The Definition of Language and Differences Between Tongues

Our brain is one of the most complicated organs due to the fact that it essentially governs all of the processes happening to and inside our bodies. An example of one of these processes is language acquisition which is acquired from an early age and mastered as we go through serval developmental stages. Young children are able to grasp and acquire language skills rapidly and to this day, scientists still question how this could be done so quickly considering the fact that young children are yet to fully develop in the psychological and physical domains.

Language is defined as “a system by which sounds, symbols and gestures are used for communication.” (Azmitia, Schizophrenia and Language). This system is learned from early infancy as the child explores and tries to communicate with the environment surrounding them. Very frequently infants will speak in “mothererese”, a slower, simplified version of a language intended to clearly articulate vowels. (Azmitia, Schizophrenia and Language).

By eighteen months of age, infants are able to say eight to ten words and efficiently use it in their vocabulary. Infants gain a deeper understanding of vocabulary by two years of age when they are capable of constructing basic sentences such as “more milk”. After this period, the infant rapidly learns that words symbolize or represent objects, actions or emotions. (Azmitia, Schizophrenia and Language.) True mastering of the language starts at ages three to five and in result of this, eidetic memory decreases and children adapt adult mechanisms of language.

The neurological processes responsible for language take place in the left hemisphere where two critical language areas exists: Broca’s and Wernicke’s area. Broca’s area is located in the frontal lobe next to the motor center and it is primarily responsible for speech articulation. Wernicke’s area on the other hand is located in the temporal lobe, close to the auditory complex and is therefore responsible for language compression. Damage to these two areas produces several complications in language ability. Partial loss of the Broca’s area results in Broca’s aphasia, characterized by the inability to produce language whereas damage to Wernicke’s area results in Wernicke’s aphasia, the inability to understand language.

Due to the asymmetrical functioning of our brain, some language processes are controlled outside of the left hemisphere. For example our right hemisphere governs our understanding and usage of non-verbal communication. The two hemispheres work together via the corpus callosum and generate language. Despite this plausible explanation of our brain processes during language, it does not explain how infants are capable of acquiring the complexities of language in such a short amount of time. For example, it is widely known that it is much harder to learn a second language as you age, especially if the second language greatly differs from the structure of the first language. With this being said – how is infant able to learn multiple languages at ones with no complications?

I grew up speaking both English and Russian and despite their apparent differences such as the alphabet, I was able to master the two in a very short amount of time and was fully fluent by the time I started elementary school. The structures of the two languages are faily similar as the both follow the subject-object-verb rule however, you can easily rearrange words in Russian and still convey the same meaning. I did not start Russian grammar classes until 5th grade and it amazes me how I was still able to fully comprehend and speak fluently.

So many different cultures and languages exist today and it is fair to say that it would be complicated to find a common tongue amongst all of them. Language today is studied in terms of both neurobiology and psychology in an attempt to fully understand brains language processing. This research has given rise to many theories such as Benjamin Whorf’s “prisonhouse” theory of language: that the very way our minds work is shaped by the languages we speak and hear every day (Azmitia, Schizophrenia and Language). Whorf’s work was based on the Hopi language which he described as being “timeless” due to its recognition of psychological time.

That is, Hopi verbs do not distinguish between the present, past or future. Instead of saying “he is running”, “he was running”, or “he will be running”, the Hopi language would utilize the statement of fact “Wari” translating into “running.” The Hopi language conceptualizes time very differently as it has “no words, grammatical forms, construction or expression that refer directly to what we call time.” (57) Whorf argues that the Hopi represent units of time by adverbs or verbs, not nouns like the English language. This doesn’t allow durations of time to be counted in the same way as objects so instead of saying “three days”, Hopi would say the something along the lines of “on the third day.” In summary, Whorf believed that the Hopi “did not consider the process of time passing to produce another day but as bringing back the daylight aspect of the world.” (148)

There are several limitations to present research on language as scientists were able to only explain where and how language is processed and articulated but not how the process of learning takes place as well as its possible differentiations. As stated previously, language is our main mean of communicating with one another and it is a critical and vital skill to master. Delays to language development could stem from a number of disorders such as autisms spectrum disorder or even a later onset of a disorder such as schizophrenia, resulting in severe cognitive deficits. (Azmitia, Schizophrenia and Language).