noun
- Plural of langue; in linguistics, the abstract system of language shared by a community of speakers, as opposed to individual utterances (parole).
Usage: technical; linguistics; often used in academic or theoretical contexts
Examples
- Saussure distinguished between langue and parole in his foundational linguistic theory.
- Different langues may share similar phonetic features but remain mutually unintelligible.
- The study of langues helps linguists understand universal principles of human communication.
- Structuralist linguists focused on analyzing the underlying langues rather than individual speech acts.