| language | 1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth. Language consists in the oral utterance of sounds which usage has made the representatives of ideas. When two or more persons customarily annex the same sounds to the same ideas, the expression of these sounds by one person communicates his ideas to another. This is the primary sense of language, the use of which is to communicate the thoughts of one person to another through the organs of hearing. Articulate sounds are represented to the eye by letters, marks, or characters, which form words. 2. The expression of ideas by writing, or any other instrumentality. 3. The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas, peculiar to a particular nation. 4. The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style. "Others for language all their care express." (Pope) 5. The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man express their feelings or their wants. 6. The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers. "There was . . . Language in their very gesture." (Shak) 7. The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or department of knowledge; as, medical language; the language of chemistry or theology. 8. A race, as distinguished by its speech. "All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image." (Dan. Iii. 7) Language master, a teacher of languages. Synonym: Speech, tongue, idiom, dialect, phraseology, diction, discourse, conversation, talk. Language, Speech, Tongue, Idiom, Dialect. Language is generic, denoting, in its most extended use, any mode of conveying ideas; speech is the language of articulate sounds; tongue is the Anglo-Saxon tern for language, especially. For spoken language; as, the English tongue. Idiom denotes the forms of construction peculiar to a particular language; dialects are varieties if expression which spring up in different parts of a country among people speaking substantially the same language. Origin: OE. Langage, F. Langage, fr. L. Lingua the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. Tongue. See Tongue, cf. Lingual. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| language arts | Skills in the use of language which lead to proficiency in written or spoken communication. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language development | The gradual expansion in complexity and meaning of symbols and sounds as perceived and interpreted by the individual through a maturational and learning process. Stages in development include babbling, cooing, word imitation with cognition, and use of short sentences. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language development disorders | Failure to understand or speak the language at the expected age. Causal factors include slow maturation, hearing loss, brain injury, mental retardation and emotional disorders. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language disorders | Disabilities related to both the sensory and motor aspects of language; includes impairments in understanding of written and spoken language, and impairments in speaking and writing language. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language tests | Tests designed to assess language behaviour and abilities. They include tests of vocabulary, comprehension, grammar and functional use of language, e.g., development sentence scoring, receptive-expressive emergent language scale, parsons language sample, utah test of language development, michigan language inventory and verbal language development scale, illinois test of psycholinguistic abilities, northwestern syntax screening test, peabody picture vocabulary test, ammons full-range picture vocabulary test, and assessment of children's language comprehension. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language therapy | Rehabilitation of persons with language disorders or training of children with language development disorders. (12 Dec 1998) |
| language zone | A large area of the cerebral cortex on the left side (in right-handed persons) considered by some to embrace all the centres of memories and associations connected with language. (05 Mar 2000) |
| affective personality disorder | A disturbance of feelings or mood expressed as a milder form of depression and related emotional features that colour the whole psychic life and for which psychosocial stressors are believed to play the major role. (05 Mar 2000) |
| alcohol amnestic disorder | <psychiatry> A mental disorder with brain damage characterised by amnesia, compensatory confabulation, disturbance of attention, and peripheral neuritis. It is usually associated with alcoholism and dietary deficiencies. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antisocial personality disorder | <psychiatry> An individual who engages in deviant behaviour with lack of remorse. (13 Jan 1998) |
| asthenic personality disorder | A personality type characterised by low energy level, easy fatigability, incapacity for enjoyment, lack of enthusiasm, and oversensitivity to physical and emotional stress. When appearing in marked form it becomes a psychological disorder (asthenic personality disorder), also called dependent personality. Synonym: asthenic personality disorder, dependent personality disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attention deficit disorder | An inability to control behaviour due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity | A behaviour disorder originating in childhood in which the essential features are signs of developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although most individuals have symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, one or the other pattern may be predominant. The disorder is more frequent in males than females. Onset is in childhood. Symptoms often attenuate during late adolescence although a minority experience the full complement of symptoms into mid-adulthood. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attention deficit hyperactivity disorder | <psychiatry> A condition seen in children where there is increased motor activity in association with poor attention span. Often treated with amphetamine medications. (27 Sep 1997) |