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Avestan

(Encyclopedia)Avestan əvĕsˈtən [key], language belonging to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. One of the earliest forms of the Iranian languages to surviv...

mood

(Encyclopedia)mood or mode, in verb inflection, the forms of a verb that indicate its manner of doing or being. In English the forms are called indicative (for direct statement or question or to express an uncertai...

Swahili language

(Encyclopedia)Swahili language, member of the Bantu group of African languages (see African languages and Bantu languages). Swahili is spoken by 30 million people, chiefly in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (Kinshasa), Buru...

phonology

(Encyclopedia)phonology, study of the sound systems of languages. It is distinguished from phonetics, which is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds; phonology attempts t...

Cornish

(Encyclopedia)Cornish, language belonging to the Brythonic group of the Celtic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Celtic languages. See P. B. Ellis, The Cornish Language and Its Literature (19...

Vambery, Arminius

(Encyclopedia)Vambery, Arminius or Hermann ärˈmĭn [key], 1832–1913, Hungarian philologist and traveler. In Constantinople (1857–63) he learned several languages and dialects of Asia Minor and then traveled t...

Portage Lake

(Encyclopedia)Portage Lake, inlet of Keweenaw Bay, c.20 mi (32 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, N Mich., indenting the southeast shore of Keweenaw peninsula. An old portage route connected it with Lake Superior, an...

Faliscan

(Encyclopedia)Faliscan fəlĭsˈkən [key], extinct language belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Italic languages. ...

Oscan

(Encyclopedia)Oscan ŏsˈkən [key], extinct language belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Italic languages. ...

Umbrian

(Encyclopedia)Umbrian ŭmˈbrēən [key], extinct language belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Italic languages. ...