The Essence of the Concept “Language” in the Social Life of People in the Personal Understanding of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The scientific research is devoted to the development of linguistic terminology in the life of people and society from a historical aspect. The research presents a detailed informational analysis of the essence of the concept “language” in the social life of people from the personal understanding of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, whose scientific activities took place in the 4th period of the history of linguistics (the end of the 19th – the first third of the 20th century). Despite the fact that in their scientific research they did not choose the concept “language” as a separate object of study, in their scientific researches one can find many considerations on this topic and subjective points of view. They paid attention to the special place and important role of language in the life of human society. In the proposed study, the essence of the concept “language” was chosen as the object of analysis in the scientific research of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The analysis of the concept “language” was made in a generalised form according to the Explanatory formula of concept content (EFCC) structure with a determined common element of essence based on the results of the analysis. The results of the analysis made it possible to synthesise the understanding of K. Marx and F. Engels of the concept “language” in the form of a definition in which the concept “language” acts as “a means” of communication establishing interpersonal and intergroup communication; activity as expressing consciousness and thinking; reflecting objective and subjective reality; constructing and changing social relations; influencing the process of human communication; maintaining and confronting class differences and struggle; expression culture; a component and product of communication processes (thinking and transmission of information, linguistic, interlingual, and linguistic integration) for existence; influence (linguistic, interlingual, and “linguistic integration”) for existence; a community product establishing the class struggle, hierarchy, social stratification, and ideological influence in the process of connections and communication within a group of people; the material reality reflecting the real life of society and individuals, sensory reality, and the reality of thought).