Language and Religion Flashcards
Afro-Asiatic Family
A family that includes Semantic, Chaitic, and Berber branches, and includes Arabic, Hebrew, Somali, and Amharic
Balto-Slavic Branch
A branch of the Indo-European family that includes S/W/E Slavic, Czech, Russian, Polish, and Bulgarian
bilingual
A population that can speak more than one language fluently
creole
A language formed from the contact of two languages
dialect
Regional change in language vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and syntax
endangered language
Languages that are dropping out due to globalization or assimilation
Esperanto
The attempt at a universal language or lingua franca
extinct language
The absence of a language caused by a group of assimilated people that give up their original language
Germanic Branch
A branch of the Indo-European family that includes Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, North German, and the West Germanic branch which includes English, German, and Dutch
ideograms
A symbol that exemplifies an idea or thing without indicating sounds
Indo-European Family
A family that includes the Germanic, Romance, Baltic-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian branches
Indo-Iranian Branch
A branch of the Indo-European family that includes Iranian, Kurdish, Persian, and Pakistani and the Indic branch, which includes Bengali, Sara’ki, Sinhala, Urdu, and Punjabi
isogloss
The boundaries that divide the use of different words and pronunciations on a political map
isolated language
Languages that develop on their own, unrelated to any families
language
A collection of sounds with meaning for communication
language branch
Collection of languages with an old ancestor within a family
language divergence
Movement and division of a language through relocation diffusion
language family
Collection of related languages from before written history
language group
Collection of languages with a recent connection within a branch
lingua franca
A language that is used to bridge the barrier between two or more languages (English)
literacy
The measurement of reading ability in a population that is required in order to have written communication/literary tradition
literary tradition
The collection of written traditions in a language
monolingual state
A nation in which there is only one spoken language
multilingual state
A nation in which there are many spoken languages (Belgium and Switzerland)
Niger-Congo Family
A family that includes the Benue-Congo, K’wa, and West Atlantic branches, along with Sukuma, Yoruba, Akin, Rwanda, Shona, Swahili, Moore, and Mando
official language
A language named for laws and public announcements
oral tradition
The collection of sounds from a language
pidgin
A simplified version of a language
Proto-Indo-European (agricultural/conquest theory)
The believed origin of Indo-European languages, and the language either diffused through agricultural migration (from hearth in Turkey) or through conquest (from Kurgan hearth)
Romantic Branch
A branch in the Indo-European family that includes Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Roman, and Catalan
Sino-Tibetan family
A family that includes Austrio-Thai, Tibetan-Burman, and Sinitic branches
standard language
The language chosen to bridge the gap between different language dialects
syntax
Grammatical order
toponym
Names of cities
trade language
Early simplified communications along trade routes
