktitut is spoken across the Arctic, northern Quebec and Labrador. There are many languages spoken across China , with most people speaking one of several varieties of Chinese . During successive imperial dynasties,

2592-512: A polity: " Regional language " ( choralect ) The last is usually given the title of official language . In some cases (e.g., the Philippines ), several languages are designated as official and a national language is separately designated. "National language" and " official language " are best understood as two concepts or legal categories with ranges of meaning that may coincide, or may be intentionally separate. Stateless nations are not in

2736-416: A result of their different articulations, and can be either vowels or consonants. Suprasegmental phenomena encompass such elements as stress , phonation type, voice timbre , and prosody or intonation , all of which may have effects across multiple segments. Consonants and vowel segments combine to form syllables , which in turn combine to form utterances; these can be distinguished phonetically as

2880-411: A rich set of case suffixes that provide details about the instrument used to perform an action. Others lack such grammatical precision in the oral mode, but supplement it with gesture to convey that information in the sign mode. In Iwaidja , for example, 'he went out for fish using a torch' is spoken as simply "he-hunted fish torch", but the word for 'torch' is accompanied by a gesture indicating that it

3024-633: A science since the first grammatical descriptions of particular languages in India more than 2000 years ago, after the development of the Brahmi script . Modern linguistics is a science that concerns itself with all aspects of language, examining it from all of the theoretical viewpoints described above. The academic study of language is conducted within many different disciplinary areas and from different theoretical angles, all of which inform modern approaches to linguistics. For example, descriptive linguistics examines

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3168-536: A sign is encoded and transmitted by a sender through a channel to a receiver who decodes it. Some of the properties that define human language as opposed to other communication systems are: the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign, meaning that there is no predictable connection between a linguistic sign and its meaning; the duality of the linguistic system, meaning that linguistic structures are built by combining elements into larger structures that can be seen as layered, e.g. how sounds build words and words build phrases;

3312-426: A specific instance of a language system, and parole for the concrete use of speech in a particular language. When speaking of language as a general concept, definitions can be used which stress different aspects of the phenomenon. These definitions also entail different approaches and understandings of language, and they also inform different and often incompatible schools of linguistic theory . Debates about

3456-662: A strong influence on Quebec French. The phonological features traditionally distinguishing informal Quebec French and formal European French have gradually acquired varying sociolinguistic status, so that certain traits of Quebec French are perceived neutrally or positively by Quebecers, while others are perceived negatively. Sociolinguistic studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that Quebecers generally rated speakers of European French heard in recordings higher than speakers of Quebec French in many positive traits, including expected intelligence, education, ambition, friendliness and physical strength. The researchers were surprised by

3600-521: A system of symbolic communication , language is traditionally seen as consisting of three parts: signs , meanings , and a code connecting signs with their meanings. The study of the process of semiosis , how signs and meanings are combined, used, and interpreted is called semiotics . Signs can be composed of sounds, gestures, letters, or symbols, depending on whether the language is spoken, signed, or written, and they can be combined into complex signs, such as words and phrases. When used in communication,

3744-650: A system that is largely cultural, learned through social interaction. Continuity-based theories are held by a majority of scholars, but they vary in how they envision this development. Those who see language as being mostly innate, such as psychologist Steven Pinker , hold the precedents to be animal cognition , whereas those who see language as a socially learned tool of communication, such as psychologist Michael Tomasello , see it as having developed from animal communication in primates: either gestural or vocal communication to assist in cooperation. Other continuity-based models see language as having developed from music ,

3888-488: A theory is Noam Chomsky , the originator of the generative theory of grammar , who has defined language as the construction of sentences that can be generated using transformational grammars. Chomsky considers these rules to be an innate feature of the human mind and to constitute the rudiments of what language is. By way of contrast, such transformational grammars are also commonly used in formal logic , in formal linguistics , and in applied computational linguistics . In

4032-543: A view already espoused by Rousseau , Herder , Humboldt , and Charles Darwin . A prominent proponent of this view is archaeologist Steven Mithen . Stephen Anderson states that the age of spoken languages is estimated at 60,000 to 100,000 years and that: Researchers on the evolutionary origin of language generally find it plausible to suggest that language was invented only once, and that all modern spoken languages are thus in some way related, even if that relation can no longer be recovered ... because of limitations on

4176-457: Is Urdu , and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day." Although Urdu has been declared an official language, so far all government documents, legislation, legal orders, and other official records are written in Pakistani English . Most higher education instruction is in English. The National Language Authority

4320-415: Is modality -independent, but written or signed language is the way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures. Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or

4464-469: Is a common umbrella term to describe all varieties of French used in Canada, including Quebec French. Formerly it was used to refer solely to Quebec French and the closely related dialects spoken in Ontario and Western Canada , in contrast with Acadian French , which is spoken in some areas of eastern Quebec ( Gaspé Peninsula ), New Brunswick , and in other parts of Atlantic Canada , and Métis French , which

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4608-472: Is a longitudinal wave propagated through the air at a frequency capable of vibrating the ear drum . This ability depends on the physiology of the human speech organs. These organs consist of the lungs, the voice box ( larynx ), and the upper vocal tract – the throat, the mouth, and the nose. By controlling the different parts of the speech apparatus, the airstream can be manipulated to produce different speech sounds. The sound of speech can be analyzed into

