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”

• Learn Japanese Kanji - Everyday Kanji (Electric Water Heater)

  
  JapanesePod101.com Blog — Authority: 120
  Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That’s right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week is kanji seen on an electric water heater pot. Let’s take a look! ...
  2 hours ago

• Hope and Change: Progressive Radical Socialist Democratic Party–History Next Year!

  
  Pronk Palisades — Authority: 432
  Countdown to a Government Takeover of Health Care Obama: House Passage of Health Care ‘courageous  11 8 2009 Pence Appears On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace Health Care Bill Is Back Room Dirty Deals Health Care Bill Is Un Constitutional One Republican Tori Lieberman: If ...
  3 hours ago

• Almost to the end of his life, he lived ensconced within pebble dash...

  
  TYWKIWDBI — Authority: 609
  Last night I was catching up on my reading; I picked up the October issue of Harpers , which had a review of a book about J. G. Ballard, whom I have previously blogged as a favorite author . The book review was unremarkable until I encountered this passage - The few times I met Ballard, I was struck by his very ...
  5 hours ago

• 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
  5 hours ago

• Because this Darth Vader doesnt regurgitate water...

  
  TYWKIWDBI — Authority: 609
  ... he is not a gargoyle - even though he gazes down from the Washington National Cathedral as a decorative element. To be a true "gargoyle," you have to, well, "gargle" - The term originates from the Frenh gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet"; cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived ...
  5 hours ago

• “Believe That” and “Believe In”

  
  Wide Scope — Authority: 121
  I’m attracted to a traditional account of the semantics of belief reports which holds that the semantic content of a belief report of the form ‘S believes that P’ is a two-place relation that holds between a person and a proposition. I’m curious about other common phrases in English that (a) use the word ...
  6 hours 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.
  7 hours ago

• Once again for the clue-challenged

  
  Hoyden About Town — Authority: 135
  Dear Internet Interlocutor, criticising rape jokes does not mean censorship of rape jokes, so how is bringing up free speech relevant again? My latest comment responding to somebody objecting to Melissa McEwan’s statement that “rape jokes are rape culture” in her Rape Culture 101 post which was crossposted to ...
  7 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 ...
  7 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...
  7 hours ago

• office talk

  
  LikeItHateIt — Authority: 124
  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 . ...
  7 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 ...
  9 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 ...
  10 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
  10 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, ...
  11 hours ago

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

  
  Drageda — Authority: 116
  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 ...
  11 hours ago

• In a Word

  
  Futility Closet — Authority: 613
  patrizate v. to imitate one’s father father-better adj. surpassing one’s father father-waur adj. worse than one’s father
  12 hours ago

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

  
  Free Download — Authority: 547
  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: ...
  12 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 ...
  12 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...
  12 hours ago

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