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
The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom
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 language
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 français and anglais, the French words for “French” and “English,” respectively
Ideograms
The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea or concept rather a specific sound, as in the case with letters in English
Isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate
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 understood by a group of people 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 archeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family
Language family
A collection of languages related 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 recent past and display 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