4752-472: Is also referred to as national language for historical and cultural reasons, because since the 15th century, Italian became the language used in the courts of nearly every state in Italy and in general among educated Italians (scholars, writers, poets, philosophers, scientists, composers and artists) who contributed to what is nowadays the culture of Italy . Furthermore, Italian was often an official language of

4896-573: Is an organization established to make arrangements to promote Urdu since 1979. Filipino is the national language of the Philippines . The current 1987 constitution designated the Filipino language , which is based on Tagalog with the inclusion of terms from all recognized languages of the Philippines , as the national language. It also designated both Filipino and English as the official languages for purposes of communication and instruction, and designated

5040-588: Is called linguistics . Critical examinations of languages, such as philosophy of language, the relationships between language and thought , how words represent experience, etc., have been debated at least since Gorgias and Plato in ancient Greek civilization . Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) argued that philosophy

5184-563: Is called a language isolate . There are also many unclassified languages whose relationships have not been established, and spurious languages may have not existed at all. Academic consensus holds that between 50% and 90% of languages spoken at the beginning of the 21st century will probably have become extinct by the year 2100. The English word language derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European * dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s "tongue, speech, language" through Latin lingua , "language; tongue", and Old French language . The word

5328-534: Is common for oral language to be accompanied by gesture, and for sign language to be accompanied by mouthing . In addition, some language communities use both modes to convey lexical or grammatical meaning, each mode complementing the other. Such bimodal use of language is especially common in genres such as story-telling (with Plains Indian Sign Language and Australian Aboriginal sign languages used alongside oral language, for example), but also occurs in mundane conversation. For instance, many Australian languages have

5472-427: Is deprecated. Bengali , the sole official language of Bangladesh , is also the de jure and de facto national language of the country. Establishing Bengali as a national language was one of the key reason for the independence of Bangladesh. Bosnia and Herzegovina de jure has three national languages - Bosnian , Croatian and Serbian - which are de facto varieties of one language, Serbo-Croatian . It

5616-532: Is designated as the national language. This is due the recognition of ethnic Malays (approximately 14% of the population ) as the indigenous peoples of Singapore. Traditionally, the lingua franca among the different ethnic groups in Singapore was Bazaar Malay , a Malay-based creole . Since independence, the government has been promoting English as the main language of Singapore. The bilingual education policy requires students to study two languages: English and

5760-576: Is found generally across the Prairie provinces . The term joual is commonly used to refer to Quebec working class French (when considered a basilect ), characterized by certain features often perceived as phased out, "old world" or "incorrect" in standard French . Joual , in particular, exhibits strong Norman influences largely owing to Norman immigration during the Ancien Régime (they were perceived as true Catholics and allowed to immigrate to

5904-727: Is found to be distinct from those of other varieties of French: Some recent Quebec French lexical innovations have spread, at least partially, to other varieties of French, for example: On Twitter, supporters of the Quebec separatist party Bloc Québécois used hashtags that align with the syntactic pattern found in hashtags used in French political discourse , rather than adopting the hashtags commonly used by other Canadian parties with similar political positions. For phonological comparisons of Quebec French, Belgian French , Meridional French , and Metropolitan French , see French phonology . These examples are intended not exhaustive but illustrate

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6048-624: Is not officially classified as a minority language but equal to Finnish. Both national languages are compulsory subjects in school (except for children with a third language as mother tongue) and a language test is a prerequisite for governmental offices where a university degree is required. The constitution also grants the Sami and the Roma peoples the right to maintain and develop their languages: The Sami have partial right to use Sami languages in official situations according to other laws. Hindi and English are

6192-503: Is obstructed, commonly at the lips, teeth, alveolar ridge , palate , velum , uvula , or glottis . Each place of articulation produces a different set of consonant sounds, which are further distinguished by manner of articulation , or the kind of friction, whether full closure, in which case the consonant is called occlusive or stop , or different degrees of aperture creating fricatives and approximants . Consonants can also be either voiced or unvoiced , depending on whether

6336-534: Is officially defined under the three names, corresponding to the country's constituent nations . The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets both have official and equal status. Bulgarian is the sole official language in Bulgaria . Canada 's official languages since the Official Languages Act of 1969 are English ( Canadian English ) and French ( Canadian French ). Depending on one's views of what constitutes

6480-404: Is one of the few sign languages in the world to have such status. Besides official English ( Nigerian Standard English ), Nigeria recognizes three 'majority', or national, languages. These are Hausa , Igbo , and Yoruba , each with some 20 million speakers or more. Article 251(1) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan , titled National language , specifies: "The National language of Pakistan

6624-407: Is quite limited, though it has advanced considerably with the use of modern imaging techniques. The discipline of linguistics dedicated to studying the neurological aspects of language is called neurolinguistics . Early work in neurolinguistics involved the study of language in people with brain lesions, to see how lesions in specific areas affect language and speech. In this way, neuroscientists in

6768-454: Is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics of these times include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky . Language is thought to have gradually diverged from earlier primate communication systems when early hominins acquired the ability to form a theory of mind and shared intentionality . This development is sometimes thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists see

6912-415: Is sometimes used to refer to codes , ciphers , and other kinds of artificially constructed communication systems such as formally defined computer languages used for computer programming . Unlike conventional human languages, a formal language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information . This article specifically concerns the properties of natural human language as it

