EXAMPLE

THE OPPOSITES

dead, extinct ≠ living,
natural ≠ artificial,
first ≠ second
native ≠ foreign
historical ≠ modern

GRAMMAR LOG

Opposites

An opposite is a word that is opposed in meaning of another, like ‘yes' and ‘no.'

Words of opposite meaning (= opposites) are completely different in meaning to each other. They express something completely unlike. They can be:

nouns: day ≠ night, boy ≠ girl, the north ≠ the south

verbs: to love ≠ to hate, to open ≠ to close

adjectives: clean ≠ dirty, native ≠ foreign, dry ≠ wet

adverbs: quickly ≠ slowly, always ≠never, here ≠ there

prepositions: for ≠ against

FIND OUT

An endangered language is a language that is spoken by few people and is at risk of becoming extinct.

A natural language is a language that has developed in a natural way, rather than having been created for a specific purpose.

An artificial language is a language that has not developed in a natural way, but it has been created for a specific purpose, for example: Esperanto or computer languages.

A native language is the main language that you were born with and learned as child, your mother tongue. Also: the first language

A foreign language is a language that is not spoken in your native country. Also: the second language

A lingua franca is a language which enables speakers of various different languages to communicate.

A modern language is a language that is spoken today and has evolved from a historical one, which is the language of the past.

A global language is a world language that native and non-native speakers speak all over the world.

A dominant language is a major language, the ruling one.

Body language is the non-verbal and frequently unconscious way of communicating by gesticulating, using facial expressions, etc.

Sign language is a system of communication with manual gestures and body language, as used among deaf people.

AUDIO SCRIPT

Think of a living being. In its life cycle, it is born, it grows, develops, may have a genetic or artificial copy, changes, risks dying, and in the end it eventually dies. However, in a way it sometimes lives on in its descendants. The same could be said for language.

Many theories try to explain the origin and age of human language, yet they are still unknown. But one thing is for sure: language was born out of the need for communication. Some dead languages existed thousands of years ago, like Ancient Egyptian or Etruscan. They are called ancient languages. As for historical languages, they became extinct after being used more than a millennium ago. However, they still live in their modern versions. For example, Latin, from which the Romance languages descended/evolved: French, Catalan, Friulian and others. The latter are called modern or living languages, those are languages that people still speak and use in their ordinary lives as their native or first language.

There are thousands of natural languages spoken all over the world, yet it seems the more of them there are, the less we are able to understand each other. So why not invent artificial languages, like Esperanto, to promote equality among people? The dream of an artificial, a common second language did not really come true, partly because it could never be equal to everybody as it is based on few European languages only, partly because it has been taken over by English, which is gaining ground either as the lingua franca or the second language or a foreign language all around the globe. Has English as a global language put other languages at risk? Are they endangered and bound to die? Only time will tell.

ACTIVITY

Now, think about the language types you encounter in everyday life, write them down in your notebook and explain in what situation they are used and why. Ideas in ‘Find Out' can help you. Compare your writing in groups.

EXAMPLE

I believe I come upon many types of language on a daily basis. But I'm not always aware of it.

To begin with, there is body language: I meet many different people, and I often understand them without speaking to them, through their gestures, miming, etc. The next example is the native language, which I speak daily as my first language or mother tongue. And finally, the foreign language, which I learn at school or just happen to use it when helping foreigners in the street.