Tongue vs. Language — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 7, 2024
Tongue refers to the physical organ in the mouth, essential for speech and taste, while language denotes a system of communication using spoken or written symbols.
Difference Between Tongue and Language
Table of Contents
ADVERTISEMENT
Key Differences
Tongue is primarily a muscular organ in the mouth, involved in tasting, chewing, and speaking. On the other hand, language is a complex system of symbols, sounds, and rules used by people to communicate thoughts, emotions, and information.
While the tongue plays a crucial role in the articulation of sounds in speech, language encompasses a broader spectrum including grammar, vocabulary, and syntax.
Whereas the tongue is a universal biological feature found in humans, languages vary widely across different cultures and regions, reflecting a diversity of human experiences and histories.
The physical abilities of the tongue, such as movement and strength, can directly impact one's ability to produce certain language sounds, whereas the structure and complexity of a language can influence cognitive and social aspects of human life.
Additionally, the study of the tongue falls within the realms of biology and medicine, focusing on its anatomical and physiological aspects, while the study of language is the domain of linguistics, covering phonetics, semantics, and sociolinguistics.
ADVERTISEMENT
Comparison Chart
Definition
A muscular organ in the mouth.
A system of communication.
Primary Function
Taste, chewing, and speaking.
Communication of thoughts and ideas.
Study Field
Biology and medicine.
Linguistics.
Variability
Physiological differences are minor.
Diverse across cultures and regions.
Role in Communication
Produces sounds for speech.
Comprises symbols, sounds, and rules.
Compare with Definitions
Tongue
Speech Production.
Movements of the tongue articulate different sounds.
Language
Symbolic Representation.
Language uses symbols and sounds to convey meaning.
Tongue
Oral Health Indicator.
Changes in the tongue's appearance can indicate health issues.
Language
Learning and Development.
Language acquisition plays a critical role in cognitive development.
Tongue
Physical Capability.
The tongue's flexibility affects speech clarity.
Language
Cultural Identity.
Language is a key aspect of cultural heritage and identity.
Tongue
The vibrating reed of a musical instrument or organ pipe.
Language
Diversity and Evolution.
Languages evolve and change over time, reflecting social changes.
Tongue
Muscular Organ.
The tongue is vital for taste and speech.
Language
Communication System.
English is a language spoken by millions worldwide.
Tongue
Taste Sensation.
The tongue detects sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes.
Language
A language is a structured system of communication used by humans, based on speech and gesture (spoken language), sign, or often writing. The structure of language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary.
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical vertebrate. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste.
Language
Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
Tongue
The fleshy muscular organ in the mouth of a mammal, used for tasting, licking, swallowing, and (in humans) articulating speech.
Language
Such a system including its rules for combining its components, such as words.
Tongue
Used in reference to a person's style or manner of speaking
He was a redoubtable debater with a caustic tongue
Language
Such a system as used by a nation, people, or other distinct community; often contrasted with dialect.
Tongue
A strip of leather or fabric under the laces in a shoe, attached only at the front end.
Language
A system of signs, symbols, gestures, or rules used in communicating
The language of algebra.
Tongue
The free-swinging metal piece inside a bell which is made to strike the bell to produce the sound.
Language
(Computers) A system of symbols and rules used for communication with or between computers.
Tongue
A long, low promontory of land.
Language
Body language; kinesics.
Tongue
A projecting strip on a wooden board fitting into a groove on another.
Language
The special vocabulary and usages of a scientific, professional, or other group
"his total mastery of screen language—camera placement, editing—and his handling of actors" (Jack Kroll).
Tongue
A jet of flame
A tongue of flame flashed from the gun
Language
A characteristic style of speech or writing
Shakespearean language.
Tongue
Sound (a note) distinctly on a wind instrument by interrupting the air flow with the tongue
Eugene has worked out the correct tonguing
Language
A particular manner of expression
Profane language.
Persuasive language.
