Eloquence

As a language skill ( eloquence - Latin: eloquentia ) is the ability to make use of a particular language (single language ) ie the one hand express in it and on the other hand they understand and interpret. The term applies to both the mother language as well as acquired or foreign languages ​​and is considered equivalent for voice, gestures and written language. Under certain circumstances, one can also speak for the use of artificial languages ​​, such as programming languages, a language skill.

Due to the system adhere character of languages ​​is to distinguish between the pure basic ability to communicate and interact in a language (English command, the Germans often " mastery of spoken and written " ) and a gradual competence, that is, the knowledge and proper application the respective complex linguistic and stylistic devices. In the latter case one speaks of fluency and eloquence.

High eloquence is not based necessarily on a high level of education or professional training, often it is in the overall personality of the narrator justified.

Important requirements for the language skills of a person are: a basic vocabulary in a broader sense, knowledge of the grammatical rules. Advanced intellectual language skills one acquires possibly through a study of stylistics, pragmatics, rhetoric ( rhetoric ) and similar fields of knowledge, in the case of spoken language by speech training and voice training. High eloquence refers not only to syntax and semantics and can even carry a large extent independent of content, beyond the purely factual information. Particularly striking examples of this form of fluency are works of autistics. Language proficiency is a fundamental condition for successful participation in social discourses, for belonging to a linguistic community, in more specific contexts for legal and economic capacity - or collectively for integration in human communities and individual groups. The language proficiency in everyday life is pulled in many cultures for a rough assessment of the level of education a person to rate.