a language that is spoken in daily use but that lacks a literary tradition
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Language Group
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A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.
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Institutional language
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A language used in education, work, mass media, and government.
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Isogloss
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A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.
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pidgin language
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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.
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Logogram
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A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound
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standard language
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The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.
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extinct language
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A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.
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Ebonics
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Dialect spoken by some African Americans
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Vulgar Latin
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A form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents.
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Isolated Language
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A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.
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language
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A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.
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Developing language
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A language spoken in daily use with a literary tradition that is not widely distributed.
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Creole language
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A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.
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Denglish
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A combination of Deutsch (the German word for German) and English).
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Spanglish
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A combination of Spanish and English
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Subdialect
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A subdivision of a dialect
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Literary Tradition
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A language that is written as well as spoken
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lingua franca
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A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
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Language Branch
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A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that can be confirmed through archaeological evidence.
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official language
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The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.
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Dialect
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A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
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Received Pronunciation
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The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom.
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Franglais
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A combination of French and English
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language family
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A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.