Language

What is language? It is a system of arbitrary symbols and grammatical signals which meaning is attributed and used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings. Language has certain things in common. They are sound-pattern, words and grammatical structure. A sound-pattern is a group of sounds that the human can utter. Words are sounds or sound-patterns that have a meaning. Words may stand for objects, actions, or ideas. According to this definition, there is no resemblance between words and objects which they describe. Grammatical structure is the manner in which words are combined to form larger, meaningful units such as sentences. Undoubtedly, spoken language such as German, Spanish and English are examples of language because they are used for communication in society and they have grammatical rules for speaking and writing. Algebra and mathematical functions are also type of language since they have rules for expression of mathematical meaning. For example, '4/5' have a meaning, but '4/0' are not mentioned for mathematical meaning. Furthermore, the order of symbols in algebra has an effect to the meaning. For instance, 'x 5x - 2' compares with 'x 2 - 5x'. It has different meaning and rule for solving the problem. This definition also includes computer language which is a special set of symbols, letters, numerals and rules, used for the transmission of information in computer. Computer language has rules for operating and programming. When you use the computer, you should follow the rules in order to operate the computer properly.

According to the definition, body language is not a language because body language has no grammatical rules for expression of meaning. Moreover, each body movement can show only one or two words. We cannot use body language for the whole sentence. For example, thumb up signals very good job but you cannot use it to express what the whole sentence you would like to say.

Animal language is not included in the definition of language because animal language has no exactly meaning, grammatical rule and combined sentence. It's just an animal noise. People translate the noise by guessing or using their own opinions.

Chimpanzees' calls are good example for discussing about this subject. "Chimpanzees communicate with a rich repertoire of calls, probably around 50 different, distinct calls, each of which means something different to the individual hearing it." For example, "A loud long, drawn-out wailing wraaaa call is made when a chimpanzee comes across something unusual or dangerous. This alarm call is a very savage sound.”

However, Chimpanzees use different alarm to signal different types of danger. When chimpanzees find a new source of food, they still use alarm call to tell the members of group. Chimpanzees' calls have no exactly meaning.

People just observe their behaviors and guess the meaning of those calls. So animal noise is not counted as the term of language.