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Faulkner, Brian

(Encyclopedia)Faulkner, Brian fôkˈnər [key], 1921–77, Northern Irish politician. A Protestant businessman, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament as a Unionist in 1949. As minister of home affairs (...

Hume, John

(Encyclopedia)Hume, John, 1937–2020, Northern Irish political leader. A moderate Catholic, he devoted his career to the peaceful settlement of sectarian conflicts in his homeland. Hume began by seeking to improve...

Whorf, Benjamin Lee

(Encyclopedia)Whorf, Benjamin Lee hwôrf [key], 1897–1941, American linguist and anthropologist, b. Winthrop, Mass. Although he was trained in chemical engineering and worked for an insurance company, Whorf made ...

grammar

(Encyclopedia)grammar, description of the structure of a language, consisting of the sounds (see phonology); the meaningful combinations of these sounds into words or parts of words, called morphemes; and the arran...

Shakhmatov, Aleksey Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Shakhmatov, Aleksey Aleksandrovich əlĭksyāˈ əlĭksänˈdrəvĭch shôkmətôfˈ [key], 1864–1920, Russian philologist and historian. Shakhmatov's many books on the history of the Russian langua...

Carnap, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Carnap, Rudolf kärˈnäp, –năp [key], 1891–1970, German-American philosopher. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Vienna (1926–31) and at the German Univ. in Prague (1931–35). After going t...

Aramaic

(Encyclopedia)Aramaic ârəmāˈĭk [key], language belonging to the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). At some point during the se...

Achill

(Encyclopedia)Achill ăkˈĭl [key] [Irish,=eagle], island, 56 sq mi (145 sq km), Co. Mayo, W Republic of Ireland; the largest island of Ireland. It is connected with the mainland by a bridge over Achill Sound. The...

Avoca

(Encyclopedia)Avoca or Ovoca əvōˈkə [key], river, c.15 mi (24 km) long, formed by the union of the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers, in Co. Wicklow, E Republic of Ireland. It flows SE to the Irish Sea at Arklow. The...

Menai Strait

(Encyclopedia)Menai Strait mĕnˈī [key], channel of the Irish Sea, 14 mi (23 km) long and from 200 yd (183 m) to 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, between the island of Anglesey and mainland Gwynedd, NW Wales. Thomas Telford's...