Language (chp.6) Unit 3 Test Flashcards
Language Family
A group of related languages that share a common ancestry
Language Branch
A group of languages which share common linguistic and have evolved from a common ancestor.
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.
Dialect
A regional variation of a language that is understood by people who speak other variations of that language.
Indo-European Family
a family (or phylum) of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia.
Creole
A combined language that speaks a fuller vocabulary than a pidgin language and becomes a native language.
Pidgin
A trade language, characterized by a small amount of vocabulary derived from the languages of at least two or more groups in contact.
Lingua Franca
A language of communication and commerce spoken across a wide area where it is not the mother tongue.
Logogram
a symbol that represents a word rather than a sound.
Official Language
The language adopted by a country’s government conducting business and publishing of official government documents.
Isogloss
a boundary line between two distinct linguistic regions.
Extinct Language
A language that only has a few elderly speakers still living or no living speakers.
Colonialsim
The act of forcefully controlling a foreign territory, which becomes known as a colony.
Imperialism
The motivating impulse to control greater amounts of territory.
Endangered Language
A language that is not taught to children by their parents and is not used in everyday matters.
