Language has no meaning. It consists of words, sounds, and sentences that people have agreed to use as a form of communication. Language is also a system of sounds and symbols that people agree to use for personal and private interactions. Not only is language arbitrary and paradoxically, but it is a powerful, changing form of culture.
Distance and time is a major factor in language change. In the beginning, language had no existence, until someone decided to create it. Language started with sounds to which people gave meaning. This shows that if you were the very first person, the language we use today would be completely different since you would have given the sounds your own meanings. As time progressed, cultures began to form from groups of people who shared the same ideas and beliefs. In each of these cultures, the people amongst them created a form of communication in which everyone agreed to use. This shows that most ancestors of many cultures invented the customs and languages that are similar to the ones we use today. In present times, it is mostly the adolescents who contribute to language. Taking words with previous meanings and presenting them with new ones is how most people communicate verbally. This proves that language changes due to the people who use it. Think of what we would use to communicate now if that one person hadn�t created language.
Language is arbitrary: sounds, words, and even sentences have no meaning until humans give them meaning. For example, the words of a language have no inherent meaning until humans give them meaning. There has to be a basis of sounds to create a verbal language. This shows that sounds are given random meaning for the use of speaking. There is no good reason the word dog should mean something to English speakers until they have agreed that it means something. This shows that no word in any language, when examined closely, means anything at all. In order to structure sentences, you need words. So the only meaning sentences contain is the meaning that a person decides to give to them. This shows that every aspect of language in completely fabricated. As a result, there is not an inherent meaning of language.
Language is power but is meaningless. For instance, each language is a code. In order to understand a foreign conversation, you must know what their words or sounds (codes) mean. Further more, language has been separated into five types of registers: frozen, formal, casual, intimate, and consultative. Each of these registers has their own unique time and place for use. This means that you wouldn�t want to have an intimate conversation with the interviewer for your next job, or a frozen attitude with your spouse. Language is a very broad, powerful means of interaction or connection with a group of people.
Language has power but is meaningless and arbitrary. In order to keep you language alive, you have to know first that it can easily die. Gaining knowledge about you language involves gaining information about the type of culture you live in and who you are a person. If you are going to gain anything from language, take with you the know-how of applying it to your life.
