a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated
DIALECT
a regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
germanic, romance, balto-slavic, and indo-iranian languages are all part of the same indo-european language family and they all have commmon roots
ISOGLOSS
a boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate
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
LANGUAGE FAMILY
a collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history
LANGUAGE GROUP
a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatibely few differences in grammar and vocabulary
LANGUAGE SUBFAMILY
a smaller group of languages within the language family that are related to one another through a common ancestor long before recorded history
LINGUA FRANCA
a language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY
the occurance of numerous languages that are spoken around the world
MONOLINGUAL/MULTILINGUAL
capable of communication in one (mono) language and (multi) capable of communication in more than one language, but not necessarily at the same level of proficiency
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
an official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories
PIDGIN
a simplified, limited language combining features from many languages and used among persons who share no common language amongst themselves
TOPONYMY
the scientific study of place-names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use and typology
TRADE LANGUAGE
also a pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of two or more languages as a means of trade
