What is the term used to describe the use of language to communicate?

The term that best describes the use of language to communicate is discourse. Discourse refers to the way that language is used in communication beyond individual sentences, encompassing spoken or written language in its broader context. It includes how meaning is constructed through various forms of communication, such as conversations, narratives, and more formal text types. This concept is vital in understanding how people interact through language, conveying thoughts, ideas, and social norms.

Phonology relates to the sound system of language, morphology focuses on the structure and formation of words, and pragmatics deals with how context influences the interpretation of meaning in communication. While these aspects are all essential to the study of language and communication, they do not encapsulate the broader process of using language to interact and convey meaning as effectively as discourse does.