Natural language

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In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change without conscious planning or premeditation. It can take different forms, namely either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages are distinguished from constructed and formal languages such as those used to program computers or to study logic.[1]

Defining natural language

Natural language can be broadly defined as different from

All

Nonstandard dialects can be viewed as a wild type in comparison with standard languages.) An official language with a regulating academy such as Standard French, overseen by the Académie Française, is classified as a natural language (e.g. in the field of natural language processing), as its prescriptive aspects do not make it constructed enough to be a constructed language or controlled enough to be a controlled natural language
.

Controlled languages

Controlled natural languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce

irregular verbs. Typical purposes for developing and implementing a controlled natural language are to aid understanding by non-native speakers or to ease computer processing. An example of a widely-used controlled natural language is Simplified Technical English, which was originally developed for aerospace and avionics
industry manuals.

International constructed languages

Being constructed, International auxiliary languages such as Esperanto and Interlingua are not considered natural languages, with the possible exception of true native speakers of such languages.[3] Natural languages evolve, through fluctuations in vocabulary and syntax, to incrementally improve human communication. In contrast, Esperanto was created by Polish ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th century.

Some natural languages have become organically "standardized" through the synthesis of two or more pre-existing natural languages over a relatively short period of time through the development of a

Republic of Haiti
.

As of 1996, there were 350 attested families with one or more

native speakers of Esperanto. Latino sine flexione
, another international auxiliary language, is no longer widely spoken.

See also

  • Language acquisition – Process in which a first language is being acquired
  • Origin of language – First formation of language
  • Formal semantics of natural languages
     – Study of meaning in natural languages

Notes

  1. .
  2. ^ Norris, Paul F (25 August 2011). "The Honeybee Waggle Dance – Is it a Language?". AnimalWise. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  3. ^ Gopsill, F. P., "A historical overview of international languages". In International languages: A matter for Interlingua. Sheffield, England: British Interlingua Society, 1990.

References

  • ter Meulen, Alice, 2001, "Logic and Natural Language", in Goble, Lou, ed., The Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic. Blackwell.