What is language?

Language is the unlimited creation of interpersonal sense. Interpersonal sense is a mental construct shared by individuals. Since mental constructs are not observable, they can be transmitted only by a perceptible medium. In the case of human language, this is vocal language in the first place and gestural language, called sign language, as a substitute. Other aspects of this definition will be commented on in subsequent sections.

Like other social activities, language takes different forms in different societies. This requires a conceptual distinction:

• The activity defined before of which all healthy human beings are capable is human language – French langage.
• A historical and cultural instance of human language is an individual language (or specific language or conventional language) – French langue.

A child learning to speak and understand is faced with tasks at both of these levels:

1. He¹ learns to think and communicate by use of a semiotic system, viz. human language.
2. He learns the system of the specific language used in his environment.

Solution of the second-level task presupposes solution of the first task, viz. acquisition of the human language faculty. Under normal circumstances, a human being faces and masters both of these tasks at the same time in early childhood. Besides, he can learn, at the same time or later, other individual languages, while task #1 is completed once for all.

What is language acquisition?

As a consequence of the above, the following division of the concept of language acquisition is necessary:

• The simultaneous occupation with the tasks at both the above levels is primary language acquisition (or first-language acquisition).
• The exclusive learning of a specific language is only possible after primary language acquisition and therefore is second-language acquisition, third-language acquisition and so forth.

Primary language acquisition may be monolingual or bilingual (more rarely, multilingual).² In the latter case, simultaneous acquisition of another language is part of the process of primary language acquisition. This typically differs substantially from second-language acquisition at an advanced age.

Full competence in a language comprises production and understanding. In acquisition, speech perception precedes speech production.

¹ In this text, the pronoun he implies nothing for the sex of its referent.

² Monolingual primary language acquisition has been the default in so-called western societies (although this may be changing again). Calling it ‘first-language acquisition’ is therefore slightly blinkered and leads to a contradiction in terms with multilingual first-language acquisition.