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Elamite

(Encyclopedia)Elamite ēˈləmītˌ [key], extinct language of uncertain relationship that was once spoken in the ancient kingdom of Elam, located in SW Asia. It appears to be unrelated to any other languages, alth...

Syriac

(Encyclopedia)Syriac sērˈēăkˌ [key], late dialect of Aramaic, which is a West Semitic language (see Afroasiatic languages). The early Christians of Mesopotamia and Syria gave the Greek name Syriac to the Arama...

Blanchot, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Blanchot, Maurice mōrēsˈ bläNshōˈ [key], 1907–2003, French novelist and literary critic. One of the first intellectuals in France to be interested in questions of language and meaning, he was ...

semantics

(Encyclopedia)semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of lingu...

Arabic languages

(Encyclopedia)Arabic languages, members of the West Semitic group of the Semitic subdivision of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). The Arabic languages comprise North Arabic (or simply...

Kurdish

(Encyclopedia)Kurdish, language belonging to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian languages. ...

Navaho

(Encyclopedia)Navaho: see Navajo, people; Navajo, language. ...

programming

(Encyclopedia)programming: see computer; programming language. ...

Montreal, University of

(Encyclopedia)Montreal, University of, at Montreal, Que., Canada; French language; established 1876 as a branch of Laval Univ. It became an autonomous university in 1919. It has faculties of arts and sciences, grad...

Malayalam

(Encyclopedia)Malayalam mäˌləyäˈləm [key], Dravidian language of India. See Dravidian languages. ...