Language

A language is a system of communication using symbols (including physical gestures, sounds, and other means of expression). The origin of human language is not fully known, but the use of complex language is often said to be what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans use language almost constantly, as we continually communicate information.

In and around these classifications, there are many types of languages in use today, numbering in the thousands worldwide.  Some languages, such as English and Japanese, are widely spoken within a certain culture; others, like languages of many indigenous peoples, have largely died out as their populations of native speakers were marginalized. Languages such as Latin are considered "dead", having no native speakers, but are still studied in academic circles. Still other languages, such as Perl or HTML, were designed specifically for communication with machines. Signed languages make use of gestures instead of sounds, a special innovation of the deaf community. And linguistic innovation continues unabated: LOLspeak and Emoji are only two of the language-related developments born of online communication.

In the blogosphere, posts tagged with language may have to do with learning a foreign tongue, or with reflection on words or sounds; they may explore the meaning of language, discuss a child's vocabulary learning process, or use words in a new way (e.g. poetry). One thing they'll all have in common, however, is that they are written or expressed using one of the world's many functioning languages.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “Language”

• Fun with English Language? Do not miss this one….

  
  Blog Write Photo Links Quotes Life Video Seo — Authority: 131
  http://www.beautifulperth.com/dumbenglish.html
  1 hour ago

• European humor

  
  Monday Evening — Authority: 118
  New-born French and German babies cry differently . To scientists this suggests some component of language acquisition occurs in utero . To me it suggests a joke, but I haven’t been able to think of a punch line.
  3 hours ago

• New photocopiable handouts November 2009 Part One

  
  TEFLtastic with Alex Case — Authority: 122
  It has come to my attention (that great school teach phrase which I swore never to use mysel) that whatever link I put top gets clicked on more than the others. Unless by some lucky chance everyone coming here wants to do a past tense review on Monday morning with adults but two weeks ago wanted to do some silly ...
  3 hours ago

• Having The Right Language Software

  
  Homeschool Facts — Authority: 462
  Language software which is now proliferating in the market is one of the most sought after gadgets for easy and fast way to learn different languages. No need to worry where to find software of this...
  3 hours ago

• office talk

  
  LikeItHateIt — Authority: 125
  On the nature of gossip as a subject of anthropological research From The NY Times Could adults gossiping in the office be more devious than the teenagers in “Gossip Girl” ? If you have a hard time believing this, then you must have skipped the latest issue of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography . ...
  3 hours ago

• Hasan’s Al Quaida Association

  
  Odd Citizen — Authority: 122
  From British newspaper, the Telegraph, we have this: Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists I doubt this article would appear in a PC U.S. newspaper. It implies that a Muslim was preaching terrorism at his mosque (how odd, how un-PC), and that the mass murderer, Nidal Malik ...
  5 hours ago

• The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Shane’s book 26, 2009)

  
  26 books — Authority: 118
  This is an odd book that inhabits the intersection between detective noir and comic fantasy. It has its moments and contains quite a few imaginative ideas but in the end it’s a disappointment. The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry. William Heinemann Ltd 2009, Hardcover, 288 pages, £7.50 ...
  6 hours ago

• Dozens of Aboriginal languages near death: UNESCO

  
  CKA Canadian News — Authority: 508
  It may be spoken by thousands, but a United Nations agency says Micmac, an Atlantic Canadian language, could go the way of Latin and die, only to be studied through books by historians and no longer spoken among people
  6 hours ago

• Easy Access to Obscure Characters

  
  Macgasm — Authority: 442
  There are times when you need to use an obscure character, and you don’t feel like screwing around with the option key for a half-hour to find out how to type it. Turns out, there is a very easy way to display a Character Viewer in Mac OS X. First, go to the Language & Text pane of System Preferences. Then, ...
  7 hours ago

• Celebrating One of Spain’s Most Renowned Painters – Diego Velasquez

  
  Drageda — Authority: 115
  Artwork is considered mostly as a form of expression, however, painting has various forms and style; other aesthetic compositions, as well as abstract painting may present an ethereal meaning that the painter wants to convey. Paintings can be naturalistic and also be representational in nature; it can be part of a ...
  7 hours ago

