Language and Languages

1. Language and Languages a report by Eva- Maria Nunnemann

2. Questions • What is „language“? • What is „a language“? • How many languages are there?

3. Question 1: What is „language“? • The word or concept „language“ is used quite regularly in daily conversation • And we actually use language everday to communicate • →from this we might conclude that everybody knows what „language“ is

4. Question 1: What is „language“? • Everybody has a certain notion of what „language“ is • → BUT: to find an exact and exhaustive definition of „language“ is very difficult In the literature you find a diversity of definitions but none covers all the different aspects of language !

5. Definitions of „language“ • „a language is a system of signals including voice sounds, gestures or written symbols which encodes and decodes information.“ • (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/language)

6. Definitions of „language“ • „Von jetzt ab werde ich unter einer Sprache eine (endliche oder unendliche) Menge von Sätzen verstehen, jeder endlich in seiner Länge und konstruiert aus einer endlichen Menge von Elementen.“ • (Chomsky, 1973)

7. Definitions of „language“ • „Sprache ist eine ausschließlich dem Menschen eigene, nicht im Instinkt wurzelnde Methode zur Übermittlung von Gedanken, Gefühlen und Wünschen mittels eines Systems von frei geschaffenen Symbolen.“ • (Sapir, 1969)

8. Question 1: Conclusion • These few quotations have already shown how diverse the definitions are • There is no ultimate definition of „language“ • The diversity of understandings of language are reflected in the discipline which studies it

9. Question 1: Conclusion • Linguistics is a very wide field • theoretical linguistics (semantics, pragmatics, syntax, etc.) • applied linguistics (psycholinguistics, computational linguistics etc.)

10. Question 1: Conclusion • Besides all the diversity in the definitions of „language“ there was one feature mentioned in all of them • →language is a form of communication based on signals

11. Question 1: Conclusion • Most of the signals are of symbolic nature • They are abitrary • The signals gain their meaning through convention • Important dimensions: interpretation, denotation and the relation between the symbols

12. Question 2: What is „a language“? • Everybody has a certain notion of what „ a language“ is • And everybody is able to name „a language“ when asked (→questionnaire) • But: most people immediately thought of the so- called natural languages (i. e. English, German,…)

13. Question 2: What is „a language“? • Different types of languages: • Natural languages • Constructed languages

14. Natural and Constructed Languages Natural languages: Spoken and signed by humans for general-purpose communication Linguistically: the term only applies to languages that have evolved naturally The study primarily involves native speakers Also non-standart language varieties (African American Vernacular English) are natural languages Examples: English, German, French, Finnish…

15. Natural and Constructed Languages • Constructed languages: • A language of which the grammar, phonology and/or the vocabulary have been specially devised by an individual or a small group • Does not have evolved naturally as part of a culture • Some languages are created for the use in human communication • Example: as „international auxiliary language“ like Esperanto

16. Natural and Constructed Languages • Some were created for the use in fiction, linguistic experimentation, secret (as codes), or for the experience of doing so (as language games) • Constructed languages can be further divided

17. Natural and Constructed Languages • Engineered languages: • Philosophical and logical languages devised for the use in logic or philosophy • Auxiliary languages: • Devised for international communication • Artistic languages: • Devised to create aesthetic pleasure • Example: J. R. R. Tolkien‘s elven languages like Quenya and Sindarin

18. Natural and Constructed Languages • Formal languages: • Several arguments that they belong to the engineered languages • Can be defined as artificial entities used by mathematics and computer science • Include programming languages (like c-shell) and markup- languages (like HTML) • Often take the form of character strings, produced by some combination of formal grammar and semantics of abitrary complexity

19. Question 2: Conclusion • This short overview of the different types of languages gave an impression that more languages exist than just the so- called natural ones

20. Question 3: How many languages are there? • Worldwide there are about 6500 different languages (here: natural languages) • 1/3 (about 2000) will die out in the next few decades • About 2/3 (4000) will (concerning to careful scientific estimation) die out in the next century

21. Question 3: How many languages are there? • Most languages in the world are spoken by small language communities • The 40 biggest languages are spoken by about 75% of the world‘s population • The other about 6460 languages are only spoken by 25% of the world‘s population

22. The most widely spoken Languages

23. Literature • Müller, Horst M. (2002). Arbeitsbuch Linguistik. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. • Bielefelder Linguistik (1997). Linguistik. Die Bielefelder Sicht. Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag. • www.wikipedia.org • wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn • www.infoplace.com/ipa/A0775272.html