langue

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The Word of the Day for October 11 is: 

langue   \LAHNG (the vowel is pronounced in a nasal manner)\   noun
          : language viewed abstractly as a system of forms and conventions 
used for communication in a community; also : the knowledge that enables a 
person to speak and understand a language

Example sentence:
         Langue makes communication possible; without it we could not process 
and understand each other’s utterances. 

Did you know?
          In lectures delivered at the University of Geneva from 1907 to 1913, 
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure set forth his groundbreaking distinction 
between “langue” -- the systematic, structured language existing at a given 
time within a given society -- and “parole,” the individual use of that 
language by a person. In French, “langue” literally means “language.” It was 
adopted into Middle English with that same general meaning but fell into 
disuse. “Parole” is also a French word; it means “speech” and is related to 
Late Latin “parabola,” the base of our English word “parable.”





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