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1. language is a system: it has different linguistic levels (phonological, related to phonemes, intonation and rhythm; lexical semantic, which have to do with lexis, that is, the words, and their meaning (semantics); syntactical, that is, the rules of grammar; discourse, written language; conversation, that is, the characteristics of spoken discourse (turn-taking, use of words, etc.); sociolinguistic (social factors, such as educational level, age, ethnic, sex, etc.);
2. language is dynamic: it changes constantly; words and meanings may even vary from one generation to the other (cf. "cool" and "hot");
3. dialects (language regional variation): varieties of the same language (such as English) are spoken in the same country (Southern English vs. Northern English); there are also differences between countries (USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, etc.) and different dialects as well (India, etc.);
4. sociolect (language social variations): language may vary depending on the speaker's social class;
5. idiolect (individual language characteristics): it is like the language DNA, that is, no two people speak exactly in the same way; there are variations such as voice quality, pitch and speech rhythm; there are also variations such as choice of words, use of grammar, etc.
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