Acculturation
The process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups, each of which retains distinct culture features
Assimilation
The process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another more dominant culture
Custom
The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group
Folk Culture
Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups
Habit
A repetitive act performed by a particular individual
Popular Culture
Culture found in a large, heterogeneous, society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics
Taboo
A restriction on a behavior imposed by social custom
Terroir
The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes
Creole Language
A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated
Denglish
A combination of Deutsch (the German word for German) and English
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation
Ebonics
A 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 combination of françois and anglais (The French words for French and English, respectively)
Institutional Language
A language used in education, work, mass media, and government
Isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate
Isolated Language
A language that is unrelated to any languages and therefore not attached to any language family
Language
A system of communication through 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 can be confirmed through archaeological evidence
Language Family
A group of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history
Language Group
A collection of languages within a branch of that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary
Lingua Franca
language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
Literary Tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken
Logogram
A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound
Official Language
The language adopted for use by a government for the conduct of business and publication of documents
Pidgin Language
A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca; used for communication among speakers of two different languages
Received Pronunciation
The dialect of English speakers associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom
Spanglish
A combination of Spanish and English spoken by Hispanic-Americans
Standard Language
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications
Subdialect
A subdivision of a dialect
Vigorous Language
A language that is spoken in daily se but lacks a literary tradition
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