language
a set of sounds, combination of sounds, and symbols that are used for communication
mutual intelligibility
the ability of two people to understand each other when speaking.
dialect
local or regional characteristics of a language. While accent refers to the pronunciation differences of a standard language, this in addition to pronunciation variation, has distinctive grammar and vocabulary.
culture
the sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society. This is anthropologist Ralph Linton's definition; hundred other exist
standard language
The variant of a language that a country's political and intellectual elite seek to promote as the norm for use in school, government, media, and other aspects of public life
dialect chain
a set of contiguous dialects in which the dialects nearest to each other at any place in the chain are most closely related
isogloss
a geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs
language families
group of languages with a shared but fairly distant origin.
subfamilies
divisions within a language family where the commonalities are more definite and the origin is more recent
sound shift
slight change in a word across languages withing a subfamily or through a language family from the present backward to its origin
proto indo european
linguistic hypothesis proposing the existence of ancestral Indo-European language that is the hearth of the ancient Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit languages which hearth would link modern languages from Scandinavia to North Africa and from North America throu
backward reconstruction
the tracking of sound shifts and hardening of consonants backward to the original language
deep reconstruction
technique using the vocabulary of an extinct language to re-create the language that proceeded the extinct language
extinct language
language without any native speakers
nostratic
language believe to be the ancestral language of not only the Proto-Indo European, but also of the Kartvelian languages of the south Caucasus region, the Uralic-Altaic languages, the Dravadian languages of India, and the Afro-Asiatic language family.
language divergence
the opposite of language convergence; a process suggested by German linguist August Scheleicher whereby new languages are formed when a language breaks into dialects due to a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of the language and continued isolati
language convergence
the collapsing of two languages into one resulting from the consisten spatial interaction of peoples with different languages; the opposite of language divergence
conquest theory
one major theory of how Proto-Indo-European diffused into Europe which holds that the early speakers of Proto-Indo-European spread westward on horseback, overpowering earlier inhabitants and beginning the diffusion and differentiation of Indo-European ton
romance languages
Languages that lie in the areas that were once controlled by the Roman Empire but were not subsequently overwhelmed. French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese
dispersal hypothesis
Hypothesis which holds that the Indo-European languages that arose from Proto-Indo-European were first carried eastward into South west Asia, nect around the Caspian Sea, and then across the Russian-Ukrainian plains and on into the Balkans
renfrew hypothesis
Hypothesis developed by a British scholar Colin Refrew wherein he proposed that three areas in and near the first agricultural hearth, the Fertile Crescent, gave rise to three language families: Europe's Indo-European languages; and the languages in prese
germanic languages
reflect the expansion of peoples out of North Europe to the west and south. English, German, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish
slavic languages
Languages that developed as these people migrated from a base in present day Ukrain close to 2000 years ago. Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Serco-Croation, and Bulgarian
lingua fanca
a term deriving from Frankish language and applying to a tongue spoke in ancient Mediterranean ports that consisted of a mixture of Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, and even some Arabic. Today it refers to a common language, a language used among speakers
creole language
a language that began as a pidgin language but was later adopted as the mother tongue by a people in place of the mother tongue.
monolingual states
countries in which only one language is spoken
pidgin language
when parts of two or more languages are combined in a simplified structure and vocabulary
multilingual states
Countries in which more that one language is spoken
official language
in multilingual countries the language selected, often by the educated and politically powerful elite, to promote internal cohesion; usually the language of the courts and government
global language
the language used most commonly around the world; defined on the basis of either the number of speakers of the language, or prevalence of use in commerce and trade
place
uniqueness of a location
toponym
place name