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Pahari

(Encyclopedia)Pahari pəhäˈrē [key], languages or dialects of the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian languages. ...

Athabascan

(Encyclopedia)Athabascan both: –păsˈ– [key], group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensi...

sign language

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Manual alphabet sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with o...

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...

Ugrian

(Encyclopedia)Ugrian yo͞oˈgrĭk, o͞oˈ– [key], subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of languages, which is, in turn, a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages. See Finno-Ugric l...

Turkic

(Encyclopedia)Turkic tûrˈkĭk [key], group of languages forming a subdivision of the Altaic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Uralic and Altaic languages). The Turkic group of languages has a ...

Indo-Iranian

(Encyclopedia)Indo-Iranian, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, spoken by more than a billion people, chiefly in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (see The Indo-Eu...

Leiden

(Encyclopedia)Leiden or Leyden both: līˈdən [key], city (1994 pop. 114,892), South Holland prov., W Netherlands, on the Old Rhine (Oude Rijn) River. Manufactures include medical equipment, machinery, graphic art...

Hawaiian

(Encyclopedia)Hawaiian, member of the Polynesian group of the Austronesian family of languages. Of the fewer than 10,000 people who speak Hawaiian, only a few hundred are native speakers, but the language is taught...

Colombo Plan

(Encyclopedia)Colombo Plan, international economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Officially the Co...