Individual languages, language families, and dialect identities. Scripts remain in Writing Systems; mechanisms common to languages belong in Linguistics.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Which language belongs to the same Turkic family as Turkish?
Turkish and Azerbaijani are close relatives within the Oghuz branch, so speakers can often understand parts of each other's speech.
Which alphabet replaced Arabic-based writing for Turkish in 1928?
The Turkish alphabet includes letters such as "ş" and "ç" to represent sounds that basic Latin letters do not cover.
Turkish plural endings vary between "-lar" and "-ler" mainly because of which feature of the root?
The Turkish plural ending is "-lar" in "kitaplar", meaning books, but "-ler" in "evler", meaning houses.
Which Māori expression is commonly used to say hello?
"Kia ora" can also express thanks or good wishes, so its use extends beyond a simple greeting.
Māori is an Indigenous language of which country?
The Māori name Aotearoa is widely used for New Zealand.
The English word "catamaran" comes from Tamil words referring to what?
The Tamil term described logs lashed together as a raft, long before English applied it to twin-hulled boats.
Turkish is agglutinative. How does it commonly build grammatical meaning into words?
Starting with "ev", meaning house, Turkish adds endings to make "evlerimizden", meaning from our houses.
Tamil and Sinhala are official languages of which island country?
Tamil-speaking communities are concentrated in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
Māori language revitalization programs called kōhanga reo focus on which age group?
Kōhanga reo means "language nest"; children learn through daily immersion in Māori with family involvement.
Which poet is traditionally credited with the Tamil work Tirukkural?
The Tirukkural packs its teachings on ethical life, wealth and love into 1,330 short couplets.