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Accademia della Crusca

(Encyclopedia)Accademia della Crusca äk-kädĕˈmēä dĕlˈlä kro͞osˈkä [key] [Ital.,=academy of the chaff], Italian literary society founded in Florence in 1582 to maintain the purity of the language. Leonar...

Masai

(Encyclopedia)Masai or Maasai mäsīˈ [key], a largely nomadic pastoral people of E Africa, chiefly in Kenya and Tanzania. Cattle and sheep form the basis of the economy that they have maintained in resistance to ...

lip reading

(Encyclopedia)lip reading, method by which the deaf are able to read the speech of others from the movements of the lips and mouth. It is sometimes referred to as speech reading, which technically also includes the...

Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch kərəmzēnˈ [key], 1766–1826, Russian historian and writer. His Letters of a Russian Traveler, 1789–90 (1792, abr. tr. 1957), dealin...

Popol Vuh

(Encyclopedia)Popol Vuh pōpōlˈ vo͞oˈ [key] [Quiché,=collection of the council], sacred book of the Quiché. The most important document of the cosmogony, religion, mythology, migratory traditions, and history...

Budé, Guillaume

(Encyclopedia)Budé, Guillaume gēyōmˈ büdāˈ [key], 1467–1540, French humanist, b. Paris. Budé, known also by the Latinized form of his name, Budaeus, was a towering figure of the Renaissance. He was secret...

Canopus, city, ancient Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Canopus kənōˈpəs [key], ancient city of N Egypt, 12 mi (19 km) E of Alexandria. Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus' ship, was said to have died there. In Hellenistic times Canopus was known as a pleas...

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna

(Encyclopedia)Tsvetayeva or Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanovna tsvyĭtäˈyəvə [key], 1892–1941, Russian poet. She was a major Russian poet, who survived the civil war, emigrated to Prague and Paris, and returned to Ru...

Tungus

(Encyclopedia)Tungus to͝onko͝ozˈ [key], Siberian ethnic group, numbering perhaps 30,000. They are subdivided into the Evenki, who live in the area from the Yenisei and Ob river basins to the Pacific Ocean and fr...

speech defect

(Encyclopedia)speech defect, any condition that interferes with the mental formation of words or their physical production. Speech defects in children generally become apparent in the early school years. Speech pro...