Discussion pt 1.1 - The word "Language"

[Admin]

Like the example of Spanish, Romanian is another language in which there are a few words for "language" with different conceptualizations: 'limba', 'limbaj' and 'vorbire'/'grai'. These are, in fact, equivalents of the Spanish words. This is probably because both languages are of Latin origin, as I've found that with German, for instance, this is not the case (the only word being Sprache). Can anyone confirm? I think the different conceptualizations tend to be more plurilithic, as they recognize the uses of language by different groups.

I like the verbification of the noun "language" (just like many many other nouns) because it conveys that language is always in motion, transforming, being dynamic, and not passive, as some might erroneously think. We can see this use in the word "translanguaging', for instance.

[Deborah Ayers]

English may not have different words for "language" but we do tend to describe our "types" of English. For example, "American English" "British English" etc. I often distinguish between casual language use and formal language use for my students. I try to instill in them a sense of understanding that there is not one type of English/language used in the world all the time.

[Rachel Laycook]

I only speak English and Spanish, so I'm unaware of other languages that distinguish between the functions of the word or idea of "language". I was also unable to access the article by Joseph (2002) but if I understand what he's getting at in the title, I think it's acceptable to consider one use of "language" as a verb-- All language is recursive and we have multiple uses for many different words. Changing word classes to change meaning happens with many words in English, and using "language" as a verb to describe the act of exchanging ideas/concepts/lexical items/syntax with someone else to communicate seems, to me, to be the action that such a verb would describe.

[sameerco1971]

There are many words in English that are always nouns but still many people use it as a verb like the word "Google". When you ask someone about a certain information, they say "You can google it". I think it makes sense when we use it as a verb. There are many similar examples in my Arabic language. We can change any noun into verb by adding "ya" prefix which is not correct linguistically but many people use it in spoken language.

[mia]

In my home language, Afrikaans (also referred to as the daughter of Dutch), there are many similarities to the English language. Some sentences can be read and understood in both Afrikaans & English, for example: My pen is my wonderland.

[Kunlong Jin]

In Chinese, the phrase 'shi tai' is pronounced the same way but with different tones. If both words are first tone, it means 'senior nun' while we change the first word into a second tone, it literally means 'tense' in English as a grammatical term. Tone languages in the world are more or less similar in a way that the meaning of words, phrases and sentences can simply be changed by alternating the subtle tone. I would argue that words correspond to a more plurilthic senses inn that they vary in different registers and genres.

[luoliveira]

Like in Spanish there are several words corresponding to Language in Portuguese: idioma, língua, linguagem, fala, falar. This might happen because the root is also Latin. The sense is plurilthic since we can use them meaning different things in the same semantic area and there are nouns and verbs to talk about language. One of the things I like in English is the fact that many nouns can become verbs and this is very resourceful. We can google something, so why can't we language someone or something?

[Daniel Palmer]

I only speak English fluently, so I'm unaware of the situation with other languages; however, it seems to be that English speakers distinguish between different varieties of English using rather semiotically loaded terms; we refer to dialects and creoles in an entirely different sense of the word 'language', yet it's not always clear in certain contexts where the boundary between the creole and the dialect is; look at the language situation in Anglophone Caribbean countries, for example.

[Abayomi Oluwatoyin]

I speak English and other languages and coming to see and understand language as a verb brings the mobility of language to mind. Language evolves and over time, it continued to be so. Just like the society that is dynamic, the dynamism of languages has made it a verb because it has been active and not static. Words in use today which were not considered in the orthography of some languages years back have now gained global acceptance and usage even in official parlance.

[beatrizguerra]

In Portuguese, there are many possible ways to refer to the word language. Some as língua, linguagem, idioma, and fala. These words correspond to a more plurilthic sense since they embrace different meanings such as dialects, pronunciation, the use of the language and the language as a structured system (língua).

[severoc]

Although I am not a native english speaker, I am aware of the of the existence of tons of nouns that are used as verb (such as snapchat, google and dm). So it just makes sense that in some specifics scenarios the word "language" can also be used as a verb. And in portuguese we have a lot of synonyms for the word language just as spanish.

[simonepepe]

When we think about the word language in Portuguese, we may come to a part of the body, that is part of our mouth, the tongue!In order to avoid misunderstandings I´d rather a false cognate word IDIOM, that in Portuguese is a synonymous for the word language.
At school, some years ago, the word "Portuguese" wasn´t used to refer to the school subject related to the studies of our native language. Instead, this subject was called " Communication and Expression"
So I may say say language is an action of communicating, giving and receiving, exchanging ideas.

[Tony]

In Russian, the word meaning ‘language’ is the same as the one meaning ‘tongue’, which is apparently the case with Portuguese too judging from the comment above. I assume that it reflects the plurilithic nature of languages, because it could be derived from the afore-mentioned that since ‘language’ equals ‘tongue’ in some languages, then the concept of language becomes more complex and heterogeneous; every person is a unique ‘holder of a tongue’, thus every one speaks a unique variation of a language.

[erenkenny]

In Turkissh language, it's the same situation. the word ‘language’ carries the same meaning as the word ‘tongue’. It has lots of borrowing words in turkish dictionary. So it could have been borrowed from other languages.

[Danielle Zelin - Mauritius]

That is a very interesting perspective and as a bilingual (English and French), language in French is derived from the root 'langue' meaning 'tongue'. I think that 'language' can definitely be used as a verb or as an action and it is always moving and changing. I do believe language is plurilithic as it adapts to each brain where it is presented, used and applied.