Differences between language and language

You have probably wondered more than once if the concepts of language and language they refer to the same linguistic system that we, as human beings, use to communicate and interact. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to definitively clarify differences between language and language so that you can know the elements that separate and integrate each of these concepts belonging to linguistics. Read on to learn with us!

We understand by "language" the linguistic system organized according to hierarchical parameters established with the ultimate aim of allowing communication between people from the same sociolinguistic speaking community.

In this way, there are a multitude of languages ​​since there are a large number of different speaking communities. Thus, language arises from the ability and need of human beings to communicate and express their emotions, feelings, ideas and opinions about the reality that surrounds them.

This complex web of associations between ideas, words, sounds and gestures that we call

language is the code through which people interact. As such, it must be provided with a solidly established grammatical system, regardless of whether the language is written or it is a language that is used only through orality, as for example, many of the indigenous languages ​​of America Latin.

Surely many examples come to mind of different languages, so we name only the Spanish, English or Chinese as some of the best known examples of languages, as they are three of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world.

A "language" is a language of a specific group of people, through which they communicate and interact with each other. The term idiom is usually associated with certain cIdeological and political issues, so that the word idiom refers to the language belonging to a certain people, nation or country (these words are not exempt from socio-political connotations).

Therefore, comparing the definitions of both concepts, it is not entirely clear what the differences are and if they really exist.

According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE), the language is the "language of a people or nation, or common to several" as well as the "particular way of speaking of some or sometimes".

If we pay attention to the first of the two meanings, we could understand that both language and language are two words that refer to the same reality (In fact, many are the linguists who often use both words synonymously).

However, it is important to note that, in colloquial and popular speech, the word idiom refers to a particular type of language; that is, one that has a large number of speakers and that, in some way, has been standardized above the rest of the languages. Likewise, a language usually has a broad literary tradition behind it. Moreover, on numerous occasions the use of the word is used idiom instead of language for purely political reasons and not at all linguistic.

If, on the contrary, we focus on the second meaning, we understand by language a particular form, with a set of easily recognizable characteristics of a particular group of speakers (for example, the language of the Cut).