Language - Meaning, Style, Communication

language

Table of Contents

Introduction
Characteristics of language
- Definitions of language
- Historical attitudes toward language
- Ways of studying language
  - Phonetics and phonology
  - Grammar
  - Semantics
Language variants
- Dialects
- Jargon
- Pidgins and creoles
- Nonverbal language
  - Sign language
  - Paralinguistics
  - Symbolic and computer language
Physiological and physical basis of speech
- Speech production
- Language acquisition
Meaning and style in language
- Types of meaning
  - Structural, or grammatical, meaning
  - Lexical meaning
- Semantic flexibility
  - General and specific designations
  - Neologisms
- Language and conceptualization
- Style
Language and culture
- Transmission of language and culture
- Language and social differentiation and assimilation
- The control of language for cultural ends
  - Second-language learning
  - Nationalistic influences on language
  - Translation
  - Messages and codes
- Language learning
  - Bilingualism
  - Literacy
- Written language
  - Evolution of writing systems
  - Spelling
  - Written versus spoken languages
Linguistic change
- Diversification of languages
  - Changes through time
  - Changes through geographical movement
  - Tendencies against change
- Language typology

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The whole object and purpose of language is to be meaningful. Languages have developed and are constituted in their present forms in order to meet the needs of communication in all its aspects. It is because the needs of human communication are so various and so multifarious that the study of meaning is probably the most difficult and baffling part of the serious study of language. Traditionally, language has been defined as the expression of thought, but this involves far too narrow an interpretation of language or far too wide a view of thought to be serviceable. The expression of ...(100 of 25352 words)

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