Many animal and even plant species communicate with each other.

Humans are not unique in this capability. Therefore, human language is 【M1】_________

unique in being a symbol communication system that is learned instead of 【M2】_________

biologically inherited.

A word is one or more sounds that in combination have a special 【M3】_________

meaning assigned by a language. The symbolic meaning of words can be

so powerful that people are willing to risk their lives for them or take

the lives of others.

A major advantage of human language is being a learned symbolic 【M4】_________

communication system is that it is infinitely flexible. Meanings can be

changed and new symbols create. This is evidenced by the fact 【M5】_________

which new words are invented daily and the meaning of old ones 【M6】_________

changes. Languages evolve in response to changed historical and social 【M7】_________

conditions. Some language transformations typically occur in a

generation or less. For instance, the slang words used by your parents

were very likely different from it that you use today. You also probably 【M8】_________

are familiar with many technical terms, such as “text messaging” and

“high definition TV”, which were not in general use even a decade ago.

Language and speech are not the same thing. Speech is a broad

term simply referred to patterned verbal behavior. In contrast, a 【M9】_________

language is a set of rules for generating speech. A dialect is a variant of

a language. If it is associated with a geographically isolated speech

community, it is referred to a regional dialect. However, if it is spoken 【M10】________

by a speech community that is merely socially isolated, it is called a

social dialect which is mostly based on class, gender, age, and particular

social situations.

【M10】