s communicate by nonlinguistic devices. Language is a particular type of communication, whether spoken or written. Communication can be effected in a number of ways based on codes understood by both sender and receiver, whether the codes be in the form of a spoken language, a symbol or gesture, or even so-called body language or attitude:
It we accept only the narrower etymological definition of language as that which is produced by the human vocal organs and received by the hearing apparatus, we shall have to deny the name of "language" to these [other] transfers. If we accept the broader definition of language as any transfer of meaning, they are forms of language differing in degree but not in kind from a spoken or written message.
Another approach is offered in the following definition:
A more recent definition is that a language consists of a system of rules which relate sound sequences to meanings.
Such a system is usually relatively complex, even among primitive peoples, where subtleties of meaning are involved int eh rules of language.
In analyzing languages, scholars have found that there is a fundamental unity, indicating a common ancestry, among groupings of languages. Such diverse tongues as English, Russian, Irish, Spanish, Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Persian, and Hindustani have been found to be related, while another separate and distinct unity has been established for such tongues as Arabic, Hebrew, the Amharic of Ethiopia, and the ancient tongues of Babylonia, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Carthage. The Indo-European family of languages is the world's largest and includes the languages of most of Europe, America, and much of Asia. In Europe, only Basque, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Turkish, and a few languages of the Russian region are not part of this family, members of which have descended from an original and still unknown parent tongue. It is believed that the original Indo-European civilizatio...