language

language

lan‧guage S1 W1 /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ BrE AmE noun
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: langue 'tongue, language', from Latin lingua]
1. ENGLISH/FRENCH/ARABIC ETC [uncountable and countable] a system of communication by written or spoken words, which is used by the people of a particular country or area:
How many languages do you speak?
one of the best-known poems in the English language
2. COMMUNICATION [uncountable] the use of written or spoken words to communicate:
the origins of language
3. STYLE/TYPE OF WORDS [uncountable] a particular style or type of words
legal/medical/technical etc language
The letter was written in complicated legal language.
spoken/written language
The expression is mainly used in written language.
ordinary/everyday language
He is able to explain complicated ideas in simple everyday language.
literary/poetic language
The plays are full of old-fashioned poetic language.
language of
the language of science
4. SWEARING [uncountable] informal words that most people think are offensive
mind/watch your language spoken (=stop swearing)
bad/foul/abusive language
5. strong language
a) angry words used to tell people exactly what you mean
b) words that most people think are offensive SYN swearing
6. COMPUTERS [uncountable and countable] technical a system of instructions for operating a computer:
a programming language for the web
7. SIGNS/ACTIONS/SOUNDS [uncountable and countable] signs, movements, or sounds that express ideas or feelings
language of
the language of bees
the language of dolphins
⇨ ↑body language, ↑sign language, ⇨ speak the same language at ↑speak(11)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ speak a language Can you speak a foreign language?
▪ use a language The children use their native language at home.
▪ learn a language Immigrants are expected to learn the language of their new country.
▪ master a language (=succeed in learning a language well) She had had a long struggle to master the Russian language.
▪ know a language He had lived in Japan, but did not know the language.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + language
▪ a foreign language He found learning a foreign language extremely difficult.
▪ the English/Japanese/Spanish etc language She had some knowledge of the Spanish language.
▪ sb’s first/native language (=the language someone first learned as a child) His first language was Polish.
▪ a second language (=a language you speak that is not your first language) Most of the students learned English as their second language.
▪ modern languages (=languages that are spoken now) The school has a good modern languages department.
▪ a dead language (=a language that is no longer spoken) She didn’t see the point of learning a dead language.
▪ an official language (=the language used for official business in a country) Canada has two official languages: English and French.
▪ a common language (=a language that more than one person or group speaks, so that they can understand each other) Most of the countries of South America share a common language: Spanish.
■ language + NOUN
▪ the language barrier (=the problem of communicating with someone when you do not speak the same language) Because of the language barrier, it was hard for doctors to give good advice to patients.
▪ a language student/learner Language learners often have problems with tenses.
▪ a language teacher a book for language teachers
▪ language teaching recent developments in language teaching
■ phrases
▪ sb’s command of a language (=someone’s ability to speak a language) Does he have a good command of the language?
• • •
THESAURUS
■ different kinds of language
▪ dialect a form of a language that is spoken in one area of a country, with different words, grammar, or pronunciation from other areas: Cantonese is only one of many Chinese dialects. | the local dialect
▪ accent the way that someone pronounces words, because of where they were born or live, or their social class: Karen has a strong New Jersey accent. | an upper class accent
▪ slang very informal spoken language, used especially by people who belong to a particular group, for example young people or criminals: Teenage slang changes all the time. | ‘Dosh’ is slang for ‘money’.
▪ terminology formal the technical words or expressions that are used in a particular subject: musical terminology | Patients are often unfamiliar with medical terminology.
▪ jargon especially disapproving words and phrases used in a particular profession or subject and which are difficult for other people to understand: The instructions were written in complicated technical jargon. | ‘Outsourcing’ is business jargon for sending work to people outside a company to do. | The letter was full of legal jargon.
■ techniques used in language
▪ metaphor a way of describing something by referring to it as something different and suggesting that it has similar qualities to that thing: The beehive is a metaphor for human society.
▪ simile an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the words as or like, for example ‘as white as snow’: The poet uses the simile ‘soft like clay’.
▪ irony the use of words that are the opposite of what you really mean, often in order to be amusing: ‘I’m so happy to hear that,’ he said, with more than a trace of irony in his voice.
▪ bathos a sudden change from a subject that is beautiful, moral, or serious to something that is ordinary, silly, or not important: The play is too sentimental and full of bathos.
▪ hyperbole a way of describing something by saying that it is much bigger, smaller, worse etc than it actually is – used especially to excite people’s feelings: In his speeches, he used a lot of hyperbole. | journalistic hyperbole
▪ alliteration the use of several words together that all begin with the same sound, in order to make a special effect, especially in poetry: the alliteration of the ‘s’ sound in ‘sweet birds sang softly’
▪ imagery the use of words to describe ideas or actions in a way that makes the reader connect the ideas with pictures in their mind: the use of water imagery in Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ | She uses the imagery of a bird’s song to represent eternal hope.
▪ rhetorical question a question that you ask as a way of making a statement, without expecting an answer: When he said ‘how can these attitudes still exist in a civilized society?’, he was asking a rhetorical question.