Page "Language" Paragraph 7

Another definition sees language as a formal system of signs governed by grammatical rules of combination to communicate meaning.

This definition stresses the fact that human languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings.

This structuralist view of language was first introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure, and his structuralism remains foundational for most approaches to language today.

Some proponents of this view of language have advocated a formal approach which studies language structure by identifying its basic elements and then formulating a formal account of the rules according to which the elements combine to form words and sentences.

The main proponent of such a theory is Noam Chomsky, the originator of the generative theory of grammar, who has defined language as a particular set of sentences that can be generated from a particular set of rules.

Chomsky considers these rules to be an innate feature of the human mind, and to constitute the essence of what language is.

Formal definitions of language is commonly used in formal logic, and in formal theories of grammar and in applied computational linguistics.