7056-435: Is specific to the ability to use language, not to the physiology used for speech production. With technological advances in the late 20th century, neurolinguists have also incorporated non-invasive techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electrophysiology to study language processing in individuals without impairments. Spoken language relies on human physical ability to produce sound , which

7200-412: Is studied in the discipline of linguistics . As an object of linguistic study, "language" has two primary meanings: an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e.g. " French ". The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure , who defined the modern discipline of linguistics, first explicitly formulated the distinction using the French word langage for language as a concept, langue as

7344-437: Is supported by the fact that all cognitively normal children raised in an environment where language is accessible will acquire language without formal instruction. Languages may even develop spontaneously in environments where people live or grow up together without a common language; for example, creole languages and spontaneously developed sign languages such as Nicaraguan Sign Language . This view, which can be traced back to

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7488-469: Is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared to anything found among non-humans and that it must therefore have appeared suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man. These theories can be defined as discontinuity-based. Similarly, theories based on the generative view of language pioneered by Noam Chomsky see language mostly as an innate faculty that is largely genetically encoded, whereas functionalist theories see it as

7632-503: Is the Romanian language . The Russian language is the only national language of Russia and had federal official status, but 27 other languages are considered official in different Federal subjects of Russia . Singapore has four official languages: English ( Singapore English variety), Chinese ( Singaporean Mandarin variety), Malay and Tamil . Although English is the primary language of business, government, and education, Malay

7776-404: Is the default modality for language in all cultures. The production of spoken language depends on sophisticated capacities for controlling the lips, tongue and other components of the vocal apparatus, the ability to acoustically decode speech sounds, and the neurological apparatus required for acquiring and producing language. The study of the genetic bases for human language is at an early stage:

7920-460: Is the official language of The Netherlands. In the province of Friesland , Frisian is also spoken and is recognized as the second official language there. While the population of New Zealand is predominantly English-speaking , the language of the indigenous Polynesian people is the Māori language . Both these languages have official status in the country, along with New Zealand Sign Language , which

8064-422: Is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing . Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement , which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and

8208-500: Is used to issue driving licenses and report tax income, making it not a national language but official language of the government. Finland has two national languages: the Finnish language and the Swedish language . The Constitution of Finland guarantees the right to use Finnish and Swedish in courts and other state institutions. Despite the large difference in the numbers of users, Swedish

8352-644: The Académie française , but are commonly used in Canada and Switzerland. There are other, sporadic spelling differences. For example, the Office québécois de la langue française formerly recommended the spelling tofou for what is in France tofu "tofu". This recommendation was repealed in 2013. In grammar, the adjective inuit "Inuit" is invariable in France but, according to official recommendations in Quebec, has regular feminine and plural forms. Grammatical differences between informal spoken Quebec French and

8496-481: The Enlightenment and its debates about human origins, it became fashionable to speculate about the origin of language. Thinkers such as Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder argued that language had originated in the instinctive expression of emotions, and that it was originally closer to music and poetry than to the logical expression of rational thought. Rationalist philosophers such as Kant and René Descartes held

8640-590: The New England textile mills and the northern lumber camps. As a result, Quebec French began to borrow from both Canadian and American English to fill accidental gaps in the lexical fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade. From the Quiet Revolution to the passing of the Charter of the French Language , the French language in Quebec saw a period of validation in its varieties associated with

8784-849: The Quebec Act guaranteed French settlers as British subjects rights to French law , the Roman Catholic faith and the French language to appease them at a moment when the English-speaking colonies to the south were on the verge of revolting in the American Revolution . In the period between the Act of Union of 1840 and 1960, roughly 900,000 French Canadians left Canada to emigrate to the United States to seek employment. The ones that returned, brought with them new words taken from their experiences in

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8928-477: The Republic of China . In order to promote a sense of national unity and enhance the efficiency of communications within the nation, the government decided to designate a national language. The Beijing dialect of Mandarin and Guangzhou dialect of Cantonese were each proposed as the basis for a national language for China. In the beginning, there were attempts to introduce elements from other Chinese varieties into

9072-494: The chestnut-crowned babbler , is capable of using the same acoustic elements in different arrangements to create two functionally distinct vocalizations. Additionally, pied babblers have demonstrated the ability to generate two functionally distinct vocalisations composed of the same sound type, which can only be distinguished by the number of repeated elements. Several species of animals have proved to be able to acquire forms of communication through social learning: for instance

9216-425: The comparative method . The formal study of language is often considered to have started in India with Pāṇini , the 5th century BC grammarian who formulated 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology . However, Sumerian scribes already studied the differences between Sumerian and Akkadian grammar around 1900 BC. Subsequent grammatical traditions developed in all of the ancient cultures that adopted writing. In

9360-423: The mental faculty that allows humans to undertake linguistic behaviour: to learn languages and to produce and understand utterances. This definition stresses the universality of language to all humans, and it emphasizes the biological basis for the human capacity for language as a unique development of the human brain . Proponents of the view that the drive to language acquisition is innate in humans argue that this

9504-514: The syntax used in spoken Quebec French and that of other regional dialects of French . However, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech. One far-reaching difference is the weakening of the syntactic role of the specifiers (both verbal and nominal), which results in many syntactic changes: Other notable syntactic changes in Quebec French include

