communication - something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups

dead language - a language that is no longer learned as a native language

words - language that is spoken or written; "he has a gift for words"; "she put her thoughts into words"

source language - a language that is to be translated into another language

target language, object language - the language into which a text written in another language is to be translated

accent mark, accent - a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation

sign language, signing - language expressed by visible hand gestures

artificial language - a language that is deliberately created for a specific purpose

metalanguage - a language that can be used to describe languages

native language - the language that a person has spoken from earliest childhood

natural language, tongue - a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language

interlanguage, lingua franca, koine - a common language used by speakers of different languages; "Koine is a dialect of ancient Greek that was the lingua franca of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean area in Roman times"

linguistic string, string of words, word string - a linear sequence of words as spoken or written

expressive style, style - a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period; "all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper"

barrage, onslaught, outpouring - the rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written)

speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, voice communication, oral communication, speech, language - (language) communication by word of mouth; "his speech was garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the spoken language of the streets"

slanguage - language characterized by excessive use of slang or cant

alphabetize - provide with an alphabet; "Cyril and Method alphabetized the Slavic languages"

descriptive, synchronic - concerned with phenomena (especially language) at a particular period without considering historical antecedents; "synchronic linguistics"; "descriptive linguistics"

diachronic, historical - used of the study of a phenomenon (especially language) as it changes through time; "diachronic linguistics"

language, linguistic communication - a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols; "he taught foreign languages"; "the language introduced is standard throughout the text"; "the speed with which a program can be executed depends on the language in which it is written"

auditory communication - communication that relies on hearing

words - the words that are spoken; "I listened to his words very closely"

orthoepy, pronunciation - the way a word or a language is customarily spoken; "the pronunciation of Chinese is difficult for foreigners"; "that is the correct pronunciation"

conversation - the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.

give-and-take, discussion, word - an exchange of views on some topic; "we had a good discussion"; "we had a word or two about it"

locution, saying, expression - a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations; "pardon the expression"

non-standard speech - speech that differs from the usual accepted easily-recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community

idiolect - the language or speech of one individual at a particular period in life

monologue - a long utterance by one person (especially one that prevents others from participating in the conversation)

magic spell, charm, spell - a verbal formula believed to have magical force; "he whispered a spell as he moved his hands"; "inscribed around its base is a charm in Balinese"

dictation - speech intended for reproduction in writing

monologue, soliloquy - speech you make to yourself

word - a unit of language that native speakers can identify; "words are the blocks from which sentences are made"; "he hardly said ten words all morning"

markup language - a set of symbols and rules for their use when doing a markup of a document

toponomy, toponymy - the nomenclature of regional anatomy

higher cognitive process - cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use

reading - the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message; "he enjoys reading books"

faculty, mental faculty, module - one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind

lexis - all of the words in a language; all word forms having meaning or grammatical function

lexicon, mental lexicon, vocabulary - a language user's knowledge of words

verbalise, verbalize - convert into a verb; "many English nouns have become verbalized"

text, textual matter - the words of something written; "there were more than a thousand words of text"; "they handed out the printed text of the mayor's speech"; "he wants to reconstruct the original text"

song - a short musical composition with words; "a successful musical must have at least three good songs"

love lyric - the lyric of a love song