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Armenian language

(Encyclopedia)Armenian language, member of the Thraco-Phrygian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). There is evidence that in ancient times a distinct subfamily of Indo-European l...

liturgy, Christian

(Encyclopedia)liturgy, Christian [Gr. leitourgia = public duty or worship] form of public worship, particularly the form of rite or services prescribed by the various Christian churches. In the Western Church the p...

Salish

(Encyclopedia)Salish, indigenous people of North America, also known as the Flathead, who in the early 19th cent. inhabited the Bitterroot River valley of W Montana. Their language belongs to the Salishan branch of...

slang

(Encyclopedia)slang, vernacular vocabulary not generally acceptable in formal usage. It is notable for its liveliness, humor, emphasis, brevity, novelty, and exaggeration. Most slang is faddish and ephemeral, but s...

German language

(Encyclopedia)German language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). It is the official language of Germany and Austria and i...

alphanumeric

(Encyclopedia)alphanumeric ălˌfəmĕrˈĭk [key], the set of letters and numbers. When used in reference to computer input and output, the set usually is expanded to include the upper- and lower-case alphabetic c...

Chipewyan

(Encyclopedia)Chipewyan chĭpˌəwīˈən [key], Native North Americans of the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see also Native American languages). Formerly the largest of the Athabascan groups, s...

Hale, Horatio Emmons

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Horatio Emmons, 1817–96, American-Canadian ethnologist, b. Newport, N.H.; son of Sarah Josepha Hale. He served as ethnologist on the Charles Wilkes exploring expedition (1838–42) and wrote V...

Goodman, Nelson

(Encyclopedia)Goodman, Nelson (Henry Nelson Goodman), 1906–98, American philosopher, b. Somerville, Mass., grad. Harvard (Ph.D. 1941). He taught at Tufts (1945–46), the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1946–64), and Br...

Oto

(Encyclopedia)Oto ōˈtō [key], Native North Americans, also called the Otoe, whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Oto had a Plains ...