What is ‘language’?

Language is the most important tool of communication. It was the first quick reply for this question that we used to give studying at school. But being involved into the world of languages so deeply, one could see that language is more than a tool of communication. Kazakh educator Akhmet Baityrsynov said: “Language is the great heritage of human being, transmitted from generation to generation” (Abylkasov, 2012, p. 19).

Language has immense power. It could be seen in the statements and sayings of famous writers, educators and linguists. For example, Kazakh proverb says: “Ең тәтті де – тіл, ең ащы да – тіл, ең жұмсақ та – тіл, ең қатты да – тіл” (Abylkasov, 2012, p. 21). The literal translation of which is: The sweetest of all is language, the saltiest of all is language, the softest of all is language, and the hardest of all is language. Another example of Russian writer Vadim Shefner: “Word can kill, word can save, and word can lead a regiment” (Khoroshko, 2012, p. 20). In his statement, the author conveys the idea that language is a tool that one should be able to use it. It allows people to communicate, to transmit information from one to another, to express feelings and ideas, to build cities and town, to develop art and culture, to shape society as a whole, etc. It gives society and people power to grow, change, and overcome. Finally, in order to see the power of language it is enough to imagine our life without language. 

Language is considered a social phenomenon, because language exists in society only. It is a means of establishing human relations. Yule (2010) assumes that namely the social organization and interaction of early human groups could contribute to the development of human language. However, if we talk about how language was born, he considers that his assumption does not answer the question regarding the origin of the sounds. Nevertheless, I’m inclined to the view that human beings became humans due to the labour which differs them from other creatures.         

Human language consists of sounds and symbols which are used for many different purposes. Various language studies shows that approximately 6,000 languages are spoken around the world. Each of these languages has its own sounds, vocabulary, grammar and patterns of discourse as well as its own well-organized and developed systems of arranging these symbols. Languages are constantly changing and developing, and they are in contact with each other. Era of globalization is the way that languages influence one another. For example, borrowing words, the vital example for which is English language that has borrowed words from over 350 other languages (Crystal, 2012).

The result of this borrowing shows that English we use today has a vast number of Latin and Greek affixes.  These affixes or small ‘bits’ attach to a stem and form new English words (Yule, 2010). These borrowed prefixes and suffixes have fixed, predictable meanings, so that one can very often guess what a word means.  For instance:

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis (lung disease), one of the longest words of English language that consists of 45 letters. The word combines elements from Greek and Latin language. One can look up in a dictionary to understand the meaning of this word which is split into 8 smaller words having different meanings: pneumono – lung (Greek), ultra – beyond (Latin), micto – small (Greek), scopic – looking (Greek), silico – sand like (Latin), volcano – volcano (Latin), konis – dust (Greek),osis – desease (Greek).   

Language is what makes us distinctively human. To study language, nature of language, origin and history of a word is a complex but a very fascinating topic. It generates many intriguing questions. One of the questions that puzzle many linguists is: Why do sounds close to mama and papa appear in so many languages?

In a nutshell, language is the most powerful tool that influence our way of thinking. We use language to comprehend the world. Hence, language plays a pivotal role in the process of transmitting knowledge. We learn language at a very early stage of our life. Many of our daily activities are carried out with language. Language is essential for us.

Reference

Abylkasov, G. (2012). Development of youth speech culture. Republican journal, 3(48), p.

19-22.

Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press.

Khoroshko, A. (2012). Power of word. Vestnik, 19, p. 19-27.

Yule, G. (2010). The study of language. 4th edition. Cambridge University Press.