Chapter 5: Language Flashcards
Creole or Creolized Language
A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.
British Received Pronunciation ( BRP )
The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the UK.
Denglish
Combination of German and English.
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
Ebonics
Dialect spoken by some African Americans.
Extinct Languages
A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.
Franglais
A term used by the French for English words that have entered the French language; a combination of francais and anglais, the French words for ‘French’ and ‘English’.
Ideograms
The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea or a concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English.
Isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different languages are used predominantly.
Isolated Language
A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.
Language
A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning.
Language Branch
A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Differences are not as extensive or as old as with language families, and archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family.
Language Family
A collection of languages relayed to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
Language Group
A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.
Lingua Franca
A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.
Literary Tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken.
Official Language
The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication if documents.
Pidgin Language
A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua Franca; used for communication among speakers of two different languages.
Spanglish
Combination of Spanish and English, spoken by Hispanic Americans.
Standard Languages
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communication.
Vulgar Latin
A form of Latin used in daily conversation by the ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents.