• In a Word

  
  Futility Closet — Authority: 612
  patrizate v. to imitate one’s father father-better adj. surpassing one’s father father-waur adj. worse than one’s father
  8 hours ago

• WINDOWS 7 LANGUAGE PACK (32 BIT)(64 BIT) (ENGLISH) FINAL

  
  Free Download — Authority: 546
  Windows 7 Language Pack (32 bit)(64 bit)(English) | 4.23 GB File: mu_windows_7_language_pack_x86_dvd_x15-73272.iso MD5: 0DDB893B76F27B184C48284A064D5049 SHA1: 9A04B246F132D929CDE04B14DD07FCF5F14D2F23 CRC32: 45A48C46 File: mu_windows_7_language_pack_x64_dvd_x15-73276.iso MD5: 4FD12AD4C946DD145A67C3230650AB8B SHA1: ...
  8 hours ago

• Babies are found to cry in their mother tongue

  
  3stepADS - Free Advertising Blog — Authority: 577
  they may not be old enough to talk, but babies less than a week old know how to cry in their native language.researchers have known that infants have the ability to mimic speech starting around 12 weeks of age. babies also show a preference for spoken language that mirrors the rhythm, melody and intensity patterns ...
  8 hours ago

• Babies Cry With the Accent of Their Mother Tongues

  
  Silenced Majority Portal — Authority: 148
  Newborn Babies May Cry in their Mother Tongues - US News and World Report Researchers discovered that French and German babies (60 were recorded) cry with the same "prosody" or melody used by their parents language by the second day...
  8 hours ago

• Teach English As A Foreign Language In Exotic Thailand

  
  URL Shouter — Authority: 125
  Thailand is an exotic and culturally diverse country in which to complete your TEFL training or to set as your base from which to teach English as a foreign language. Because Thailand wants to grow in terms of their economy, they see English as essential to this goal and so there is a demand for English teachers. ...
  8 hours ago

• Pease pudding hot...

  
  Another Bend in the Road — Authority: 125
  Pease pudding hot, Pease pudding cold, Pease pudding in the pot - nine days old. Some like it hot, some like it cold, Some like it in the pot - nine days old. ~Traditional English nursery rhyme, c. 1760 And some would like it fresh - thank you very much! Pease pudding is traditionally a sort of thick soupy ...
  8 hours ago

• [links] Link salad might be Dr. Spock’s backup band

  
  jlake.com — Authority: 438
  Mitchell Hooks’ Fabulous 50’s Paperback Covers — Very nice stuff linked through from this post on Drawn! Little but fierce — Ah, Criggo, thy clippings make me laugh until my bladder threatens. A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families — An interesting article about how children name things. (Via ...
  9 hours ago

• [links] Link salad might be Dr. Spocks backup band

  
  Lakeshore — Authority: 435
  Mitchell Hooks’ Fabulous 50’s Paperback Covers — Very nice stuff linked through from this post on Drawn! Little but fierce — Ah, Criggo, thy clippings make me laugh until my bladder threatens. A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families — An interesting article about how children name things. (Via ...
  9 hours ago

• Book Review: ‘Che Boludo: A Gringo’s Guide to Understanding the Argentines’

  
  The Argentine Post — Authority: 468
  Che Boludo: A Gringo’s Guide to Understanding the ArgentinesBy James Bracken, Ediciones Continente, 30 pesos, 61 pagesReviewed by Stephen PageOn a recent sunny spring day, while wandering...
  10 hours ago

• Is Pakistans Film Industry Dying?

  
  Cinematical — Authority: 745
  Left to right: Hand painted movie poster, Peshawar, Pakistan, 2006 (photo by Jim Henry ); The Odeon Cinema, Lahore, Pakistan, 2009 (photo by Rahat Ali Dar for Los Angeles Times). Youve heard of Bollywood, Nollywood , and even Dollywood, but what about Lollywood? Based in Lahore, the second-largest city in ...
  10 hours ago

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