9648-491: The 17th century AD, the French Port-Royal Grammarians developed the idea that the grammars of all languages were a reflection of the universal basics of thought, and therefore that grammar was universal. In the 18th century, the first use of the comparative method by British philologist and expert on ancient India William Jones sparked the rise of comparative linguistics . The scientific study of language

9792-665: The 1970s, the official position on Québécois language has shifted dramatically. An oft-cited turning point was the 1977 declaration of the Association québécoise des professeurs de français defining thus the language to be taught in classrooms: "Standard Quebec French [ le français standard d'ici , literally, "the Standard French of here"] is the socially favoured variety of French which the majority of Francophone Québécois tend to use in situations of formal communication." Ostiguy and Tousignant doubt whether Quebecers today would still have

9936-430: The 1990s is the feminine form of many professions that traditionally did not have a feminine form. In Quebec, one writes nearly universally une chercheuse or une chercheure "a researcher", whereas in France, un chercheur and, more recently, un chercheur and une chercheuse are used. Feminine forms in -eur e as in ingénieu re are still strongly criticized in France by institutions like

10080-418: The 19th century discovered that two areas in the brain are crucially implicated in language processing. The first area is Wernicke's area , which is in the posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus in the dominant cerebral hemisphere. People with a lesion in this area of the brain develop receptive aphasia , a condition in which there is a major impairment of language comprehension, while speech retains

10224-485: The 22 languages listed in the Indian constitution 's eighth schedule — Assamese , Bengali , Bodo , Dogri , Gujarati , Hindi , Kannada , Kashmiri , Konkani , Maithili , Malayalam , Marathi , Meitei , Nepali , Odia , Punjabi , Sanskrit , Santali , Sindhi , Tamil , Telugu and Urdu . The Supreme Court of India uses English as its sole official language; high courts in some states use other languages spoken in

10368-633: The Czech Republic. Amharic was the national language in Ethiopian Empire . The country is composed of at least 80 different ethnic nationalities. Its people altogether speak over 80 different languages. Amharic , Oromo , Tigrinya , Somali , and Afar are the official working languages of Ethiopia. But courts, and legislations work in Amharic and the constitution of the country is written in Amharic in an official capacity. And in day-to-day basis, Amharic

10512-607: The Maldivian constitution. The Maltese language is the national language of Malta. It is also the official language of the island, together with English . Maltese only is recognised as "national" in Chapter 1 of the Laws of Malta. Although English is the only nationwide official language in Namibia , there are also 20 national languages , which are each spoken by more or less sizeable portions of

10656-594: The Republic of China. Since then, the Beijing dialect has become the main standard for pronunciation, due to its prestigious status during the preceding Qing dynasty . Still, elements from other dialects do exist in the standard language, which is now defined as reflecting the pronunciation of Beijing, the grammatical patterns of Mandarin dialects spoken in the northern parts of China, and the vocabulary of modern vernacular Chinese literature. The People's Republic of China renamed

10800-688: The US of a number of British programmes being shown with subtitles (notably from Scotland). Historically speaking, the closest relative of Quebec French is the 17th and 18th-century koiné of Paris . Formal Quebec French uses essentially the same orthography and grammar as the French of France, with few exceptions, and exhibits moderate lexical differences. Differences in grammar and lexicon become more marked as language becomes more informal. While phonetic differences also decrease with greater formality, Quebec and European accents are readily distinguishable in all registers . Over time, European French has exerted

10944-401: The United States. Conversely, certain singers from Quebec have become very famous even in France, notably Félix Leclerc , Gilles Vigneault , Kate and Anna McGarrigle , Céline Dion , and Garou . Some television series from Quebec such as Têtes à claques and L'Été indien are also known in France. The number of such shows from France shown on Quebec television is about the same as

11088-641: The ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning. Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects . Natural languages are spoken , signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli  – for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille . In other words, human language

11232-447: The brain, implanting a language organ in an otherwise primate brain." Though cautioning against taking this story literally, Chomsky insists that "it may be closer to reality than many other fairy tales that are told about evolutionary processes, including language." In March 2024, researchers reported that the beginnings of human language began about 1.6 million years ago. The study of language, linguistics , has been developing into

11376-608: The communication of bees that can communicate the location of sources of nectar that are out of sight), the degree to which it is used in human language is also considered unique. Theories about the origin of language differ in regard to their basic assumptions about what language is. Some theories are based on the idea that language is so complex that one cannot imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have evolved from earlier pre-linguistic systems among our pre-human ancestors. These theories can be called continuity-based theories. The opposite viewpoint

11520-410: The complex grammar of human language. Human languages differ from animal communication systems in that they employ grammatical and semantic categories , such as noun and verb, present and past, which may be used to express exceedingly complex meanings. It is distinguished by the property of recursivity : for example, a noun phrase can contain another noun phrase (as in "[[the chimpanzee]'s lips]") or

11664-527: The complex influence that European French has had on Quebec French pronunciation and the range of sociolinguistic statuses that individual phonetic variables can possess. Like other varieties, Quebec French is characterized by increasingly wide gaps between its formal and informal forms. Notable differences include the generalized use of on (informal for nous ), the use of single negations as opposed to double negations: J'ai pas (informal) vs Je n'ai pas (formal) etc. There are increasing differences between