Tongue
Lick or caress with the tongue
The other horse tongued every part of the colt's mane
Language
The manner or means of communication between living creatures other than humans
The language of dolphins.
Tongue
The fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is the principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing and swallowing, and, in humans, an important organ of speech.
Language
Verbal communication as a subject of study.
Tongue
An analogous organ or part in invertebrate animals, as in certain insects or mollusks.
Language
The wording of a legal document or statute as distinct from the spirit.
Tongue
The tongue of an animal, such as a cow, used as food.
Language
(countable) A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
The English language and the German language are related.
Deaf and mute people communicate using languages like ASL.
Tongue
A spoken language or dialect.
Language
(uncountable) The ability to communicate using words.
The gift of language
Tongue
Speech; talk
If there is goodness in your heart, it will come to your tongue.
Language
(uncountable) A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.
Legal language;
The language of chemistry
Tongue
The act or power of speaking
She had no tongue to answer.
Language
The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
Body language;
The language of the eyes
Tongue
Tongues Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.
Language
A body of sounds, signs and/or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
Tongue
Style or quality of utterance
Her sharp tongue.
Language
A computer language; a machine language.
Tongue
The bark or baying of a hunting dog that sees game
The dog gave tongue when the fox came through the hedge.
Language
(uncountable) Manner of expression.
Tongue
The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
Language
(uncountable) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
The language used in the law does not permit any other interpretation.
The language he used to talk to me was obscene.
Tongue
A flame.
Language
(uncountable) Profanity.
Tongue
The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
Language
A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
Tongue
A spit of land; a promontory.
Language
To communicate by language; to express in language.
Tongue
A bell clapper.
Language
An admonishment said in response to vulgar language.
Tongue
The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
Language
Any means of conveying or communicating ideas;
Tongue
A protruding strip along the edge of a board that fits into a matching groove on the edge of another board.
Language
The expression of ideas by writing, or any other instrumentality.
Tongue
(Music) To separate or articulate (notes played on a brass or wind instrument) by shutting off the stream of air with the tongue.
Language
The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas, peculiar to a particular nation.
Tongue
To touch or lick with the tongue.
Language
The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style.
Others for language all their care express.
Tongue
To give (someone) a French-kiss.
Language
The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man express their feelings or their wants.
Tongue
To provide (a board) with a tongue.
Language
The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers.
There was . . . language in their very gesture.
Tongue
To join by means of a tongue and groove.
Language
The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or department of knowledge; as, medical language; the language of chemistry or theology.
Tongue
(Archaic) To scold.
Language
A race, as distinguished by its speech.
All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image.
Tongue
(Music) To articulate notes on a brass or wind instrument.
Language
Any system of symbols created for the purpose of communicating ideas, emotions, commands, etc., between sentient agents.
Tongue
To project
A spit of land tonguing into the bay.
Language
Any set of symbols and the rules for combining them which are used to specify to a computer the actions that it is to take; also referred to as a computer lanugage or programming language; as, JAVA is a new and flexible high-level language which has achieved popularity very rapidly.
Tongue
The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
Language
To communicate by language; to express in language.
Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.
Tongue
This organ, as taken from animals used for food (especially cows).
Cold tongue with mustard
Language
A systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols;
He taught foreign languages
The language introduced is standard throughout the text
The speed with which a program can be executed depends on the language in which it is written
Tongue
Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.
Language
(language) communication by word of mouth;
His speech was garbled
He uttered harsh language
He recorded the spoken language of the streets
Tongue
(metonym) A language.
He was speaking in his native tongue.
Language
A system of words used in a particular discipline;
Legal terminology
The language of sociology
Tongue
(obsolete) Speakers of a language, collectively.
Language
The cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication;
He didn't have the language to express his feelings
Tongue
(obsolete) Voice the distinctive sound of a person's speech; accent distinctive manner of pronouncing a language.
Language
The mental faculty or power of vocal communication;
Language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals
Tongue
Manner of speaking, often habitually.
