Eurolinguistics is a comparatively young branch of linguistics which deals with questions on the languages of Europe. Most of the many Languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European Language family. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of Languages and include languages such as English The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. The Southern Romance languages are a sub-group of the family of Romance languages that includes the Sardinian, the Corsican language, with the Gallurese The Eastern Romance languages, sometimes known as the Vlach languages, are a group of Romance languages that developed in Southeastern Europe Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. The West Slavic languages is a subdivision of the Slavic language group that includes Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Sorbian. South Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages (besides West and East Slavic) The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Finno-Permic languages form one of the main branches of the Finno-Ugric languages that split from it around 2500 - 3000 BC Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe. The Ob-Ugric languages are a subset of the Finno-Ugric languages, specifically referring to the Khanty (Ostyak and Mansi (Vogul languages The Turkic languages constitute a Language family of some thirty languages spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Kalmyk (also known as Kalmuck Calmouk Qalmaq Kalmytskii Jazyk Khalmag Volga Oirat Weilate Western Mongol is the Language of the Kalmyks and Oirats Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Nomenclature The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century and is still used today Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields However, Europe is not defined in a unanimous way. There are three different definitions of Europe.

• political (languages of the European Union) (this definition is often used by authors dealing with language policy, e. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in g. Ahrens 2003, Kraus 2004)
• geographical (from the Atlantic to the Ural) (this seems the most current definition of Europe, e. Riphean redirects here For the time period see Riphean stage The Ural Mountains (Ура́льские го́ры Uralskiye g. in Haarmann 1975 and 1993, Görlach 2002, Heine/Kuteva 2006)
• anthropological (languages of the nations characterized by a Greek and a Latin heritage (including the rules of law), the (West) Roman variant of Christian religion (and its developments during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation), the use of the Latin alphabet, the separation of spiritual and secular power, societal pluralism and individualism, a common history of the arts (in their broadest sense) as well as a common history of education and formation like the establishment of the universities) (this is the definition that is used, for instance, by Huntington [1996: 45ff. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time The Counter-Reformation (also Catholic Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival from the pontificate of Pope Pius IV in 1560 to the close of the A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects Samuel Phillips Huntington (born April 18, 1927) is an American political scientist who gained prominence through his " Clash of Civilizations ] and Schmidt [2000: 207ff. Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (born 23 December 1918 is a German Social Democratic Politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany ]; Haarmann uses this definition to define the western part of Europe in its geographical sense)

Contents 1 State of the art 2 Research results: Common features of European languages 2.1 History of the writing system 2.2 Sound features 2.3 Typical grammatical features 2.4 Typical vocabulary features 2.5 Typical communicative strategies 2.6 Linguae Francae — past and present 2.7 First dictionaries and grammars 2.8 Language and identity, standardization processes 2.9 Treatment of linguistic minorities 2.10 Issues in language politics 3 Select Bibliography 4 External links

State of the art

The term Eurolinguistics was first used by Norbert Reiter in 1991 (German equivalent: Eurolinguistik), but Eurolinguistic works had already been published before that date (e. g. Lewy 1964, Décsy 1973). Apart from a series of works dealing with only a part of the European languages, the work of Harald Haarmann pursues a pan- or trans-European perspective. Harald Haarmann (born 1946 is a German linguist and cultural scientist who lives and works in Finland. This goal is also pursued by Mario Wandruszka. In reality, however, Wandruszka like many others (including encyclopedias) only takes into account the big European languages: German, English, Italian, French, Spanish. In addition, German is only understood as German of Germany, French as French of France etc. The realization of national varieties has only begun to play a role in eurolinguistics. In recent years, typological questions have mainly been dealt with by the Eurolinguistischer Arbeitskreis Mannheim (ELAMA) and the EUROTYP projects. Important sources of linguistic data for Eurolinguistic studies are the Atlas Linguarum Europae (for vocabulary studies) and the World Atlas of Linguistic Structures (Haspelmath et al. 2005, for grammar studies). The internet platform EuroLinguistiX (ELiX) (edited by Joachim Grzega) offers a bibliography of Eurolinguistic publications as well as a wiki, a discussion forum, an academic internet journal in order to address also aspects of "linguistic and cultural history", "sociology of languages", "language politics" and "intercultural communication". In 2006, Joachim Grzega published a basic reader on common features of European languages.

