City of Stirling Library Services

Language around the world, written by Gill Budgell ; illustrated by Katy Halford

eng

illustrations

index present

Ages 7+

non fiction

Language around the world

written by Gill Budgell ; illustrated by Katy Halford

Humans' use of language is one of our distinguishing features. Language allows us to communicate what we think, what we want, what we feel and what we have learnt. Some 100,000 years ago, humans began speaking. Since then, we have developed nearly 7000 languages. Languages are living things; they evolve and change over time. They even travel! People carry their language with them and spread it. Large language families even have their own family trees, such as Spanish, French, English. Different languages can be mixed and combined to create new languages with similar words, pronunciation and grammar rules. Languages can even become extinct if they are not shared and learnt by each new generation. Spoken languages are not the only way we communicate. Body language, sign language, braille, symbols, music, art, computer codes, humans have invented numerous ways of communicating. Sharing feelings, thoughts and ideas through the power of language is an essential part of being human

primary

Language around the world, ways we communicate our thoughts and feelings