What is the phenomenon where a language's grammatical structure simplifies and vocabulary reduces, often occurring when adults acquire a second language in contact situations?
Which linguistic field primarily investigates how languages change over time?
In syntax, what term refers to a group of words that functions as a single unit but does not contain both a subject and a predicate (e.g., 'in the garden')?
What alphabet is the most widely used writing system in the world today?
What concept in sociolinguistics refers to a speaker's mastery of different styles or registers of a language, allowing them to switch appropriately depending on the social context?
Which theory of language acquisition, popularized by Noam Chomsky, proposes that humans are born with an innate capacity for language, a 'universal grammar'?
The phenomenon where a group of people, often geographically isolated, speak a language that is genetically unrelated to any other known living language is called what?
What is the study of word origins and how their meanings have changed over time?
What is the scientific term for the loss of a language's distinctive sounds, words, or grammar by its native speakers, often due to dominance from another language?
The principle that language structures tend to be iconic, meaning that the form of a linguistic sign directly reflects its meaning or function, is most strongly associated with which linguistic school of thought?