By Ashraf Naushahi

It is worth pondering what basically a human language is.

It is important to think about the basic construction of human language because about 7,000 languages are spoken in the world, but the function of each language is the same: human communication. Human language is the means of communicating expressions, thoughts, opinions, views, ideas and outlooks.

How humans started to speak a language? It is a question pondered on well during the Age of Enlightenment. It was assumed that human language could be either natural to humans or acquired by them through emotional, rational or cultural development. Theories, discoveries, experiments, discussions, ideas and opinions about various aspects of human language developed the science of language: Linguistics.

Sometimes it is said that every language is a vehicle of a culture. It is not. Language and culture are related but different. Every language is a vehicle of communication, for the people aligned to the same culture as well as the people aligned to a different culture. Knowing about a culture can be good for comprehending a language well, however, it is not necessary for knowing the language. People learn new languages while not becoming interested in cultures other than their own. World languages are instances sufficient to see the difference between languages and cultures. World languages were initially limited to small areas and parts of the world, then spread in areas and parts at large distances from those parts. But the culture related to world languages are still limited to the same parts of the world where world languages were started initially.

Languages have various accents, dialects, traditions and literary genres. These accents, dialects, traditions and literary genres have been developing during many past centuries. It can be assumed that probably the initial human speaking, language and expressions developed from the accents, dialects and traditional practices, which became diluted with the centuries leaving a human language behind. It is also probable that not one but several such early languages were developed in the remote past, further developing into different branches and groups of human languages. For instance, linguists have grouped several languages in the group of Indo-European languages, which is the largest group of human languages. Linguists have discovered similarities among the languages spoken in parts of Asia and Europe. It convinced the linguists to perceive that these all apparently different languages now were once the same language in the remote past which spread in different parts of the world as the branches of the same language.

Not only human languages have different dialects, accents, levels, traditions and practices but also every individual human speaker speaks several languages in the present day world of communication: primary and secondary languages. The first language that people learn and speak is their primary language. Secondary languages are the languages people learn for various purposes. A person can learn several secondary languages.

Foreign languages are the languages incomprehensible for a person. People speak, read, write and comprehend their primary and secondary languages but cannot speak, read, write and comprehend languages foreign to them though they know these languages are spoken by people in some parts of the world.

Primary language is the language a person learns effortlessly from the environment. In which a person grows up. Various words are used for primary language such as first language, mother language, parent language etc. however, it is better be mentioned as “primary language” of a person. Secondary languages are the languages learnt by a person with effort, for education, communication, work, employment, business and other such purposes. Foreign languages are the languages not learnt by a person.

The world has become a multilingual world in the 21^st century. People learn various languages other than their primary languages. They learn their primary language effortlessly from the environment, community, people, villages, towns and cities they grow in. They learn their secondary languages during their schooling, learning, education, working, employment, business, entertainment and travelling for various needs, purposes, professions and works. They gain knowledge about different other languages in the world as foreign languages: the languages they know about but can neither speak nor comprehend. 

Several prominent linguists have worked diligently and developed theories elaborating the initial development of human language in the remote eras elapsed. World languages, lingua franca, dialects, accents, literature, varieties and groups of languages are studied well by linguists and discovered important discoveries about human language, its beginning and development.

Like other sciences, advancement in Linguistics is a collected and continual contribution and work of numerous linguists, researchers, scholars, poets, writers and teachers of languages.

 

By: Ashraf Naushahi

(Specialist in English Literature)