11808-461: The degree of lip aperture and the placement of the tongue within the oral cavity. Vowels are called close when the lips are relatively closed, as in the pronunciation of the vowel [i] (English "ee"), or open when the lips are relatively open, as in the vowel [a] (English "ah"). If the tongue is located towards the back of the mouth, the quality changes, creating vowels such as [u] (English "oo"). The quality also changes depending on whether

11952-533: The development of language proper with anatomically modern Homo sapiens with the Upper Paleolithic revolution less than 100,000 years ago. Chomsky is one prominent proponent of a discontinuity-based theory of human language origins. He suggests that for scholars interested in the nature of language, "talk about the evolution of the language capacity is beside the point." Chomsky proposes that perhaps "some random mutation took place [...] and it reorganized

12096-454: The discreteness of the elements of language, meaning that the elements out of which linguistic signs are constructed are discrete units, e.g. sounds and words, that can be distinguished from each other and rearranged in different patterns; and the productivity of the linguistic system, meaning that the finite number of linguistic elements can be combined into a theoretically infinite number of combinations. Quebec French Canadian French

12240-488: The distinctions between syntagm and paradigm , and the Langue-parole distinction , distinguishing language as an abstract system ( langue ), from language as a concrete manifestation of this system ( parole ). In the 1960s, Noam Chomsky formulated the generative theory of language . According to this theory, the most basic form of language is a set of syntactic rules that is universal for all humans and which underlies

12384-481: The extraordinarily negative discourse about it between 1940 and 1960. It is instead in the loss of social position suffered by a large proportion of Francophones since the end of the 19th century that one must seek the principal source of this degrading perception." Ouaouaron , the Canadian French word for bullfrog , a frog species native to North America, originates from an Iroquois word. Maringouin ,

12528-413: The fact that humans use it to express themselves and to manipulate objects in their environment. Functional theories of grammar explain grammatical structures by their communicative functions, and understand the grammatical structures of language to be the result of an adaptive process by which grammar was "tailored" to serve the communicative needs of its users. This view of language is associated with

12672-482: The federal government of Nepal. Over 123 languages are spoken in Nepal, all of which are granted constitutional status as rāṣṭrabhāṣā ( राष्ट्रभाषा ), officially translated as 'languages of the nation' (the word rāṣṭrabhāṣā also simply means 'national language'). Some of the languages include: Nepal Bhasa , Tamang , Sherpa , Rai , Magar , Gurung , Maithili , Awadhi , English , Limbu , Bhojpuri , etc. Dutch

12816-425: The flora and fauna such as atoca ( cranberry ) and achigan ( largemouth bass ), from First Nations languages . The importance of the rivers and ocean as the main routes of transportation also left its imprint on Quebec French. Whereas European varieties of French use the verbs monter and descendre for "to get in" and "to get out" of a vehicle (lit. "to mount" and "to dismount", as one does with

12960-639: The following five categories. The influences on Quebec French from English and Native American can be reflected in any of these five: The following tables give examples of each of the first four categories, along with the Metropolitan French equivalent and an English gloss. Contextual differences, along with individual explanations, are then discussed. Examples of lexically specific items: Examples of semantic differences: Examples of grammatical differences: Examples multi-word or fixed expressions unique to Quebec: Some Quebec French lexical items have

13104-623: The formal language abound. Some of these, such as omission of the negative particle ne , are also present in the informal language of speakers of standard European French, while other features, such as use of the interrogative particle -tu , are either peculiar to Quebec or Canadian French or restricted to nonstandard varieties of European French. While the overwhelming majority of lexical items in Quebec French exist in other dialects of French, many words and expressions are unique to Quebec, much like some are specific to American and British varieties of English. The differences can be classified into

13248-422: The formal theories of the generative school, functional theories of language propose that since language is fundamentally a tool, its structures are best analyzed and understood by reference to their functions. Formal theories of grammar seek to define the different elements of language and describe the way they relate to each other as systems of formal rules or operations, while functional theories seek to define

13392-408: The functions performed by language and then relate them to the linguistic elements that carry them out. The framework of cognitive linguistics interprets language in terms of the concepts (which are sometimes universal, and sometimes specific to a particular language) which underlie its forms. Cognitive linguistics is primarily concerned with how the mind creates meaning through language. Speaking

13536-413: The grammar of single languages, theoretical linguistics develops theories on how best to conceptualize and define the nature of language based on data from the various extant human languages, sociolinguistics studies how languages are used for social purposes informing in turn the study of the social functions of language and grammatical description, neurolinguistics studies how language is processed in

13680-420: The grammars of all human languages. This set of rules is called Universal Grammar ; for Chomsky, describing it is the primary objective of the discipline of linguistics. Thus, he considered that the grammars of individual languages are only of importance to linguistics insofar as they allow us to deduce the universal underlying rules from which the observable linguistic variability is generated. In opposition to

13824-455: The greater friendliness rating for Europeans, since one of the primary reasons usually advanced to explain the retention of low-status language varieties is social solidarity with members of one's linguistic group. François Labelle cites the efforts at that time by the Office québécois de la langue française "to impose a French as standard as possible" as one of the reasons for the negative view Quebecers had of their language variety. Since

13968-420: The history of their evolution can be reconstructed by comparing modern languages to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had in order for the later developmental stages to occur. A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family ; in contrast, a language that has been demonstrated not to have any living or non-living relationship with another language

