Language
How we communicate and define our realities. Spoken, signed, written, drummed. Our first tool. (see also Technology)
How We Say It
lang·gwij
Where It Comes From
Old French langage. From Latin lingua — tongue. The metaphor of language as tongue is nearly universal across language families. Romance languages, Germanic languages, Slavic languages, and many others derive their word for language from the word for the physical organ.
How It's Been Used
Studied by linguistics as a structured system of signs. Noam Chomsky's argument for an innate universal grammar reshaped the field in the mid-20th century. Sociolinguistics studies how language varies by community, class, and context. UNESCO estimates roughly half of the world's 7,000 languages are at risk of extinction this century — language loss has accelerated with globalization.