Language change is the process of alteration in the features of a single language, or of languages in general, across a period of time. It is studied in...

effects on language structure. One source of language change is contact and the resulting diffusion of linguistic traits between languages. Language contact...

the proto-language undergoing different language changes and thus becoming distinct languages over time. One well-known example of a language family is...

delimiters. In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech...

Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift) is a form of language change regarding the evolution...

common may be of /z/ to /r/. When a dialect or member of a language family resists the change and keeps a /z/ sound, this is sometimes known as zetacism...

linguistics, phonological change is any sound change that alters the distribution of phonemes in a language. In other words, a language develops a new system...

The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2...

of how languages change over time. It seeks to understand the nature and causes of linguistic change and to trace the evolution of languages. Historical...

of language, historical research today still remains a significant field of linguistic inquiry. Subfields of the discipline include language change and...

Language Change: Progress or Decay? is a book on language change by Jean Aitchison in which the author concludes that language change is neither a process...

linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer...

climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a...

On Explaining Language Change is a 1980 book by Roger Lass in which the author examines various aspects of language change. The book was reviewed by Suzanne...

proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language...

Language convergence is a type of linguistic change in which languages come to resemble one another structurally as a result of prolonged language contact...

Marāṭhī, marathi pronounced [məˈɾaːʈʰiː] ) is a classical Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra...

not change any existing dialect, which distinguishes koineization from the normal evolution of dialects. While similar to zonal auxiliary languages, koiné...

history of a language is typically divided into "external history", describing the ethnic, political, social, technological, and other changes that affected...

called taboo language, language taboo or linguistic taboo is a kind of taboo that involves restricting the use of words or other parts of language due to social...

Germanic language, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In...

extinct language is a language with no living descendants that no longer has any first-language or second-language speakers. In contrast, a dead language is...

Variation is an essential component of language change. This is because language change is gradual; a language does not shift from one state to another...

(/ˌæfrɪˈkɑːns/ AF-rih-KAHNSS, /ˌɑːf-, -ˈkɑːnz/ AHF-, -⁠KAHNZ) is a West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia...

new language, known as a creole, language contact can result in changes, such as language convergence, language shift or language death. Language convergence...

Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to...

The Salishan (also Salish /ˈseɪlɪʃ/) languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America (the Canadian province of British Columbia...

A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa...

repetition, and change without conscious planning or premeditation. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural...

primary language spoken in the Central Africa especially the Central African Republic, southern-Chad and Democratic Republic of the Congo. This language is...