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unit 3 chapter 5- language, vocab & main points
language
a system of communication through speech, or a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning
literary tradition
system of written communication
language families
Collection of languages related through a common ancestral language
language branches
Collections of languages within a family
language groups
Collections of languages within a branch, displaying similar grammar and vocabulary
2/3s of the world’s population speaks a language that belongs to what language families
indo-european, sino-tibetan
the prefix ‘sino’ means which continent
asia
predominant language family in Europe, south Asia, North America and Latin america
indo-european
sino-tibetan
languages spoken in China and southeast asia
largest language in the Indian ocean, spoken by 90 million people
javanese
afro-asiatic
languages of Asia and Africa,
the official language in 24 countries, over 500 million speakers
arabic
spoke in northwest europe and north America, English is incl
germanic
spoke mainly in south asia
indo-iranian
spoken in east europe
balto-slavic
spoken in southwest Europe and Latin America, include French, Italian, spanish
romance branch
the three Germanic tribes that invaded england, blended and made old english
angles, jutes, saxons
regional variation of a language
dialect
original dialect settled by english
new england
original dialect settled by Irish, swedish, etc
midlands
original dialect from european countries
southeast
language differences tend to be greatest in
rural areas
a well established dialect
standard language
england’s standard language
British Received Pronunciation BRP
america’s standard language
standard american
three ways that make British and American language different
vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation
geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature. a cultural distinction—not a physical or official boundary
isogloss
romanian vs moldovan
the same language to the ear, written differently
german, french, Italian, romanash are the four official languages of what country
switzerland
official languages of Canada
english and french
The Official language act of 1974- laws strengthened French in Quebec by requiring
Services, commercial signage, public schools, language of legislation & justice
a language unrelated to any other language or family
isolated language
Only language currently spoken that survives since the arrival of Indo-European speakers
Basque
a language that is no longer spoken or read in daily activities
extinct language
amount of languages that are safe from extinction
300
most important factor for a language to survive
political and economic strength of its speakers
how languages stay popular
modern communication, economic reasons, and not being politically repressed by more dominant languages
amount of now extinct native American languages
74
amount of living native American languages
115
extinct languages can be brought back if there is
extensive documentation of the language
3 reasons to preserve a language
nationalism/loss of cultural identity, ethical reasons, benefits of being bilingual
4 ways to preserve/revive a language
be established in schools, provide government services, create and enforce laws, purposeful efforts
raised his son to be the first native hebrew speaker since 200 BC
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
lingua franca
a language that is widely used in international communication, trade, business
world’s current lingua franca
english
why is English dominant
historical reason- the diffusion of the British empire
contemporary reason- the dominance of the American economy ex hollywood
majority of content on internet is english
USA official language
there is no official language
Note 
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