14112-445: The human brain and allows the experimental testing of theories, computational linguistics builds on theoretical and descriptive linguistics to construct computational models of language often aimed at processing natural language or at testing linguistic hypotheses, and historical linguistics relies on grammatical and lexical descriptions of languages to trace their individual histories and reconstruct trees of language families by using

14256-636: The informal spoken language, but that notion is often exaggerated. The Québécois have been found to show a stronger aversion to the use of anglicisms in formal contexts than do European francophones, largely because of what the influence of English on their language is held to reveal about the historically superior position of anglophones in Canadian society. According to Cajolet-Laganière and Martel, out of 4,216 "criticized borrowings from English" in Quebec French that they were able to identify, some 93% have "extremely low frequency" and 60% are obsolete. Despite this,

14400-546: The integrity of Quebec French, while Metropolitan French on the other hand does not have that same protective attitude and in recent decades has been more influenced by English, causing Quebec French not to borrow recent English loanwords that are now used in Metropolitan French. There is a continuum of intelligibility between Quebec and European French; the two are most intelligible in their more standardized forms and pose more difficulties in their dialectal forms. If

14544-408: The lips are rounded as opposed to unrounded, creating distinctions such as that between [i] (unrounded front vowel such as English "ee") and [y] ( rounded front vowel such as German "ü"). Consonants are those sounds that have audible friction or closure at some point within the upper vocal tract. Consonant sounds vary by place of articulation, i.e. the place in the vocal tract where the airflow

14688-403: The meaning of sentences. Both expressive and receptive aphasia also affect the use of sign language, in analogous ways to how they affect speech, with expressive aphasia causing signers to sign slowly and with incorrect grammar, whereas a signer with receptive aphasia will sign fluently, but make little sense to others and have difficulties comprehending others' signs. This shows that the impairment

14832-595: The methods available for reconstruction. Because language emerged in the early prehistory of man, before the existence of any written records, its early development has left no historical traces, and it is believed that no comparable processes can be observed today. Theories that stress continuity often look at animals to see if, for example, primates display any traits that can be seen as analogous to what pre-human language must have been like. Early human fossils can be inspected for traces of physical adaptation to language use or pre-linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour. Among

14976-572: The mouth such as the l-sounds (called laterals , because the air flows along both sides of the tongue), and the r-sounds (called rhotics ). By using these speech organs, humans can produce hundreds of distinct sounds: some appear very often in the world's languages, whereas others are much more common in certain language families, language areas, or even specific to a single language. Human languages display considerable plasticity in their deployment of two fundamental modes: oral (speech and mouthing ) and manual (sign and gesture). For example, it

15120-570: The national language 普通话 (Pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà, literally "common speech"), without otherwise changing the definition of the standard national language. The Croatian language is the official language of Croatia. "The Croatian language and the Latin script shall be in official use in the Republic of Croatia" in Article 12 of the Croatian Constitution. The Czech language is the national language of

15264-551: The national language and first official language of Ireland, and the English language is recognised as a second official language. Hebrew was identified as the national language of the State of Israel with the adoption of the Nation-State Bill in 2018, with Arabic recognized as a language with "special status" used in state institutions. The Italian language is the de jure and de facto official language of Italy . Italian

15408-507: The national language in addition to those from the Beijing dialect; this was reflected in the first official dictionary of the national language, given the name 國語 ( Pinyin : Guóyǔ , literally "national language"). But this artificial language had no native speakers and was difficult to learn, so it was abandoned in 1924. Ultimately, the Beijing dialect was chosen as the national language and it continued to be referred to as 國語 in Chinese in

15552-665: The national language of Acadians , is an official language of New Brunswick (and recognized minority in Quebec , Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island ). Newfoundland English dialects differ substantially from other Canadian English ones. English and French are official in Canada's three territories ; two legislate a variety of Indigenous languages in addition. Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) have as official languages Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun , with N.W.T. also have

15696-623: The national level, but the 2010 constitution enjoins the state to "promote and protect the diversity of language of the people of Kenya." In Lebanon , the Arabic language is the "official national" language. Modern Standard Arabic is used for official purposes, while the everyday spoken language is Lebanese Arabic . French and English are also widespread in Lebanon. Luxembourg uses three official languages: Luxembourgish , French, and German. Previously Luxembourgish had no official status, but following

15840-488: The nature and origin of language go back to the ancient world. Greek philosophers such as Gorgias and Plato debated the relation between words, concepts and reality. Gorgias argued that language could represent neither the objective experience nor human experience, and that communication and truth were therefore impossible. Plato maintained that communication is possible because language represents ideas and concepts that exist independently of, and prior to, language. During

15984-741: The new world as an example of ideal French settlers). For example the word placoter can mean both to splash around or to chatter which comes from the Norman French word clapoter which means the same thing. Its equivalent in Acadian French is called Chiac . The origins of Quebec French lie in the 17th- and 18th-century regional varieties (dialects) of early modern French, also known as Classical French , and of other langues d'oïl (especially Poitevin dialect , Saintongeais dialect and Norman ) that French colonists brought to New France . Quebec French either evolved from this language base and

16128-459: The number of British shows on American television even though French news channels like France 24 and a francophone channel based in France, TV5 Québec Canada , are broadcast in Quebec. Nevertheless, Metropolitan French series such as The Adventures of Tintin and Les Gens de Mogador are broadcast and known in Quebec. In certain cases, on French TV, subtitles can be added when barbarisms, rural speech and slang are used, not unlike cases in

