Portal:Language

Introduction

Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning.

A 2026 estimate of the number of "spoken or signed" languages remaining was around 7,500 (half of which are described as "endangered"), representing an estimated ninety-percent reduction over the past several thousand years. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille. In other words, human language is modality-independent, but written or signed language is a way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures.

Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances.

The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Critical examinations of languages, such as philosophy of language, the relationships between language and thought, how words represent experience, etc., have been debated at least since Gorgias and Plato in ancient Greek civilization. Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) have argued that language originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) argued that philosophy is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky. (Full article...)

Outline of linguistics • Index of language articles

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Yoruba (/ˈjɒrʊbə/; Yor. Èdè Yorùbá [èdè jōɾùbá]) is an Atlantic–Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 50 million, including around 2 million second-language or L2 speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

Yoruba vocabulary is also used in African diaspora religions such as the Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomblé and Umbanda, the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language, and various Afro-American religions of North America. Among modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas, Yorùbá-derived lexicon is used as a liturgical language, as almost all practitioners of these Diaspora manifestations are not fluent in it, yet they still use Yorùbá words and phrases for songs or chants, which are rooted in cultural traditions. For such practitioners, the Yorùbá-derived lexicon is especially common for ritual purposes, and these modern manifestations have taken new forms that do not depend on vernacular fluency. (Full article...)

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... that all Aboriginal languages in mainland Australia may have descended from a common ancestor spoken around 6,000 years ago?
... that until the 1990s, linguists often confused the Nizaa language with a similarly named local language?
... that Indian film editor A. Sreekar Prasad holds a record for editing films in 17 different languages?
... that actress Jacqui Purvis performed her character's wedding vows in te reo Māori during the 8000th episode of Home and Away?
... that the Women Lawyers Association in Malawi has worked with Amal Clooney to create a chatbot that gives women free legal advice in their native languages?
... that the 1910–1916 publication Raḥamim was the first newspaper in the Judeo-Tajik language?

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...that the totem pole (pictured) which welcomes visitors to the British Museum was documented for the museum by Rev. John Henry Keen years before it was purchased?
...that Missouri French is a nearly extinct dialect of French that developed in what is now the midwestern United States during the colonial period?
...that Hindi, Bengali, and Portuguese were all proposed as official languages of the United Nations?
...that the Vedda language is a Creole based on Sinhalese of Sri Lanka instead of a dialect?

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The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words to carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the language. Complete inflected verbs, nouns, and adjectives were formed by adding further morphemes to a root and potentially changing the root's vowel in a process called ablaut.

A root consists of a central vowel that is preceded and followed by at least one consonant each. A number of rules have been determined to specify which consonants can occur together, and in which order. The modern understanding of these rules is that the consonants with the highest sonority (*l, *r, *y, *n) are nearest to the vowel, and the ones with the lowest sonority such as plosives are furthest away. There are some exceptions to these rules such as thorn clusters. (Full article...)

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The Phoenician alphabet was a non-pictographic consonantal alphabet, or abjad. It became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean world, where it evolved and was assimilated by many other cultures. The Aramaic alphabet, a modified form of Phoenician, was the ancestor of modern Arabic script, while Hebrew script is a stylistic variant of the Aramaic script. The Greek alphabet (and by extension its descendants such as the Latin, the Cyrillic and the Coptic), was a direct successor of Phoenician, though certain letter values were changed to represent vowels.

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Language News

1 October 2026 – Immigration to Japan

Japan tightens permanent residency requirements for foreign nationals, introducing above-average income and basic Japanese-language standards while raising application fees twentyfold as part of broader changes to immigration policy. (AFP)

24 September 2026 – Hijab and burqa controversies in Europe, Islam in Italy

Italy's government approves a decree capping foreign students with limited Italian proficiency at 30% per classroom and banning burqas and niqabs in schools. The measure takes effect immediately but requires parliamentary approval within 60 days. (AP)

20 September 2026 – France–Iran relations

Iranian authorities close down a French language centre affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran under a judicial order. Prosecutors say it operated without a licence and conducted activities against Iranian culture and national security. (Reuters)

20 August 2026 – Sudanese civil war

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu regains control of Kauda, South Kordofan, following two days of clashes with Otoro fighters. (Sudan Tribune)

8 August 2026 – Sudanese civil war

A tribe leader in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan accuses the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North of launching attacks on Otoro villages in Kauda. Additionally, four aid workers are reported to be detained. (Sudan Tribune)

19 July 2026 – AI boom

Mathematician and Anthropic employee Levent Alpöge presents an explicit counterexample to the Jacobian conjecture in three-dimensional space that disproves the