What does language mean?

In the process of development, human society has invented many languages, to better understand the information transmitted. Let's give some examples:

spoken languages;
languages of drawings, drawings, schemes;
languages of art (music, painting, architecture, sculpture, etc.);
languages of science (mathematics, biology, chemistry, etc.);
languages of facial expressions and gestures;
algorithmic languages (programming languages, flowcharts).
special languages (Esperanto, Morse code, Braille for the blind).

So what does the word language mean? Let's give a definition. Language is a system of signs that is used for communication and cognition. At the heart of most languages is the alphabet, i.e. a set of symbols from which the words and expressions of the given language are composed.

Languages differ from each other:

a set of characters that are used;
rules for the formation of language constructs from these signs (words, phrases, texts);
set of rules for the use of these language constructs (syntactic, semantic and pragmatic).

Consider the types of languages.

Natural languages

What does natural language mean? These are the most usual "conversational" languages, spontaneously forming for a long time. This language serves for everyday communication and its main functions are:

function of communication (communicative);
cognitive function;
function of formation of personality (emotional);
impact function (directive)

Artificial Languages

What does artificial language mean? Such languages are created by people for specific purposes or for special groups of people: Braille for the Blind, marine semaphore, programming language. The unambiguous certainty of each word, the rules of the formation of sentences and the rules for giving them values are the distinguishing feature of artificial languages. Any language has a set of rules. This can be strictly formulated (formalized) rules or different versions of their use may be allowed.

Formal (formalized) language

The formal language is characterized by precise rulesconstruction of proposals and their understanding, which provides an accurate, consistent and compact mapping of the relations and properties of the subject area under study.

Formal languages are basically constructed according to the following scheme:

an alphabet or certain symbols are chosen, on the basis of which all the sentences of the language are built;
describes the syntax of the language (rules for constructing meaningful expressions).

Formal languages have found wide application in scienceand technology. They are often constructed on the basis of the language of mathematics. In the twentieth century, formal languages began to develop rapidly. A significant role among formal languages is played by the language of mathematics and logic and programming languages. The latter emerged in the early 50-ies of the last century.