Research results: Common features of European languages

The following findings are based on the cultural-anthropological definition of Europe.

History of the writing system

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1991, Grzega 2006)

The writing system used in Europe is based on the phonographic-alphabetic principle. It originates in North Semitic (2000-1700 BC), was introduced by the Greeks and from there also brought to the Romans (6th century BC). The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, There are five alphabets in regular use in the areas generally considered Europe. The Latin alphabet was developed into several scripts. In the early years of Europe, the Carolingian minuscules were the most important variety of the Latin script. Carolingian or Caroline minuscule is a script developed as a writing standard in Europe so that the Roman alphabet could be easily recognized From this two branches developed, the Gothic/Fracture/German tradition, which Germans used well into the 20th century, and the Italian/Italic/Antiqua/Latin tradition, still used. This article is about the 4th century alphabet of the Gothic bible Antiqua Typefaces are those designed between about 1470 and 1600 specifically those by Nicholas Jenson and the Aldine roman commissioned by Aldus Manutius For some nations the integration into Europe meant giving up older scripts, e. g. the Germanic gave up the runes (Futhark) (3rd--17th century), the Irish the Ogham script (4th--7th century). Ogham (ogam ˈɔɣam Modern Irish or, English) is an Early Medieval Alphabet used primarily to represent the Old Irish language (and The Cyrillic alphabet is the second most widespread alphabet in Europe, and was developed in the 9th century under the influence of the Greek, Latin and Glagolitic alphabets. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early The Glagolitic alphabet or Glagolitsa is the oldest known Slavic Alphabet. Both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are used for multiple languages in multiple states, both inside and outside Europe. As well as these two, there are three alphabets used primarily for a single language, although they are occasionally applied to minority languages in the states from which they originate. The oldest of these alphabets is the Greek alphabet, which could be considered the progenitor of all the surviving alphabets of Europe, with the earliest recorded inscriptions appearing in the 9th century BC. The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early The 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC The other two are both found in the Caucasus, both originating in the 5th century. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era. The Georgian alphabet is used primarily to write Georgian, though it is also used to write the other Kartvelian languages, Svan, Mingrelian and Laz, all of which are found largely within the borders of Georgia. The Georgian alphabet (ქართული დამწერლობა is the writing system currently used to write the Georgian language and other South Caucasian The Svan language (ლუშნუ ნინ/შკა̈ნ lušnu nin/šḳän; სვანური ენა svanuri ena) is a language spoken in Northwest Mingrelian, or Megrelian (მარგალურ ნინა margalur nina; მეგრული ენა megruli ena) is a Language The Laz language (ლაზური ნენა lazuri nena; ლაზური lazuri, or ჭანური chanuri) is spoken by the Laz people Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between The Armenian alphabet is used to write the Armenian language, which has two dialects, and has been used to write Turkish in the past. The Armenian alphabet is an Alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages.

Sound features

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1973, Asher 1994, Price 1998, Grzega 2006)

The sound systems of languages may differ considerably between languages. European languages can thus rather be characterized negatively, e. g. by the absence of click sounds. Clicks are speech sounds such as English tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval or the tchick! used to spur on a horse One could also think of specific prosodic features, such as tonal accents. A tonal language is a language that uses tone to distinguish words But there are also tonal languages in Europe: Serbian and Croatian (e. Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, Croatian language ( hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina in neighbouring g. léta ‘he flies, is flying’ with long rising accent vs. lêta ‘years’ with long falling accent) and Slovenian (e. Slovene or Slovenian ( slovenski jezik or slovenščina, not to be confused with Slovenčina) is a South Slavic language g. sûda ‘of the vessel’ with long falling accent vs. súda ‘of the court’ with long rising accent). In Slovenian the use of the musical accent is declining though (cf. Rehder 1998: 234) --but there are hardly any contexts where intelligibility is endangered. In Sweden Swedish (but not in Finland Swedish) there also is a pitch accent in some words, which can be meaningful, e. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of Dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their g. ´anden ‘the duck’ vs. ˇanden ‘the ghost, spirit’.

