What is language

A language is an important part of any culture as it deals with the communication of that culture. A language is defined as a system of communication through the use of speech. Different regions of the world often developed different languages. Today, many countries have appointed official languages, or languages with a particular status in a country. The official languages can often be identified by road signs, news reports, and public property. The current most common official language in the world is English. Many languages in the world have some similarities and can be grouped into families, branches, and groups. Languages fall into these many groupings to show the interconnectedness of language lineage. There are estimated to be over 6,900 languages spoken in the world today, 11 of which are spoken by 100 million people. The next 85 languages have around 10 million native speakers, 300 having less than 10 million, and the remaining 6.5 thousand have less than 1 million native speakers. The lines get blurred as the numbers go down because of the different variations and multitudes of people in underdeveloped countries, especially centered in Africa and Asia.

• A language family is a group of languages that have a common ancestral language that dates back to before recorded history. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan are the world's most common families, Indo-European dominating Russia, Europe, Southern Africa, and most of the Americas and Australia.

• A language branch is a group of languages within a family that have a common ancestral language that dates back to a couple of thousand years ago. Each branch is backed up by archaeological evidence as coming from the same family.

• A language group is a language that recently has displayed similarities in vocabulary and grammar.

Languages can also be grouped into different types based on how they are structured. Some of the most common types include logographic, Alphabetical, and Consonantal.

• A Logographic language is a language system that uses symbols to represent different words. The most famous language that uses this system is Chinese.

• An Alphabetical language is one that uses a phonological structure. A phonological structure relates to the speech and pronunciation of the words. English is one of the most famous languages that use an alphabetical system.

Earlier forms of communication also had their own groupings. These forms are still used today.

• A pictogram is a picture that explains a sound or idea. Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics are examples of pictorial language.

• An ideogram is a picture that is used to portray a concept. A sign that says no smoking may represent an ideogram.

• A Logogram is a sign or character that depicts a word or sound. Many Chinese characters are considered logograms.