Unit 5/6 Flashcards
Lingua Franca-
a language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages EX: English, Mandarin, French, Spanish
Pidgin language-
a form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua Franca; used for communications among speakers of two different languages. EX: I learn a simplified French in
school
Isogloss-
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate. EX: French is
spoken in France, but not Spain
Creole-
A language that results from the mixing of a colonizers language with the indigenous language of the
people being dominated.
Dialect-
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. EX:
Shanghainese
Isolated language-
language- A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family
EX: Basque: isolated by mountains, so no influence of other languages
Language branch:
A collection of languages within a family 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
EX: west germanic branch and romance language branch
Language family:
a collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history. EX: Indo-european and Sino-Tibetan
Language group:
A collection of languages within a family that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.EX: French and Spanish
Language tree order:
Family, branch, group
Official language-
The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication
of documents EX: English in Britain
Extinct language-
A language that was once used by people in daily activities, but is no longer used
EX: Hebrew was extinct and then it was revived
Logogram-
A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound. EX: Chinese writing
Received Pronunciation (RP)-
The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom
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.
Spanglish-
a combination of Spanish and English spoken by Hispanic Americans. EX- tortilla
Vulgar Latin-
a form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents
Marija Gimbutas-
Creator of Normadic warrior hypothesis as to where Proto-Indo-European originated and how it spread. The Kurgan people near Russia and Kazakhstan who were nod amid herders that migrated in search of grassland for their animals which took them west towards and through Europe, east to Siberia, southeast to Iran and South Asian. The Kurgan warriors used their domesticated horses (they were one of the first people to domesticate horses and cattle) as weapons and conquered much of Europe and South Asia.
Colin Renfrew-
Creator of sedentary farmer hypothesis as to where Proto-Indo-European originated and how it spread. Argued the originators lived 2,000 years before the Kurgans in eastern Anatolia (part of Turkey). Biologist Russel D. Gray supports this, but says the first people were from even earlier. Renfrew believed they diffused west to Greece (origin of Greek language branch) and then to Italy, Sicily, Corsica, and Mediterranean coast of France, Spain, and Portugal (the origin of the Romance language branch) and then northward toward central and northern France and on to the British Isles (Possibly origin of Celtic branch). Then north from Greece toward Romania and west to Central Europe etc. Renfrew argues that Indo-European diffused into Europe and South Asia along with agricultural practices rather than military conquest. The language triumphed because its speakers became more numerous and prosperous by growing their own food instead of relying on hunting.
Indo-European-
the most widely used language family. European and Languages include: Spanish,
French, Protuguese, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, English, German, Urdu, Hindi and many more.
Predominate language family in Europe, South Asia, North America and Latin America. Ex: English is an indo-European language
Sino-Tibetan:
Encompasses languages spoken in the People’s Republic of China and several smaller countries in Southeast Asia. There is no single Chinese language and Mandarin
is the most used language worldwide.
Linguistics
the scientific study of language and its structure
Loan words
a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification
Ethnologue
A reference source that provides information about languages like how many there are, which are extinct, etc