A consolidation of a number of possible definitions of language yields the following composite definition.
1. Language is systematic .
2. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
3. Those symbols are primarily vocal , but may also be visual.
4. The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
5. Language is used for communication .
6. Language operates in a speech community or culture.
7. Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
8. Language is acquired by all people in much the same way; language and language learning both have universal characteristics.
1. Explicit and formal accounts of the system of language on several possible levels (e.g., phonological, syntactic, lexical, and semantic analysis)
2. The symbolic nature of language; the relationship between language and reality; the philosophy of language; the history of language
3. Phonetics; phonology; writing systems; the role of gesture, distance, eye contact, and other "paralinguistic" features of language
4. Semantics; language and cognition; psycholinguistics
5. Communication systems; speaker-hearer interaction; sentence processing
6. Dialectology; sociolinguistics; language and culture; pragmatics; bilingualism and second language acquisition
7. Human language and nonhuman communication; neurolinguistics; innate fac tors; genetic transmission ; nature vs. nurture
8. Language universals; first language acquisition
Breaking down the components of the defmition of learning, we can extract, as we did with language, domains of research and inquiry.
1. Learning is acquisition or "getting."
2. Learning is retention of information or skill.
3. Retention implies storage systems, memory, cognitive organization.
4. Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the organism.
5. Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting.
6. Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice.
7. Learning is a change in behavior.