Lynguistykon: Language

From The Somewhere Else Encyclopedia

Language is how living beings communicate, combining words and usually intonations to record or transfer meaning. How those words and intonations present themselves varies very widely among species, cultures, and even individuals. Language can be audibly, visually, or otherwise sensorily communicated. Language can be the means by which a living being communicates internally, as well.

Words

A word is a recognizable communication holding an idea/meaning, that can thereby be transferred. Communication usually involves many words put together to communicate a complete idea or multiple ideas together. A morpheme is likewise a recognizable communication holding an idea/meaning that can thereby be transferred, but it is the smallest unit of language that still does so. So a single morpheme is already a word, but a word can also be composed of multiple morphemes. Similarly, letters may already essentially serve as morphemes/words with basic identifiable meanings that stand on their own (which can then be combined with other letters to present deeper or altered meanings), but they can also only serve as building blocks and convey sufficient meaning combined together with other letters to form morphemes/words.

In a loose sense, depending on the language:

  • Some letters may be morphemes
  • All morphemes are words (though in many languages, not all morphemes are used standalone as words due to linguistic conventions).
  • Not all words are morphemes.

Intonation

Intonation is attached to letters/words to either deeper or alter their meaning.

Writing

Writing is the recording of language visually in a way that meaning can be facilely retrieved from later. Many different systems of writing exist for languages, but the Lynguistykon and other written works related to Somewhere Else usually use a uniform system of writing in general in order to be accessible.