In general we differentiate between language users to be either  ‘native speakers’ and ‘non-native speakers’. A good definition for ‘native speaker’ may be the following:

• Someone who has spoken the language from an early age in a home or in a community where they consider the language and culture their first language.
• Someone who has grown up in a multilingual and multicultural environment where they learned both or multiple languages and cultures equally.
• Someone who has learned the language to a native-like level can use the language in a variety of social situations and who would be considered indistinguishable from native speakers.

A ‘non-native speaker’ then would be someone who had learned a language in a different context than the above and who was most likely older than 13 or so because, even with the greatest dedication to learning a language, most people will retain an accent.

6.2.2 Non-Verbal Communication Forms

Sign language is an unspoken and unwritten form or mode of language for people who are deaf or hearing-impaired.  Certain systems of sign language like American Sign Language (ASL) are considered stand-alone languages complete with their own grammar). There are about 300 sign languages in the world. The exact number is not known as new sign languages develop either by design or by creolization of existing languages.

Braille  is a tactile writing system that is used by people who are visually impaired.  It is  “a code by which many languages […] may be written and read”. However, there are variations of Braille that correspond to different languages and scripts around the world. Each language has its own Braille code, which adapts the Braille system to represent the specific characters, symbols, and linguistic features of that language. While Braille itself is standardized in terms of its tactile dot patterns and general principles, there are indeed different Braille languages tailored to meet the specific linguistic needs of various spoken languages and writing systems worldwide.

Emoijis :Their interpretation even within ONE culture is complex, influenced significantly by factors such as gender, culture, and age. Research has shown that older participants were less likely to accurately match the emotional meanings assigned to emojis conveying surprise, fear, sadness, and anger. Gender differences were also notable, as women more often aligned their interpretations of emojis expressing happiness, fear, sadness, and anger with the labels provided by the study authors compared to men. In addition, emojis can express different meanings and nuances in different cultures.The “thumbs up” emoji (👍) is commonly used in many cultures to indicate approval, agreement, or a positive response. However, in some cultures, particularly in the Middle East (such as Iran), Greece, and parts of West Africa, the thumbs up gesture is considered offensive and akin to showing the middle finger in Western cultures.

Human body language, including gestures, body position and movement, facial expressions, and eye contact, is another way for humans to communicate. Such communication may support the spoken word, but it may also contradict identifying the speaker as a lier.  Although all humans can potentially perform body language in the same way, different cultures may have different rules about how to use them. For example, eye contact for Americans is highly valued as a way to show we are paying attention and as a means of showing respect. But for the Japanese, eye contact is usually inappropriate, especially between two people of different social statuses. The lower status person must look down and avoid eye contact to show respect for the higher status person.

Facial expressions can convey a host of messages, usually related to the person’s attitude or emotional state. Hand gestures may convey unconscious messages, or constitute deliberate messages that can replace or emphasize verbal ones.

Proxemics is the study of the social use of space, specifically the distance an individual tries to maintain around himself in interactions with others. The size of the “space bubble” depends on a number of social factors, including the relationship between the two people, their relative status, their gender and age, their current attitude toward each other, and above all their culture. In some cultures, such as in Brazil, people typically interact in a relatively close physical space, usually along with a lot of touching. Other cultures, like the Japanese, prefer to maintain a greater distance with a minimum amount of touching or none at all. If one person stands too far away from the other according to cultural standards, it might convey the message of emotional distance. If a person invades the culturally recognized space bubble of another, it could mean a threat. Or, it might show a desire for a closer relationship. It all depends on who is involved.

6.2.3 Language Universals

Languages we do not speak or understand may sound like meaningless babble to us, but all the human languages that have ever been studied by linguists are amazingly similar. They all share a number of characteristics, which linguists call language universals. These language universals can be considered properties of the Universal Grammar that Chomsky proposed. Here is a list of some of the major ones.

1. All human cultures have a human language and use it to communicate.
2. All human languages change over time, a reflection of the fact that all cultures are also constantly changing.
3. All languages are systematic, rule driven, and equally complex overall, and equally capable of expressing any idea that the speaker wishes to convey. There are no primitive languages.
4. All languages are symbolic systems.
5. All languages have a basic word order of elements, like subject, verb, and object, with variations.
6. All languages have similar basic grammatical categories such as nouns and verbs.
7. Every spoken language is made up of discrete sounds that can be categorized as vowels or consonants.
8. The underlying structure of all languages is characterized by the feature duality of patterning which permits 1) any speaker to utter any message they need or wish to convey, and 2) any speaker of the same language to understand the message.

6.2.4 The Five Most Common Languages Spoken in the World

According to Ethnologue, a leading source on all-things-language,  these are the five (5) most spoken languages in the world:

All of these languages take into consideration non-native speakers and native speakers alike.

Here are the five (5) most spoken languages by native speakers: