Holiday appetizer
By Sara and Amanda
Creolized Language
A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominate.
Ex) During the era of English colonization, Even though English had more dominance over the indigenous language of the Native Americans, English has adopted some of their vocabulary like moccasins or canoe.
Ideograms
The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea or concept rather than specific sounds as is the case with letters in English.
ex) Mandarin Chinese uses ideograms. They represent ideas or concepts rather than sounds.
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling and pronunciations.
Ex) American English has diverged from British English because of the isolation between the two countries.
American English has a broader vocabulary based on different experiences, “Moose”, “Chipmunk”.
Also spelling is different, (Color and Colour) in pronunciation, Americans pronounce necessary with 3 syllables than 2 syllables.
Isolated Language
A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.
Ex) Basque is an isolated language because it hasn't been effected by the Indo-European speakers, and because of the its Isolation in the pyrenees Mountains.
No attempt to link Basque to the common origin of the other European languages has been successful.
Lingua Franca
A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
Ex) English is a Lingua Franca because countries use it for trade even if they have other languages.
Literary Tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken
Ex) Morse code is a literary tradition because it is a written communication system that was used in folk culture because of the lack of technology. Some telegraphs used Morse code.
Official Language
The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of
documents
Ex) Puerto Rico is an example of a country that has two official languages, English and Spanish.
Pidgin Language
A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a Lingua Franca used for communications among speakers of two different languages
Ex) Spanglish is a Pidgin language because it converts English words into Spanish forms, such as cognates, which can help people communicate if one speaks English and one speaks Spanish.
Standard Language
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.
Ex) English could be an example because in business, English is spoken to have better communication between two companies from different countries (who speak different languages).
Extinct language
A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.
Ex) Latin, because of the fall of the roman empire Latin had started to die out. Also because many languages have diverged from it through isolation.