Languages, NAS-PHO
Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual, or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves. The functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release.
Languages Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Naskhī script
Naskhī script, Islāmic style of handwritten alphabet developed in the 4th century of the Islāmic era (i.e., the......
National Theatre of the Deaf
National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD), American theatre, established in 1965 and based in Waterford, Connecticut,......
Navajo language
Navajo language, North American Indian language of the Athabascan family, spoken by the Navajo people of Arizona......
neo-Sinaitic alphabet
neo-Sinaitic alphabet, writing system used in many short rock inscriptions in the Sinai Peninsula, not to be confused......
Neogrammarian
Neogrammarian, any of a group of German scholars that arose around 1875; their chief tenet concerning language......
Neologism
Neologism, new word or expression. The term also refers to the adoption of a new definition for an existing word......
Nepali language
Nepali language, member of the Pahari subgroup of the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian division of the Indo-European......
Neruda, Pablo
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.......
Netherlandic language
Netherlandic language, the language spoken primarily in the Netherlands but also in northern Belgium, where it......
newspeak
newspeak, propagandistic language that is characterized by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary......
nickname
nickname, an informal name used to replace a formal one, often giving rise to familiar or humorous terms. The word......
Nicobarese languages
Nicobarese languages, Austroasiatic languages spoken on the Nicobar Islands and once considered to form a distinct......
Niger-Congo languages
Niger-Congo languages, a family of languages of Africa, which in terms of the number of languages spoken, their......
Nilo-Saharan languages
Nilo-Saharan languages, a group of languages that form one of the four language stocks or families on the African......
Nilotic languages
Nilotic languages, group of related languages spoken in a relatively contiguous area from northwestern Democratic......
Nivkh language
Nivkh language, isolated language with two main dialects spoken by some 400 Nivkh, roughly 10 percent of the ethnic......
nonce word
nonce word, a word coined and used apparently to suit one particular occasion. Nonce words are sometimes used independently......
Nonius Marcellus
Nonius Marcellus was a Latin grammarian and lexicographer, author of the De compendiosa doctrina, a lexicon in......
North Korea
North Korea, country in East Asia. It occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, which juts out from......
- Introduction
- Demographics, Culture, Religion
- Economy, Resources, Trade
- Resources, Power, Economy
- Politics, Economy, Society
- Local Govt, Divisions, Autonomy
- Culture, Traditions, Religion
- Politics, Economy, Kim Il-Sung
- Nuclear, Juche, Reunification
- Relations, South, Tensions
- Nuclear Program, Arms Race, Sanctions
- Engagement, South Korea, US
North Semitic alphabet
North Semitic alphabet, the earliest fully developed alphabetic writing system. It was used in Syria as early as......
North, Sir Thomas
Sir Thomas North was an English translator whose version of Plutarch’s Bioi parallēloi (Parallel Lives) was the......
Norton, Charles Eliot
Charles Eliot Norton was an American scholar and man of letters, an idealist and reformer by temperament, who exhibited......
Norwegian language
Norwegian language, North Germanic language of the West Scandinavian branch, existing in two distinct and rival......
Nostratic hypothesis
Nostratic hypothesis, proposed, but still controversial, language family of northern Eurasia. The term Nostratic......
Noun
Noun, a word that designates a person, place, thing, or idea and that can act as the subject or object of a sentence’s......
Novial
Novial, artificial language constructed in 1928 by the Danish philologist Otto Jespersen, intended for use as an......
Nubian languages
Nubian languages, group of languages spoken in Sudan and southern Egypt, chiefly along the banks of the Nile River......
number symbolism
number symbolism, cultural associations—including religious, philosophical, and aesthetic—with various numbers.......
Numic languages
Numic languages, North American Indian languages spoken by Native Americans in what are now the U.S. states of......
Nuristani languages
Nuristani languages, group of six languages and several dialects that form a subset of the Indo-Aryan subdivision......
