1267.0 - Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), 1997

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Contents >> Chapter 1. Explanatory notes >> Definition of language

Although most people have an intuitive understanding of the notion of language, precise definition of the concept is difficult. It is not the function of this document to attempt an extensive definition of language, or to present the work of linguistic experts. However the following definition of language, taken from the Macquarie Dictionary (Second Edition, 1991), encompasses the basic elements of language as it is classified in the ASCL:

"…communication by voice in the distinctly human manner, using arbitrary auditory symbols in conventional ways with conventional meanings; any set or system of such symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people, who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another."

Some of the categories at the base-level of the classification would be regarded by many as dialects rather than as languages in their own right. The ASCL makes no effort to distinguish between the entities comprising the base-level Language categories of the classification according to whether they are a distinct and separate language, or a dialect or variety of a language. Certain language entities, which may be regarded by some as dialects, rather than as languages in their own right, are identified separately for the following reasons:

the practicality of the classification for collecting and aggregating language data would be impeded by the failure to separately identify certain language entities which may be regarded as dialects;

the analytical usefulness of the classification would be diminished by the failure to separately identify certain dialects;

the majority of users and experts consulted preferred to include certain dialects as substantive categories when this was of use for the purposes of the classification; and

establishing distinctions between languages and dialects in a consistent and non-controversial way is nearly impossible.

Dialects are only separately identified as substantive categories in instances that are consistent with the reasons given above. These separately identified dialects are generally sufficiently different from their 'parent' language to be considered as separate entities by those who speak them or study them. They are usually spoken by groups of people with distinct social, cultural or ethnic characteristics.

The classification identifies as separate categories only those languages that have a significant number of speakers in Australia (see: Design constraints). Languages not separately identified in the classification are generally represented in residual categories (see: Reserved codes for residual categories). As it was not possible to form residual categories for American languages and Papuan languages, these language groups were included as substantive language categories.

For reasons of practicality and usefulness, sign languages and invented languages, which have not developed and evolved in the same fashion as 'natural' languages, have been included in the classification.

Although the ASCL is intended to classify entities defined as languages, the base-level units (that is, the categories at the most detailed level of the classification) are not all of the same order. The base level units of the classification include:

natural languages which are universally recognised as distinct and separate languages;

natural languages which are contentious as to their status as a separate language, dialect or variety of another language;

dialects of languages which are usefully identified separately because they are spoken by distinct social, cultural or ethnic groups;

pidgins and creoles;

groups of linguistically distinct languages which originated in proximate geographic areas; and

invented and sign languages.