What is Language?

Drs Arwood and Robb discuss how language is often viewed by academics as well as by educators and the community. One predominant group supports a structural definition of language that is developmental in nature. But Arwood and Robb argue that this developmental or structural approach to defining language does not explain the acquisition processes of language which are semantic, not structural in nature. Research literature and clinical experience support the notion that language is acquired through processing of semantics or meaning at multiple levels internally. Externally, people assign meaning based on interpretations of expressed ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. The external assignment of meaning further develops the internal acquisition of language that reflects an increase in meaning. Thus, natural language function is the result of acquisition of meaning or semantics, not the structural unfolding of developmental products.