Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Language viewed as a system including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation of a particular community.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun linguistics Language as a system rather than language in use, including the formal rules, structures, and limitations of language.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French; see language.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French

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Examples

  • Ferdinand de Saussure as "langue", is the common language of a community (or rather more in than of a community), is formed and authenticated by writers and regulated and generally orientated by Academies.

    Camilo José Cela - Nobel Lecture 1989

  • French is sometimes called langue d'oïl ( 'oïl language'), oïl being an old variant of oui 'yes'.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] Domergue Sumien 2008

  • French is sometimes called langue d'oïl ( 'oïl language'), oïl being an old variant of oui 'yes'.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008

  • Your "langue" (tongue) is in your mouth, and where is your "languette"? ... most likely on your foot!

    amusette - French Word-A-Day 2010

  • Your "langue" tongue is in your mouth, and where is your "languette"?

    amusette - French Word-A-Day 2010

  • The "langue" is the myth's timeless meaning, the "parole" is its historical setting.

    Lacan, Levi-Strauss, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur Tusar N Mohapatra 2006

  • In the sixteenth century each had its own family of languages, called the langue d’oc and the langue d’oïl, from their pronunciation of the word for yes.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • In the sixteenth century each had its own family of languages, called the langue d’oc and the langue d’oïl, from their pronunciation of the word for yes.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • The Swiss linguist Saussure in the earlier part of the twentieth century drew a distinction between two concepts in language, "langue" and

    Kaleidoglide Aishwarya 2010

  • I have 2 kind of langue packs Nl and En. (Netherlands and engelish)

    phpBB.com 2009

Comments

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  • Language viewed abstractly as a system of forms and conventions used for communication in a community. The knowledge that enables a person to speak and understand a language.

    October 31, 2007