Typical grammatical features

(Sources and further information for this section: Asher 1994, Price 1998, Haspelmath 2001, Heine/Kuteva 2006)

As a general introductory remark we can distinguish between three structural types of languages:

• isolating (i. e. grammatical/sentence functions are expressed through analytic means and relatively strict word-order rules, e. g. the strict S-V order rule in English),
• agglutinating (i. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together e. grammatical/sentence functions are expressed through affixes, with one affix expressing exactly one function) and
• inflecting (i. An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice e. grammatical/sentence functions are expressed through affixes, with one affix expressing several functions).

European languages are seldom pure representatives of one type. For (a) Modern English is a good example (and in many way the code oral of French verbs); for (c) Old English and Modern High German are good examples (and in many ways the code écrit of French verb forms); classical representatives of type (b) are Finnish and Hungarian. If a language is not isolating, this does not necessarily mean that it has no word-order rules. Latin, Finnish and the Slavic languages have a relatively free word order, whereas many languages show more restricted rules. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages In Linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the different ways in which languages arrange the constituents of their sentences relative to each other and the systematic German and Dutch, e. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname g. , show verb-second word-order in main clauses and verb-final order in subordinate clauses. In Grammar, a clause is a word or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some Languages and some types of English has subject-verb word-order, which is also preferred by the Romanic languages. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Irish has a basic verb-initial word order. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish.

We can also distinguish between analytic constructions (with free grammatical morphemes, i. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. e. grammatical elements as separate words) and synthetic constructions (with bound grammatical morphemes, i. e. grammatical elements attached to or included in a word), e. g. the house of the man vs. the man's house.

Apart from the points already mentioned, the categories of aspect (not always easy to separate from the tense system) and gender are noteworthy. In Linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a Verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof in the described event or state Under the category of aspect linguists basically understand the distinction between perfective actions (activity finished, has led to a result; single event) and imperfective actions (activity not yet finished, w/out information on termination; long duration, repetitive). The Slavic languages have a fine and rigid aspect system; in English there’s the distinction between progressive and non-progressive (simple) and a distinction between present perfect and past; in the Romanic languages the imperfect serves to denote background actions.

The most current gender systems in Europe are twofold (masculine vs. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong feminine, e. g. in the Romanic languages, or uter vs. neuter, e. g. in the Scandinavian languages); but there are also languages that are three-fold (e. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages g. German) or lack grammatical gender at all (e. g. English, Hungarian, Finnish). The problem of gender also concerns the system of personal pronouns. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or We normally distinguish between 3 persons singular and 3 persons plural, but there are also some languages that have specific words for the dual (e. g. Slovenian). Slovene or Slovenian ( slovenski jezik or slovenščina, not to be confused with Slovenčina) is a South Slavic language In the 3rd person singular we often have a distinction according to grammatical gender; in English, though, the choice is determined by natural gender; in Hungarian and Finnish we have no differentiation at all, in the Scandinavian languages on the other hand we have a differentiation that incorporate both grammatical and natural gender. In some languages the grammatical gender is also relevant in the 3rd pl. (e. g. the Romance languages).

Whereas traditionally we group languages according to historical language families (e. g. Indo-European languages, Finno-Ugric languages), a more modern way is to look at grammatical features from a synchronic point of view. Finno-Ugric (ˌfɪnoʊˈjuːgɹɪk is a grouping of languages in the Uralic language family comprising Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and A certain number of common structural features would then characterize a sprachbund. A Sprachbund (ˈʃpraːxbʊnt in German plural Sprachbünde) from the German word for “language union” also known as a linguistic area, convergence For Europe, the most prominent sprachbund that we can determine is referred to as SAE (= Standard Average European) or Charlemagne sprachbund. Standard Average European ( SAE) is a concept introduced by Benjamin Whorf to distinguish Indo-European and especially Western Indo-European languages from Haspelmath (2001) illustrates that German, Dutch, French, Occitan and Northern Italian are the most central members of this sprachbund. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Important features are (cf. , e. g. , Haspelmath 2001, Heine/Kuteva 2006):

