Language

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A language is a system, used to communicate, comprised of a set of symbols and a set of rules (or grammar) by which the manipulation of these symbols is governed. These symbols can be combined productively to convey new information, distinguishing languages from other forms of communication. The word language (without an article) can also refer to the use of such systems as a phenomenon.

Human languages use patterns of sound and/or hand gesture for symbols. These sounds can be converted into written form with little loss of information. Gestures and intonation are a part of delivery, but are not conveyed in written form. Some invented human languages have been built entirely on visual cues to enable communication. In human languages, the symbols are sometimes known as lexemes and the rules are usually known as grammars. "Language" is also used to refer to common properties of languages. Language learning is normal in human childhood and is biologically driven: a crucial role of this process is performed by the neural activity of a portion of the human brain known as Broca's area. There are thousands of human languages, and many, if not most seem to share certain properties (see Universal Grammar) as shown by generative grammar studies pioneered by the work of Noam Chomsky. Recently, it has been proved that a dedicated network in the human brain (crucially involving Broca's area, a portion of the left inferior frontal gyrus), is selectively activated by those languages that meet the Universal Grammar requirements.

There is no clear distinction between a language and a dialect, notwithstanding linguist Max Weinreich's famous aphorism that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy." In other words, the distinction may hinge on political considerations as much as on cultural differences, distinctive writing systems, or degree of mutual intelligibility.

Humans, sometimes using computer programs, have also constructed other languages, including constructed languages such as Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua, Klingon, Lojban, programming languages, and various mathematical formalisms. These languages are not restricted to the properties shared by human languages.