Nöldeke, Theodor
Theodor Nöldeke was a German Orientalist noted for his Semitic and Islamic studies, which included a history of......
o
o, the fourth vowel of the modern alphabet, corresponding to the Semitic ʿayin, which represented a breathing and......
Ob-Ugric languages
Ob-Ugric languages, division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul)......
Object language
Object language, in semantics and logic, the ordinary language used to talk about things or objects in the world—as......
Occitan language
Occitan language, modern name given by linguists to a group of dialects that form a Romance language that was spoken......
Oceanic languages
Oceanic languages, widespread, highly varied, and controversial language group of the Austronesian language family.......
Odia language
Odia language, Indo-Aryan language with some 50 million speakers. A language officially recognized, or “scheduled,”......
Oecolampadius, Johann
Johann Oecolampadius was a German humanist, preacher, and patristic scholar who, as a close friend of the Swiss......
Ogden, C.K.
C.K. Ogden was a British writer and linguist who originated Basic English (q.v.), a simplified system of the English......
ogham writing
ogham writing, alphabetic script dating from the 4th century ad, used for writing the Irish and Pictish languages......
Ogilby, John
John Ogilby was a British printer who was a pioneer in the making of road atlases; as a poet and translator he......
Old Church Slavonic language
Old Church Slavonic language, Slavic language based primarily on the Macedonian (South Slavic) dialects around......
Old English language
Old English language, language spoken and written in England before 1100; it is the ancestor of Middle English......
Old High German
Old High German, any of the West Germanic dialects spoken in the highlands of southern Germany, Switzerland, and......
Old Norse language
Old Norse language, classical North Germanic language used from roughly 1150 to 1350. It is the literary language......
Old Prussian language
Old Prussian language, West Baltic language extinct since the 17th century; it was spoken in the former German......
Old Saxon language
Old Saxon language, earliest recorded form of Low German, spoken by the Saxon tribes between the Rhine and Elbe......
Omotic languages
Omotic languages, family of about 40 languages spoken in western Ethiopia. Although most scholars assign them to......
on
on, one of two alternate readings (the other is kun, or kun’yomi) for a kanji (Japanese: “Chinese character”).......
onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia, the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz......
Opitz, Martin
Martin Opitz was a German poet and literary theorist who introduced foreign literary models into German poetry......
oral tradition
oral tradition, the first and still most widespread mode of human communication. Far more than “just talking,”......
oratory
oratory, the rationale and practice of persuasive public speaking. It is immediate in its audience relationships......
Oresme, Nicholas
Nicholas Oresme was a French Roman Catholic bishop, scholastic philosopher, economist, and mathematician whose......
Oscan language
Oscan language, one of the Italic languages closely related to Umbrian and Volscian and more distantly related......
Osco-Umbrian languages
Osco-Umbrian languages, language group proposed by some scholars to be included in the Italic branch of Indo-European......
Ossetic language
Ossetic language, eastern Iranian language spoken in the northern Caucasus by the Ossetes. There are two major......
Otomanguean languages
Otomanguean languages, a phylum, or stock, of American Indian languages composed mainly of Amuzgoan, Oto-Pamean,......
O’Connor, Frank
Frank O’Connor was an Irish playwright, novelist, and short-story writer who, as a critic and as a translator of......
O’Curry, Eugene
Eugene O’Curry was an Irish scholar and industrious copyist and translator of Old Irish manuscripts whose works......
p
p, sixteenth letter of the alphabet. Throughout its known history it has represented the unvoiced labial stop.......
Pacheco, José Emilio
José Emilio Pacheco was a Mexican critic, novelist, short-story writer, translator, and poet. Early in his career......
Pahari languages
Pahari languages, group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the lower ranges of the Himalayas (pahāṛī is Hindi for......
Pahlavi alphabet
Pahlavi alphabet, writing system of the Persian people that dates from as early as the 2nd century bce, some scholars......
Pahlavi language
Pahlavi language, extinct member of the Iranian language group, a subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the......
