Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet, an English phonetician and language scholar, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.” The U.S. linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager formulated the following definition: “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.” Any succinct definition of language makes a number of presuppositions and begs a number of questions. The first, for example, puts excessive weight on “thought,” and the second uses “arbitrary” in a specialized, though legitimate, way (see below).

A number of considerations enter into a proper understanding of language as a subject:

1. Every physiologically and mentally normal person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as both speaker and hearer, of a system of vocal communication

Such a view of language continued to be accepted as generally adequate and gave rise to the sort of definition proposed by Henry Sweet and quoted above. The main objection to it is that it either gives so wide an interpretation to thought as virtually to empty the word of any specific content or gives such a narrow interpretation of language as to exclude a great deal of normal usage. A recognition of the part played by speaking and writing in social cooperation in everyday life has highlighted the many and varied functions of language in all cultures, apart from the functions strictly involved in the communication of thought, which had been the main focus of attention for those who approached language from the standpoint of the philosopher. To allow for the full range of language used by speakers, more comprehensive definitions of language have been proposed in recent years on the lines of the second one quoted above (i.e., “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates”).

The relations between thought and speech are certainly not fully explained today, and it is clear that it is a great oversimplification to define thought as subvocal speech, in the manner of some behaviourists. But it is no less clear that propositions and other alleged logical structures cannot be wholly separated from the language structures said to express them. Even the symbolizations of modern formal logic are ultimately derived from statements made in some natural language and are interpreted in that light.

Some topics in this essay:
Edward Sapir, George Trager, Haitian Creole, Jargon Sometimes, Swedish Swahili, Greek Traditionally, Johann Gottfried, Algol Fortran, Algol FORTRAN, Spanish Portuguese, spoken language, tone voice, speech sounds, symbol system, facial expressions, human language, language system, language languages, origin language, mother tongue, consonant vowel sounds, origin language language, designating functions recent, specialized development man-machine, development man-machine language,