16272-509: The official language(s). Further, they may enjoy recognition as a language used in compulsory schooling and treasury money may be spent to teach or encourage adults in learning a language which is a minority language in a particular area to restore its understanding and spread its moral stories, rhymes, poems, phrases, songs, and other literary heritage which will promote social cohesion (where other languages remain) or will promote nationalist differentiation where another, non-indigenous language

16416-534: The official languages in India, according to Article 343(1) of the Constitution of India . Gujarat High Court has stated that while a majority of people in India have accepted Hindi as a national language, there is no official record or order declaring Hindi as the national language of the country. The observation was made by division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice A.S. Dave recently while rejecting

16560-414: The only gene that has definitely been implicated in language production is FOXP2 , which may cause a kind of congenital language disorder if affected by mutations . The brain is the coordinating center of all linguistic activity; it controls both the production of linguistic cognition and of meaning and the mechanics of speech production. Nonetheless, our knowledge of the neurological bases for language

16704-452: The opposite view. Around the turn of the 20th century, thinkers began to wonder about the role of language in shaping our experiences of the world – asking whether language simply reflects the objective structure of the world, or whether it creates concepts that in turn impose structure on our experience of the objective world. This led to the question of whether philosophical problems are really firstly linguistic problems. The resurgence of

16848-493: The perception of exaggerated anglicism use in Quebec French could be attributed, in part, simply to the fact that the anglicisms used are different, and thus more noticeable by European speakers. French spoken with a large number of anglicisms may be disparagingly termed franglais . According to Chantal Bouchard, "While the language spoken in Quebec did indeed gradually accumulate borrowings from English [between 1850 and 1960], it did not change to such an extent as to justify

16992-730: The philosophers Kant and Descartes, understands language to be largely innate , for example, in Chomsky 's theory of universal grammar , or American philosopher Jerry Fodor 's extreme innatist theory. These kinds of definitions are often applied in studies of language within a cognitive science framework and in neurolinguistics . Another definition sees language as a formal system of signs governed by grammatical rules of combination to communicate meaning. This definition stresses that human languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings. This structuralist view of language

17136-426: The philosophy of language, the view of linguistic meaning as residing in the logical relations between propositions and reality was developed by philosophers such as Alfred Tarski , Bertrand Russell , and other formal logicians . Yet another definition sees language as a system of communication that enables humans to exchange verbal or symbolic utterances. This definition stresses the social functions of language and

17280-540: The philosophy of language, the view of pragmatics as being central to language and meaning is often associated with Wittgenstein's later works and with ordinary language philosophers such as J. L. Austin , Paul Grice , John Searle , and W.O. Quine . A number of features, many of which were described by Charles Hockett and called design features set human language apart from communication used by non-human animals . Communication systems used by other animals such as bees or apes are closed systems that consist of

17424-453: The population and are considered Namibia's cultural heritage. All national languages have the rights of a minority language and may even serve as a lingua franca in certain regions. Among Namibia's national languages are German , Afrikaans , Oshiwambo , Otjiherero , Portuguese , as well as the languages of the Himba , Nama , San , Kavango and Damara . Nepali is the official language in

17568-846: The position to legislate an official language , but their languages may be sufficiently distinct and well-preserved to be national languages. Some languages may be recognized popularly as "national languages", while others may enjoy official recognition in use or promotion. In many African countries, some or all indigenous African languages are officially used, promoted, or expressly allowed to be promoted (usually taught in schools and written in important publications) as semi-official languages whether by long-term legislation or short-term, case-by-case executive (government) measures. To be official, spoken and written languages may enjoy government or federalised use, major tax-funded promotion or at least full tolerance as to their teaching and employers' recognition in public education , standing on equal footing with

17712-534: The prevalence of anglicisms in Quebec French has often been exaggerated. Various anglicisms commonly used in European French informal language are mostly not used by Quebec French speakers. While words such as shopping, parking, escalator, ticket, email and week-end are commonly spoken in Europe, Quebec tends to favour French equivalents, namely: magasinage, stationnement, escalier roulant, billet, courriel and fin de semaine , respectively. As such,

17856-657: The regional languages as auxiliary official languages in the regions to serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. More than 170 languages are spoken in the Philippines and almost all of them belong to the Philippine subgroup of the Austronesian language family. In September 2012, La Union became the first province in Philippine history to pass an ordinance proclaiming a local language. It declared Ilocano as an official language . This move aims to protect and revitalize

18000-422: The same general meaning in Metropolitan French but are used in different contexts. English translations are given in parentheses. In addition, Quebec French has its own set of swear words, or sacres , distinct from other varieties of French. One characteristic of major sociological importance distinguishing Quebec from European French is the relatively greater number of borrowings from English, especially in

18144-491: The same negative attitudes towards their own variety of French that they did in the 1970s. They argue that negative social attitudes have focused instead on a subset of the characteristics of Quebec French relative to European French, and particularly some traits of informal Quebec French. Some characteristics of European French are even judged negatively when imitated by Quebecers. Quebec French has some typographical differences from European French. For example, in Quebec French

18288-444: The set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings . Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes , and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances. The scientific study of language