Painter, William
William Painter was an English author whose collection of tales The Palace of Pleasure, based on classical and......
Palaic language
Palaic language, one of the ancient Anatolian languages, Palaic was spoken in Palā, a land located to the northwest......
palatal
palatal, in phonetics, a consonant sound produced by raising the blade, or front, of the tongue toward or against......
palatalization
palatalization, in phonetics, the production of consonants with the blade, or front, of the tongue drawn up farther......
Palauan language
Palauan language, major language of Palau, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is classified as belonging to the eastern......
Palaungic languages
Palaungic languages, branch of the Mon-Khmer group of the Austroasiatic languages. Palaungic languages are spoken......
Paleo-Siberian languages
Paleo-Siberian languages, languages spoken in Asian Russia (Siberia) that belong to four genetically unrelated......
Pali Text Society
Pali Text Society, organization founded with the intention of editing and publishing the texts of the Theravāda......
Palmer, E.H.
E.H. Palmer was an English Orientalist, distinguished as a linguist and as a traveler. Among his many translations......
Palmyrenian alphabet
Palmyrenian alphabet, Semitic script used in Palmyra, a city on the trade routes between Syria and Mesopotamia,......
Papiamentu
Papiamentu, creole language based on Portuguese but heavily influenced by Spanish. In the early 21st century, it......
Papuan languages
Papuan languages, group of languages spoken in New Guinea and its surrounds. The area includes the entire island......
Paramārtha
Paramārtha was an Indian Buddhist missionary and translator whose arrival in China in 546 was important in the......
Part of speech
Part of speech, lexical category to which a word is assigned based on its function in a sentence. There are eight......
Parthian language
Parthian language, Middle Iranian language, an extinct member of the West Iranian languages of the Indo-Iranian......
Pashto language
Pashto language, member of the Iranian division of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages. Extensive......
Patanjali
Patanjali was the author or one of the authors of two great Hindu classics: the first, Yoga-sutras, a categorization......
Patronymic
Patronymic, name derived from that of a father or paternal ancestor, usually by the addition of a suffix or prefix......
Pavese, Cesare
Cesare Pavese was an Italian poet, critic, novelist, and translator, who introduced many modern U.S. and English......
Paxinou, Katina
Katina Paxinou was an internationally recognized Greek actress known for her tragic roles in both modern and classic......
Pearic languages
Pearic languages, a branch of the Mon-Khmer family of languages, which is itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock.......
Pedersen, Holger
Holger Pedersen was a Danish linguist of exceptional accomplishment, especially in comparative Celtic grammar.......
Pei, Mario
Mario Pei was an Italian-born American linguist whose many works helped to provide the general public with a popular......
Pembroke, Mary Herbert, countess of
Mary Herbert, countess of Pembroke was a patron of the arts and scholarship, poet, and translator. She was the......
PEN, International
International PEN, international organization of writers. The original PEN was founded in London in 1921 by the......
Penutian languages
Penutian languages, proposed major grouping (phylum or superstock) of American Indian languages spoken along the......
Permic languages
Permic languages, division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, consisting of the Udmurt (Votyak),......
Perrault, Claude
Claude Perrault was a French physician and amateur architect who, together with Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun,......
perseveration
perseveration, the repetitive and uncontrollable continuation of a thought, behavior, or response, even when it......
Persian language
Persian language, member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family. It is the official language......
Personal pronoun
Personal pronoun, any of various descriptive nouns that reflect an individual’s gender identity. In English personal......
Philippine languages
Philippine languages, about 70 to 75 aboriginal languages of the Philippine Islands. They belong to the Indonesian......
Phoenician alphabet
Phoenician alphabet, writing system that developed out of the North Semitic alphabet and was spread over the Mediterranean......
Phoenician language
Phoenician language, Semitic language of the Northwestern group, spoken in ancient times on the coast of the Levant......
Phoneme
Phoneme, in linguistics, smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element) from another, as the......