How do languages differ?

 

Languages are extremely diverse, with over 7000 languages spoken today. There are countless ways that they differ from each other, but the most prominent points of a language are grammar and syntax, and phonetics/phonology.

Phonetics and phonology study the sounds of human language and speech. When referring to the sounds of the English language, we usually think of vowels/consonants, tone of voice, pronunciation, and articulation. E.g., in English, we have 24 consonants and 18 vowels, while Spanish, as a phonetic language, only has 18 consonants and 5 vowels.

Syntax is a section of grammar: the study of the structure of sentences. Words in different languages are combined and changed in different ways to create a sentence. Syntacticians study the patterns and sequences of how words and sections build sentences. E.g. in English, we would put the adjective before the noun, but in French and Spanish, the adj. comes after the noun.


https://lingroadshow.com/all-about-language/languages-of-the-world/how-can-languages-differ/ 


Below is a different, but still relevant, article. It's about an insanely unique and remote language that took us decades to fully understand. The language is called Pirahã and it's extremely hard to speak (made up of whistles, hums, and clicks), and it is an exclusively oral language (cannot be written).

The article is long but really interesting. 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/16/the-interpreter-2 

 

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