Language
The text of a popular song or musical-comedy number;
His compositions always started with the lyrics
He wrote both words and music
The song uses colloquial language
Tongue
(metonym) A person speaking in a specified manner (most often plural).
Tongue
The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
Tongue
(obsolete) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
Tongue
Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
Tongue
(obsolete) Honourable discourse; eulogy.
Tongue
Glossolalia.
Tongue
In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot (so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth).
Tongue
Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.
Tongue
A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
The tongue of a buckle, or of a balance
Tongue
A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
Tongue
The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
Tongue
The clapper of a bell.
Tongue
(figuratively) An individual point of flame from a fire.
Tongue
A small sole (type of fish).
Tongue
(nautical) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.
Tongue
(music) A reed.
Tongue
(geology) A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.
Tongue
On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).
Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.
Tongue
To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.
A soil horizon that tongues into clay
Tongue
To join by means of a tongue and groove.
To tongue boards together
Tongue
To talk; to prate.
Tongue
To speak; to utter.
Tongue
To chide; to scold.
Tongue
An organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch.
To make his English sweet upon his tongue.
Tongue
The power of articulate utterance; speech.
Parrots imitating human tongue.
Tongue
Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together.
Tongue
Honorable discourse; eulogy.
She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honor.
Tongue
A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue.
Whose tongue thou shalt not understand.
To speak all tongues.
Tongue
Speech; words or declarations only; - opposed to thoughts or actions.
My little children, let us love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Tongue
A people having a distinct language.
A will gather all nations and tongues.
Tongue
The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk.
Tongue
Any small sole.
Tongue
That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form.
Tongue
A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.
Tongue
A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove.
Tongue
A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake.
Tongue
The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
Tongue
The clapper of a bell.
Tongue
A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also. the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.
Tongue
To speak; to utter.
Tongue
To chide; to scold.
How might she tongue me.
Tongue
To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.
Tongue
To join means of a tongue and grove; as, to tongue boards together.
Tongue
To talk; to prate.
Tongue
To use the tongue in forming the notes, as in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.
Tongue
A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity
Tongue
A human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
Tongue
Any long thin projection that is transient;
Tongues of flame licked at the walls
Rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark
Tongue
A manner of speaking;
He spoke with a thick tongue
She has a glib tongue
Tongue
A narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
Tongue
The tongue of certain animals used as meat
Tongue
The flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot
Tongue
Metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side
Tongue
Articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments
Tongue
Lick or explore with the tongue
Common Curiosities
How does language differ from dialect?
Language is a broad communication system, while a dialect is a regional variation of a language.
Why is language considered a cultural component?
It conveys and preserves cultural values, traditions, and identity.
Can the condition of the tongue affect speech?
Yes, conditions affecting tongue mobility or health can impact speech quality.
Is sign language considered a language?
Yes, sign language is a complete communication system with its own syntax and grammar.
What is the primary function of the tongue?
The primary functions are tasting, chewing, and speech articulation.
What role does the tongue play in language?
It helps articulate speech sounds, making verbal communication possible.
How do languages evolve?
Languages evolve through social interaction, cultural exchange, and technological advancements.
How does the tongue detect taste?
Taste buds on the tongue detect chemicals in food, allowing taste perception.
What influences language development in children?
Factors include genetic predisposition, social interaction, and exposure to language.
Can everyone learn multiple languages?
With practice and exposure, most people can learn multiple languages.
How many languages are there in the world?
There are approximately 7,000 languages worldwide, but this number is constantly changing due to language evolution and extinction.
Why are some languages considered endangered?
Languages become endangered when their speakers decline, often due to cultural assimilation or lack of transmission to younger generations.
Can animals have languages?
Animals communicate through sounds and gestures, but their systems do not have the same complexity as human languages.
What is a language family?
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestral language.
What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, including its structure, use, and development.
Share Your Discovery
Previous Comparison
Pimple vs. Zit
Next Comparison
Davenport vs. ChesterfieldAuthor Spotlight
Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
