Language, culture, and social cognition

Abstract

According to UNESCO data, there are about 6000 languages in the world. Nevertheless there are only about 150–200 languages that are spoken by more than 1,000,000 people (UNESCO Weltbericht/World news 2009). Language does not only function as a means of communication. It is a form of verbal expression of the human mind that contains the identity, values, norms, rules, customs, habits, and views of a language community. The diversity of languages in the world reflects the verbal expressions of the minds of various language communities.