What is language about?
Ok, I've got three sub questions regarding this main question. These questions are as follows:
What, in your opinion is language about, is it about communicating effectively or is it about showing off your vocabulary?
What is language about nowadays?
And finally, would you describe yourself as an effective communicator or are you just a 'shower offer' of vocabulary (as in you like to show off with your language)?
14 Answers
Language exists to give voice to your soul.......and so you can ask your husband to take out the garbage.
Language is only one way we communicate. Maybe only a small part.
In my view I would consider that language exists for a number of reasons, principally:
1 To facilitate communication between people so as to enable them to work together for the common good! eg employment, protection of a community of people, food gathering, and social interaction so people can enjoy relationships.
2 To enable people to build relationships and enjoy each others company and specifically: to find mates and start a family This would enable the human race to perpetuate.and so survive.
3 To Pass on knowledge and skills to successive generations of people adults and children, alike i.e.: through the education system via schools, college, and Universities and through libraries These could include teachnical skills such as carpentary, plumbing, bricklaying as well as linguistic skills
I am sure people could think of many more examples that I have missed but this is to give a broad overview/the big picture rather than an exhaustive list of details!
As an important PS I need to add that communication is much more than language in the sense of words. More than 50% of Communication is non-verbal ....as we were correctly taught at University.
About 58% of commuication is NVC (non-verbal communication) ie; facial expressions, gesticulations and posture. For example a raised eyebrow, the palms up movement of the hands, or sitting back with the arms folded across the chest!
About 35% of communication is expressed through the tone of voice
Only about 7% is actually communicated through words.
Maybe Ronan Keeting's words therefore have extra resonance:
You say it best when you say nothing at all! 
Language is the human being´s ability to create a symbol system to comunicate (in F.Saussure deffinition)...
The exchange of knowledge is the purpose of a language.
Language, for me, is a way of communiting feelings, knowledge, etc. Some people like to show off with their impressive vocabulary but that is beside the point. That is not what language is for. However, I find that people who use language to be witty, use comparisons, metaphors, etc., when communicating are so much fun to be with and to listen to. Language can be very colourful and a great tool to have for communicating if you know how to use it in the appropriate way.
I have often marvelled at the gift of human communciation, that we are the only living creatures who use words and have develope so many forms to do that. No I don't like to show off vocabulary, I personally don't like fancy words. Jargon can be confusing to those who don't know it.
I used to work for a multimillionaire with a 6th grade level of English (more or less). He used to use big words and technical words without understanding what they meant, thinking he was impressing people--everyone who understood the subject thought he was an idiot and would ask questions about him after he left,
(1)What, in your opinion is language about, is it about communicating effectively or is it about showing off your vocabulary? (2)What is language about nowadays?
(3)And finally, would you describe yourself as an effective communicator or are you just a 'flounderer' (I've made that word up) of vocabulary (as in you like to show off with your language)?
(1)For most of us, how we talk is a part of our heritage. Environment plays a role, as well. If someone constantly hears a certain group of words that is not familiar to another person, it's not too difficult to imagine that the first person wouldn't be aware of the other's unfamiliarity. Reverse snobbery is no more attractive than the regular kind. If someone had a specialized knowledge of linguistics, or astronomy for example, would you condemn them for using the words that had a precise meaning for them because you did not happen to know them?
(2) What language is about is every endeavor that concerns any human being anywhere. It can be used to lie and cheat as well as to comfort and encourage.
(3) If you are talking to a group of friends about something you all have an interest in, and one person accuses you of showing off, what does that mean, exactly? Would he accuse a novelist or poet of showing off with written words? Or maybe the word show off is reserved for those we feel are a little different from ourselves and we are not comfortable with differences in those we expect to be our friends.
One online dictionary defines flounder as to behave awkwardly; make mistakes. Is that related to your definition?
"Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms. . . . We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse; we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard."
Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.
Winston Churchill
True of us all I believe. Language is what fools us into thinking we understand each other. Language is a code no one else can decipher.
It won't hurt
I'll only be a few minutes
I love you.
We recognize the words, but their meaning depends on who says them, who hears them, the time, the place and the relationship between the speaker and the listener. We might say, "I know just what you mean". But do we ever?
Come on guys, I would've thought that there'd be more interest, as Language is an essential part of our Spanishdict lives.
Without language there is no reason, although I would argue that "thought" could perhaps exist without language as we know it but it would still use a "language" whether it consisted of images or sound or whatever.
I suppose I'm trying to say that language as opposed to nonsense is a consistent construct where a pattern unfolds logically. If you can distinguish between "the mat sat on the cat" and "the cat sat on the mat" then you speak a language.
Taxi!!
"Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms. . . . We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse; we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard."
Great answer.....and it is so true....language does tether us to the world, in so many ways, it's the fabric which we all weave. Where did you come by this quote?
