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Algonquian

(Encyclopedia)Algonquian ălgŏngˈkēən, –kwēən [key], branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic family of North America. See Native American languages. ...

Erse

(Encyclopedia)Erse ûrs [key], synonym for Irish and sometimes also for Scottish Gaelic. See Celtic languages. ...

Otomí

(Encyclopedia)Otomí ōtōmēˈ [key], a Macro-Otomanguean language spoken by Native Americans of W central Mexico. See Native American languages. ...

Bahasa Indonesia

(Encyclopedia)Bahasa Indonesia bähäˈsä [key], another name for Indonesian, one of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. ...

Castrén, Matthias Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Castrén, Matthias Alexander mätēˈäs älĕksänˈdər kästrānˈ [key], 1813–52, Finnish philologist, one of the first scholars to study the Finno-Ugric languages. Castrén was long a professor...

Czech language

(Encyclopedia)Czech language chĕk [key], in the past sometimes also called Bohemian, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). The off...

Icelandic language

(Encyclopedia)Icelandic language, member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Spoken chiefly in Iceland, where it is the official languag...

Erpenius, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Erpenius, Thomas ûrpēˈnēəs [key], 1584–1624, Dutch Orientalist, whose name in Dutch was Van Erpe. Erpenius was one of the most celebrated scholars of his day and wrote several grammars of Middl...

Penutian

(Encyclopedia)Penutian pəno͞oˈshən [key], linguistic family, or stock, of Native Americans of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

creole language

(Encyclopedia)creole language krēōlˈ [key], any language that began as a pidgin but was later adopted as the mother tongue by a people in place of the original mother tongue or tongues. Examples are the Gullah o...