Studied by 8 people
What is Language?
Mutual Inteligibilty
Mutual Inteligibilty
Two people can understand each others system of communication through speech, movement, sounds, symbols. When two people speak two dif languages they CANT understand each other, when two people speak dif dialects they CAN
Language divergence
new languages are formed because spatial interaction between speakers has broken down
What is the first step of Language divergence?
sound shift
What is dialect?
Dialect is variants of a language (accent).
Differences in vocab,syntax, pronunciation,cadence,pace of speech
Dialect chain
Dialects nearest to each other, geographically.
What is an isogloss?
boundary line between two distinct linguistic regions
Backward Reconstruction
the tracking of sound shifts and. hardening of consonants backward. toward the original language.
language convergence
Two languages combine to form a new language
Pidgin Language
When people speak two or more languages and are in contact so they combine parts of their language into a simpyfied structure and vocab.
Creole Language
A pidgin Language that is more complex and has become a native language for people.
What are three ways the worlds langauge can be organized?
Language family, Language branch, Language Group
Indo-Arayan languages
Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Lahnda, Dravidian, Sino-tibetan, Greek, Armenian, Albanian
(B.A.L.D G.A.S.H.U)
Iranian Languages
Farsi, Pashio, Kurdish
West Germanic Languages
English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans
“GADE” west
North Germanic Languages
Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian
“DINS” north time for dinner
Baltic Languages
Latvian, Lithuanian
East Slavic Languages
Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
RUB
West Slavic Languages
Polish, Czech, Slavach
South Slavic Languages
Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian
Latin (Vulgar Latin)
Spanish, French, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese
Goidelic
Irish, Scottish Gaelic
Brythonic
Welsh, Cornish, Breton
what langauges consist of ROMANCE
French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian.
What century did English get to North America
Beginning of the 17th
What century did English get to Ireland
The 17th
What century did English get to South Asia
Late 18th, early 19th
What century did English get to southern and eastern africa
Late 19th century (due to colonization)
Three ways the english voacab differs from the one spoken in england
vocab, pronunciation, spelling
standard language
common language that many countries agree on
Four dialects in the US
Inland North, the south, the west, the midland
What is responsible for the differences found in the original three eastern dialect regions
differences in the origin of the English colonist along the east coast.
What is a bidialect?
Someone who speaks standard english outside of their home/community and speaks their native langue at home.
AAVE
African American Vernacular English. It is a distinct dialect with certaint verbs, vocab,grammar, meaning.
Pros of AAVE
Preserves African American Culture
Cons of AAVE
Not standard, poor education, poor chance of success in the US
How are official Languages used
Used by the government to enact legislation, publish docs, teach, conduct public businesses
Six official langues used by the United Nations
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian
What factors have led to the strengthening of standard languages and depression of dialect?
migration, increased interaction, globalization processes
How is English from other languages
does not contain personal pronouns
endangered language
a language that is likely to become extinct
why would a language be considered dying?
The child bearing generation is not capable of teaching the language to future generations.
isolated language
unrelated to any language/ not attacked to nay family.
one example of an isolated language in Europe
Basque/Euskan
How does isolation help preserve a language?
isolation resisted diffusion of people and introduction to new languages/dialects
extinct language
Note 
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