The Languages

The Languages

Language is basically a system of communication where sound or signs convey objects, actions and ideas. The history of language dates back to many thousands of years. Language is primarily spoken not written. But the development of the writing medium and later the printing system went a long way is the dissipation of knowledge and without which humans would have remained in the dark about the ways of life and the thought processes of their ancestors. Language is the key to human lives. They can eliminate
misunderstanding by using it as an instrument to transfer communication among people. Malinowski suggests, language is "the necessary means of communion; it is the one indispensable instrument for creating the ties of the moment without which unified social action is impossible."

Language can thus be said to be at the core of humanity. Language is an extraordinary gift of God. It is part of what makes man fully human. In fact, Aristotle says man is a rational animal and that what sets him apart, what raises him above the animals, is that he has the ability to reason, and it is very clear that he cannot reason without language. "Aristotle was convinced, however, that meaning was no less an integral part of language than the sounds which bear the meaning and that language depends no less on
the rational powers of man by which meanings are constructed than on the physiological organs by which sounds are formed."

Language is necessary in order for man to be a rational creature. In other words language is what made the growth of civilizations
possible. The only means of understanding the great minds of the past is by studying the contemporary written documents of the time. Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse. Language is social by nature and thus inseparably connected with people who are its creators and users; it grows
and develops together with the development of society. Stalin observes about language, "It arises and develops with the rise and development of a society. It dies when the society dies. Apart from society there is no language."