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Glite Dictionary
language system

language system

1 4.2
All the sounds, words, and rules used in a language
  • noun
  • /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ ˈsɪstəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sistema de lengua
  • Let's get to know a critical component of the language system, the phoneme, what it is and what it does.
  • language system schemata—semantic, syntactic

You have a whole language system that you can help me understand.

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Examples

  • Their research led to a new description of the language system in terms of structures, paradigms, and languages that inferred the rules according to which they worked.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Academic success, employment, and personal health depend upon an individual's ability to understand their culture's language system and use it effectively.

    Academic text (2007)

  • You have a whole language system that you can help me understand.

    Dr. Phil

  • Using any language system effectively clearly includes the ability to express thoughts and ideas in written form.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Together, these data from the factor analysis confirmed that children must effectively integrate multiple aspects of the language system to successfully engage in expository discourse.

    Academic text (2014)

  • A phonologic weakness at the lowest level of the language system impairs decoding.

  • But scientists now know that dyslexia does not affect the brain's visual system but rather the language system, says Sally Shaywitz, co-director of the Center for the Study of Learning and Attention at Yale Medical School.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Results also indicate that counselors need ongoing opportunities to learn about the backgrounds, cultures, and language systems of immigrant students from less familiar regions of the world (i.e., various Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries).

    Academic text (2004)

  • The language system includes vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation rules essential for communication.

  • Children learn their culture's language system by listening and practicing speaking with their families.

Synonyms

language
vslanguage system
797 1.0

A system of communication used by a group or country with words and grammar

focuses on the specific units and rules that compose that system
langue
vslanguage system
  • Specialized
9.9

The shared rules and structure of a language

is about the actual units and rules forming a specific communication system

Surface Forms

language system singular
language systems plural

Morphology

language + system

The meaning 'the set of linguistic units and rules that make up a particular language' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'language' (a named spoken or written system) with 'system' (a formalized set of rules or procedures). This noun–noun compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows normal English modification, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Language system comes from the image of a machine where each part must work together: language is the words and sounds people use, and system is a group of parts that work as one. So, when those parts follow the 'rules' and fit together, the whole 'set of parts and rules' makes a working language, which is why language system means 'the set of parts and rules that make up a language'.