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Language

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8260335814AccentA distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, especially one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class.0
8260335815DialectA regional variation of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation, particular to a specific region or social group.1
8260335816Extinct LanguageA language that no longer has any speakers, or that is no longer in current use.2
8260335817IdeogramA written character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it. Used in Mandarin (Chinese)3
8260335818IsoglossA geographic boundary line delimiting the area in which a given linguistic feature occurs.4
8260335819Isolated LanguageA natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic") relationship with other languages or language families; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. i.e A language family with only one language. (Basque)5
8260335820Language BranchA Subsection of a Language Family. Differences are not as extensive or old as with language families. i.e The Romance "-------" of the Indo-European language family.6
8260335821LanguageThe method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.7
8260335822Language GroupA Collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary. An individual language, including all dialects (I.e. Italian, German, English)8
8260335823Language FamilyA collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history. The trunk of the language tree, from which language branches come from.9
8260335824Indo European language familyLargest language family that includes English and most other languages in the Western Hemisphere. Also used in South and Southwest Asia. Includes the Germanic branch, Indo-Iranian branch, Balto-Slavic branch, and Romance branch.10
8260335825Sino-Tibetan Language Family2nd largest language family. Includes Madarin, Thai, Cantonese and Burmese11
8260335826Lingua FrancaA Language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages (currently English worldwide).12
8260335827Literary TraditionA Language that is written as well as spoken.13
8260335828Monolingual StateA country in which only one language is spoken (i.e. Japan, Korea)14
8260335829BilingualThe ability to speak two languages.15
8260335830Multilingual StateA country in which more than one language is in use (India, Nigeria, Belgium, Switzerland)16
8260335831Official LanguageThe language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents, a language that is given special legal status.17
8260335833Pidgin LanguageA Form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, used for communications among speakers of two different languages.18
8260335834Standard LanguageThe specific form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.19
8260335835ToponymThe name of a place, often reflecting that place's history and culture.20
8260335837CreoleA language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated. Developed out of an earlier pidgin stage.21
8260335840EbonicsA dialect of English spoken by some African Americans.22
8260335841SpanglishA hybrid language combining words and idioms from both Spanish and English, especially Spanish speech that uses many English words and expressions.23
8260335844Romance BranchA language branch of the Indo-European Language Family. This branch includes languages that evolved from Latin (the language of the Romans). The 5 main languages include: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian.24
8260335845Germanic BranchA language branch of the Indo-European Language Family. This branch is divided into North and West Germanic. North Germanic includes Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic), which all came from Old Norse. West Germanic is further divided into High Germanic and Low Germanic subgroups. High German includes the standard German language. Low German includes English, Dutch, Flemish (Dialect of Dutch), Afrikaaans, and Frisian.25
8260335849Uralic Language FamilyLanguage Family in Europe that includes the languages of Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian. Languages in this family originated from the Ural mountains in Russia, spreading through migration.26
8260335851Afro-Asiatic Language FamilyThis language family is found in northern Africa and southwestern Asia (Middle East), where Islam is the dominant religion. This family includes the languages of Arabic and Hebrew. Hebrew is spoken in Israel, a Jewish state, and Arabic is spoken throughout the region since it is the language of the Koran, the Islamic holy book.27
8260335853Prehistoric SubgroupA language that predates the current language family, before the written record. Ex: Proto-Indo-European28
8260335858Language DivergenceWhen a lack of spatial interaction (isolation) among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages.29
8260335859Language ConvergenceWhen peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one (i.e. pidgin and creole).30
8260335863HindiApproximately one-third of Indians, mostly in the north, use this Indic language. This language can be spoken in many different ways, but there is only one official way to write the language, using a script called Devanagari. It serves as the lingua franca in India and is used by the government, growing into a national language in the nineteenth century when the British encouraged its use in government. It is part of the Indo-Iranian branch.31
8260335864SwahiliThe lingua franca in Africa, used by many to communicate as a second language, due to so many different native languages. This language was developed between African and Arab traders and is one for the few African languages with extensive literature. It is part of the Niger-Congo language family.32
8260335867MandarinThis language is the most spoken language in the world. It is spoken by approximately three-fourths of the Chinese people, and is used by the Chinese government. There is no single Chinese language. Instead of letters, Chinese languages use ideograms (characters) that mostly represent concepts rather than sounds.33
8260335868ArabicThis language serves as a unifying force in the Middle East (Northern Africa and Southwest Asia), typically referred to as the Arab World. This language is the language of Islam (used in the Koran),, which is predominant throughout the region. This language belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and is the official language in two dozen countries of North Africa and southwestern Asia, from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula.34
8260335869HebrewThis language was an extinct language that has been revived. It diminished in use in the fourth century B.C. and was thereafter retained only for Jewish religious services. When Israel was established in 1948, this language became one of the new country's two official languages, along with Arabic. This language was chosen to unify the Jews of Israel and give them a sense of nationalism, since Israel was created by Jewish refugees and migrants who spoke many different languages. Reviving this language required the creation of many new words for the modern world.35
8260335874GlobalizationThe process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence and operate on an international scale. Currently, America dominates the world with multinational corporations and media, which has made English the world's current lingua franca (international language of business).36
8260335875QuebecThis province in Canada primarily speaks French, due to its history of colonization. As a result, Canada is officially bilingual, recognizing both English and French as official languages.37
8260335876Vulgar LatinThis language was spoken by the Roman army at the time of occupation and is the basis of the Romance languages, which evolved out of this language overtime due to isolation.38
8260335877Latin AmericaThis region of the Americas primarily speaks Romance Languages, which derived from Latin. Brazil speaks Portuguese, Haiti and French Guiana speak French, while the majority of the other countries speak Spanish, all due to the patterns of colonization.39

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