Chapter 5: Languages Flashcards
Creole
language that has evolved from a pidgin but serves as the native language (Haitian creole from french)
dialect
regionally distinctive words & pronunciations (AAE)
language family
collection of languages related through a common ancestral language
language branch
collection of languages within a family
language group
collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past AND display similar grammar & vocab
Lingua Franca
common language for a place to use to communication when they have many different languages (English)
Literary Tradition
system of written communication
official language
used for official documents, on street signs, etc.
pidgin
simplified form of speech that develops as a means of communication between groups that don’t share a common language; no native speakers
2 largest language families
- Indo-european (Europe, South Asia, North America, & Latin America)
- Sino-Tibetan (China & SE Asia)
4 most widely spoken Indo-European branches
- Germanic
- Indo-iranian
- balto-slavic
- romance
Describe how british & US dialects vary.
mostly vocabulary (e.g. hood of a car vs the bonnet of a car, vacation vs holiday)
Controversey surrounding AAE & Appalachin English
AAE (sounds like slang, associated with the hood, poverty, crime, gangs, etc)
oakland school board recognizes it as a language in 1996
often attributed to lack of education & laziness, low income
Why is it sometimes difficult to distinguish between a language and a dialect?
main difference is dialects don’t have a standardized written system, so when its spoken its hard to distinguish from a language, which does have a standardized written system
Gender?
social dialect
women speak about people, men speak about things
women also speak more words (emotion)
