Chapter 5 Flashcards
Literary tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken
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
Official language
Language adapted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents
Language family
A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history
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 archaeological evidence can confirm that the branch is derived from the same family
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
Logograms
A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound
Dialect
A regional variety of any language distinguished by vocabulary spelling and pronunciation
Isoglaoss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate
Standard language
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications
Creolized language
A language that results from the mixing of a colonizers language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated
Isolates languages
A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family
Extinct languages
A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used
Lingua franca
A language mutually understood and commonly used intrigued by people who have different native languages
Pidgin language
A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar in limited okay delivery of a lingua franca; used for communications among speakers of two different languages