18432-413: The signs in human fossils that may suggest linguistic abilities are: the size of the brain relative to body mass, the presence of a larynx capable of advanced sound production and the nature of tools and other manufactured artifacts. It was mostly undisputed that pre-human australopithecines did not have communication systems significantly different from those found in great apes in general. However,

18576-442: The space between two inhalations. Acoustically , these different segments are characterized by different formant structures, that are visible in a spectrogram of the recorded sound wave. Formants are the amplitude peaks in the frequency spectrum of a specific sound. Vowels are those sounds that have no audible friction caused by the narrowing or obstruction of some part of the upper vocal tract. They vary in quality according to

18720-528: The spoken language of the capital city served as the official spoken language and was used across the country by government officials who traveled to communicate with one another. Dialects used for this purpose in different eras included those of Xi'an , Luoyang , Nanjing , Beijing , and other historical capital cities . After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Kuomintang (Chinese nationalists) founded

18864-429: The state in addition to English. The official and national language of Indonesia is Indonesian . Indonesia has more than 700 living languages, making it the second most linguistically diverse country after Papua New Guinea. These 700+ languages, however, are without official status, and some are in danger of extinction . The largest local language is Javanese . Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as

19008-706: The structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative and social functions. Language is processed in many different locations in the human brain , but especially in Broca's and Wernicke's areas . Humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently by approximately three years old. Language and culture are codependent. Therefore, in addition to its strictly communicative uses, language has social uses such as signifying group identity , social stratification , as well as use for social grooming and entertainment . Languages evolve and diversify over time, and

19152-550: The study of language in pragmatic , cognitive , and interactive frameworks, as well as in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology . Functionalist theories tend to study grammar as dynamic phenomena, as structures that are always in the process of changing as they are employed by their speakers. This view places importance on the study of linguistic typology , or the classification of languages according to structural features, as processes of grammaticalization tend to follow trajectories that are partly dependent on typology. In

19296-587: The use of Ilocano in various government and civil affairs within the province. The Filipino Sign Language is designated as the "national sign language of the Filipino deaf" as well as the official sign language for transactions of the Philippine government. Article 27 of the Constitution states: "Polish shall be the official language in the Republic of Poland". Portuguese is the sole official language of Portugal . The official and national language of Romania

19440-595: The various Italian states before unification , slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as the Spaniards in the Kingdom of Naples , or the Austrians in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ). While English and Swahili are official languages, Swahili also has a special status as national language. None of the country's biggest languages ( Gikuyu , Luo , Kamba , Kalenjin , etc.) have any explicit legal status on

19584-452: The view that language plays a significant role in the creation and circulation of concepts, and that the study of philosophy is essentially the study of language, is associated with what has been called the linguistic turn and philosophers such as Wittgenstein in 20th-century philosophy. These debates about language in relation to meaning and reference, cognition and consciousness remain active today. One definition sees language primarily as

19728-449: The visual modality, and braille writing uses the tactile modality. Human language is unusual in being able to refer to abstract concepts and to imagined or hypothetical events as well as events that took place in the past or may happen in the future. This ability to refer to events that are not at the same time or place as the speech event is called displacement , and while some animal communication systems can use displacement (such as

19872-418: The vocal cords are set in vibration by airflow during the production of the sound. Voicing is what separates English [s] in bus ( unvoiced sibilant ) from [z] in buzz ( voiced sibilant ). Some speech sounds, both vowels and consonants, involve release of air flow through the nasal cavity, and these are called nasals or nasalized sounds. Other sounds are defined by the way the tongue moves within

20016-417: The word for mosquito, also originates from an aboriginal language, Tupi-guarani , spoken by aboriginals on the northern coasts of Brazil. It is thought that early French colonists adopted this word in the late 1600s after exchanges with explorers returning from South America. Atoca , a synonym for Cranberry , also originates from Iroquois. The following are areas in which the lexicon of Quebec French

20160-403: The working class while the percentage of literate and university-educated francophones grew. Laws concerning the status of French were passed both on the federal and provincial levels. The Office québécois de la langue française was established to play an essential role of support in language planning . Protective laws also arose in response to the distaste towards anglicisms for preserving

20304-561: Was broadened from Indo-European to language in general by Wilhelm von Humboldt . Early in the 20th century, Ferdinand de Saussure introduced the idea of language as a static system of interconnected units, defined through the oppositions between them. By introducing a distinction between diachronic and synchronic analyses of language, he laid the foundation of the modern discipline of linguistics. Saussure also introduced several basic dimensions of linguistic analysis that are still fundamental in many contemporary linguistic theories, such as

20448-433: Was first introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure , and his structuralism remains foundational for many approaches to language. Some proponents of Saussure's view of language have advocated a formal approach which studies language structure by identifying its basic elements and then by presenting a formal account of the rules according to which the elements combine in order to form words and sentences. The main proponent of such

20592-403: Was held. In another example, the ritual language Damin had a heavily reduced oral vocabulary of only a few hundred words, each of which was very general in meaning, but which were supplemented by gesture for greater precision (e.g., the single word for fish, l*i , was accompanied by a gesture to indicate the kind of fish). Secondary modes of language, by which a fundamental mode is conveyed in

20736-541: Was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period) or was imported from Paris and other urban centres of France as a koiné , or common language shared by the people speaking it. Unlike the language of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France was fairly well unified. It also began to borrow words and gather importations (see loan word ), especially place names such as Québec , Canada and Hochelaga , and words to describe

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