Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Irala, Domingo Martínez de

(Encyclopedia)Irala, Domingo Martínez de dōmēngˈgō märtēˈnās dā ēräˈlä [key], d. 1556 or 1557, first governor of Paraguay. Of Basque origin, he accompanied Pedro de Mendoza on his expedition to La Pla...

autonomy

(Encyclopedia)autonomy ôtŏnˈəmē [key] [Gr.,=self-rule], in a political sense, limited self-government, short of independence, of a political state or, more frequently, of a subdivision. The term is also used f...

Carlists

(Encyclopedia)Carlists, partisans of Don Carlos (1788–1855) and his successors, who claimed the Spanish throne under the Salic law of succession, introduced (1713) by Philip V. The law (forced on Philip by the Wa...

jai alai

(Encyclopedia)jai alai hīˈlīˌ [key], handball-like game of Spanish Basque origin. It is also called pelota. Jai alai is played on a three-walled court with a hard rubber ball that must be hurled against the fro...

Béarn

(Encyclopedia)Béarn bāärnˈ [key], former province, SW France, in the Pyrenees. It is now the inland part of Pyrénées-Atlantiques dept. Its valleys are well cultivated, and cattle are bred. Pau replaced Orthez...

psycholinguistics

(Encyclopedia)psycholinguistics, the study of psychological states and mental activity associated with the use of language. An important focus of psycholinguistics is the largely unconscious application of grammati...

bilingualism

(Encyclopedia)bilingualism, ability to use two languages. Fluency in a second language requires skills in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing, although in practice some of those skills are often...

sociolinguistics

(Encyclopedia)sociolinguistics, the study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism, pidgin and creole languages, ...

Jespersen, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Jespersen, Otto ŏˈtō yĕsˈpərsən [key], 1860–1943, Danish philologist. Professor of English language and literature at the Univ. of Copenhagen and later rector there, Jespersen first earned a ...

Black, Max

(Encyclopedia)Black, Max, 1909–88, American analytical philosopher, b. Baku, Russia (now Bakı, Azerbaijan), grad. Cambridge, Ph.D. Univ. of London, 1939. He taught at the Univ. of Illinois (1940–46) before goi...