Portal:Language

Introduction

A mural in Teotihuacan, Mexico (c. 2nd century) depicting a person emitting a speech scroll from his mouth, symbolizing speech

Braille writing, a tactile variant of a writing system

Cuneiform is the first known form of written language, but spoken language predates writing by at least tens of thousands of years.

Two girls learning American Sign Language

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.

Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. 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 the 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 languages 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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French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] ^ⓘ or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ^ⓘ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. It was influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the Germanic Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Over time, French largely supplanted most regional Romance varieties across France, Belgium and Switzerland. As a result of French and later Belgian colonialism, it was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole, were developed. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

French is the 22nd most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers, and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017^[update]. It is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 74 million are native speakers; it is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canada (Quebec), Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region), western Switzerland (Romandy region), Luxembourg, and Monaco. Meanwhile, in Francophone Africa it is spoken mainly as a second language or lingua franca, though it has also become a native language in a several urban areas. In some North African countries like Algeria and Morocco, it is the primary language for the elite (alongside Arabic) while being an auxiliary language for the general population. French is an official language in 26 countries, as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with speakers in about 50 countries. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the use or teaching of French. In 2025, approximately 50% of the Francophone population lived in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 30% lived in Europe, 15% in North Africa, 7% in the Americas, and a small percent in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the extinct Maipure language had a separate category of nouns for things that cannot be possessed, such as astronomical objects?
... that Thomas Jefferson pushed William & Mary to hire a man with little linguistic ability as its first professor of modern languages?
... that Czech industrialist Jan Felkl founded a company in 1854 that would produce globes in 17 languages?
... that Le langaige du Bresil, one of the earliest documentary sources of any South American language, demonstrates that Europeans and Brazilian indigenous peoples maintained intimate social contacts?
... that Todung Sutan Gunung Mulia founded a printing house after President Sukarno banned the importation of Indonesian-language Bibles?
... that the newspaper Qizil Tugh (Red Banner) provided a publishing platform for young Uyghur-language poets and writers in the Soviet Union?

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...that linguist Asim Peco is an expert in the language of eastern Herzegovina?
...that three different languages that used to be spoken in Nicaragua are now extinct?
...that Russian is spoken in Israel by about 20% of the total population?
...that the name of the koala derives from the word gula in Dharuk and other Yuin–Kuric languages?

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Aramaic is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written and spoken in different varieties for over 3,000 years.

Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires—particularly the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Achaemenid Empire—and as a language of divine worship and religious study within Christianity and Gnosticism; it also has appeared to a limited degree in Judaism, where Hebrew remains primary. Several modern varieties of Aramaic are still spoken. The modern eastern branch is spoken by Assyrians, Mandeans, and a small contingent of Mizrahi Jews. Western Aramaic is still spoken by the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the towns of Maaloula, Bakh'a and Jubb'adin in Syria. Classical varieties are used as liturgical and literary languages in several West Asian churches, and appear in a few places in Judaism (where Hebrew remains predominant), Samaritanism (where Samaritan Hebrew remains predominant), and Mandaeism. (Full article...)

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Credit: Public domain

Maryada Patral letter of conduct written by Acharya Bhiksu (first head of Jain Swetamber Terapanth sect) written in Rajasthani language

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Language News

9 July 2026 – AI boom

OpenAI releases the large language model tool GPT-5.6, with significant advancements in cybersecurity. (Axios)

12 June 2026 – Regulation of artificial intelligence in the United States

The U.S. Department of Commerce orders artificial intelligence company Anthropic to ban non-Americans from accessing its large language models Claude Mythos and Fable 5. (BBC News) (CNBC)

23 May 2026 – Ukraine–Vietnam relations, Kazakhstan–Ukraine relations

In accordance with bilateral agreements, Vietnam grants 40 scholarships to Ukrainians for the 2026–2027 academic year for bachelor's, master's, and postgraduate degrees, including a one-year language course for those who do not speak Vietnamese. Kazakhstan also grants 40 scholarships for similar degrees. (Interfax-Ukraine)

27 February 2026 – Artificial intelligence in government

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei rejects a U.S. Department of Defense request to loosen security safeguards on the Claude large language model for potential use in mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. (BBC News) (SRF)

9 February 2026 – Immigration to Sweden

Swedish migration minister Johan Forssell announces the implementation of stricter naturalization requirements from June 6, extending the residency period from five years to eight, imposing a minimum income threshold of 20,000 kr (US$2,225), requiring language and civic knowledge tests, and lengthening waiting times for applicants with criminal records. (Reuters)

1 February 2026 – 68th Annual Grammy Awards