Natural language

For the theory of inborn linguistic ability, see Universal grammar.

A natural language or ordinary language is any spoken language or signed language used organically in a human community. Such languages first emerge without conscious premeditation and are subject to repetition and change. The category of natural language includes both standard dialects (ones with high social prestige) and nonstandard or vernacular dialects; however, it excludes fictional, constructed, and formal languages, such as those used in computer programming, logic, and works of fiction.^[1] An official language with a regulating academy such as Standard French, overseen by the Académie Française, is classified as a natural language (e.g. in the field of natural language processing), as its prescriptive aspects do not make it regulated enough to be called a constructed or controlled natural language.

Categorization as natural excludes:

• Artificial and constructed languages
• Constructed international auxiliary languages
• Non-human communication systems in nature such as whale and other marine mammal vocalizations or honey bees' waggle dance.^[2]

Controlled languages

Main article: Controlled natural language

Controlled natural languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce ambiguity and complexity. This may be accomplished by decreasing usage of superlative or adverbial forms, or irregular verbs. Typical purposes for developing and implementing a controlled natural language are to aid understanding by non-native speakers or to ease computer processing. An example of a widely used controlled natural language is Simplified Technical English, which was originally developed for aerospace and avionics industry manuals.

International constructed languages

Main article: International auxiliary language

Being constructed, International auxiliary languages such as Esperanto and Interlingua are not considered natural languages, with the possible exception of true native speakers of such languages.^[3] Natural languages evolve, through fluctuations in vocabulary and syntax, to incrementally improve human communication. In contrast, Esperanto was created by Polish ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th century.

Some natural languages have become organically "standardized" through the synthesis of two or more pre-existing natural languages over a relatively short period of time through the development of a pidgin, which is not considered a language, into a stable creole language. A creole such as Haitian Creole has its own grammar, vocabulary and literature. It is spoken by over 10 million people worldwide and is one of the two official languages of the Republic of Haiti.

As of 1996, there were 350 attested families with one or more native speakers of Esperanto. Latino sine flexione, another international auxiliary language, is no longer widely spoken.

See also

• Language acquisition – Process in which a first language is being acquired
• Origin of language – Relationship between language and human evolution
• Formal semantics (natural language) – Formal study of linguistic meaning
• Whistled language – Emulation of speech by whistling