1. the distinction between an indefinite and a definite article
2. the formation of relative clauses, which are positioned after the (pro)noun concerned and are introduced by a variable relative pronoun
3. a past tense construction with “to have”
4. a passive voice construction that shows the object of the action in the syntactic position of the subject and that uses the past participle in connection with an auxiliary
5. a specific suffix for the comparative

Typical vocabulary features

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1975, Haarmann 1993, Paczolay 1997, Panzer 2000, Görlach 2002)

Latin, French and English not only served or still serve as linguae francae (cf. A relative clause is a Subordinate clause that modifies a Noun. A relative pronoun is a Pronoun that marks a Relative clause within a larger sentence. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Grammar, a suffix (also postfix, ending) is an Affix which is placed at the end of a word In Grammar, the comparative is the form of an Adjective or Adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person thing or other entity has a property A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely below), but also influenced the vernacular/national languages due to their high prestige. Due to this prestige, there are not only “necessity loans”, but also “luxury loans” and pseudo-loans. Many loans from these three languages (esp. Neo-Latin with its Greek elements) can be considered internationalisms, although occasionally the meanings vary from one language to another, which might even lead to misunderstandings. In Linguistics, an internationalism or international word is a Loanword that occurs in several languages with the same or at least similar meaning and etymology Examples:

• Lat. forma: e. g. Fr. forme, It. Sp. Cat. Cz. Slovak. Serbian. Slovenian Hung. Pol. Croat. Latv. Lith. forma, Dan. Swed. E. Du. form, Romansh furma, G. Form, Ir. foirm),
• Fr. restaurant, e. g. E. Du. Norw. Cat. Romansh restaurant, G. Restaurant, Swed. restaurang, Pg. restaurante, Sp. restaurante, It. ristorante, Cz. restaurace, Slovak reštaurácia, Slovenian restavracija, Latv. restorâns, Lith. restoranas, Estn. restoran, Pol. restauracja, Serbian restoran
• E. manager, e. g. Du. Norw. Swed. Icel. Fr. Sp. Cat. It. Finn. Romansh manager, G. Manager, Pol. menadżer, Serb. menadžer,Croat. menedžer, Lith. menedžeris, Hung. menedzser

Three minor source languages for European borrowings are Arabic (esp. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language in mathematics and science, foreign plants and fruits), Italian (esp. in arts, esp. from the 15th to the 17th c. ), German (esp. in arts, education, mining, trading from the 12th to the 20th c. with alternating importance).

As far as the structuring or “wording” of the world is concerned changes occur relatively fast due to progresses in knowledge, sociopolitical changes etc. Lexical items that seem more conservative are proverbs and metaphorical idioms. Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects Many European proverbs and idioms go back to Antiquity and the Bible, some originate in national stories and were spread over other languages via Latin. A typical European proverb to express that there is no profit without working can be paraphrased as “Roasted pigeons/larks/sparrows/geese/chickens/birds don’t fly into one’s mouth”, e. g. Cz. Pečeni ptáci nelítají do huby (birds!) = Dan. Stegte duer flyve ingen i munden (pigeon!) = ndl. De gebraden duiven vliegen je niet in de mond (pigeons!) = E. He thinks that larks will fall into his mouth roasted = Finn. Ei paistetut varpuset suuhun lennä (sparrows!) = Fr. Les alouettes ne vous tombent pas toutes rôties dans le bec (larks!) = G. Gebratene Tauben fliegen einem nicht ins Maul (pigeon!) = Hungar. Senkinek nem repül a szájába a sült galamb (pigeon!) = Lith. Keptas karvelis neatlėks pats i burną (pigeon!) = Latv. Cepts zvirbulis no jumta mutē nekrīt (sparrow!) = (Nynorsk) Norw. Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. Det kjem ikkje steikte fuglar fljugande i munnen (bird!) = Pol. Pieczone gołąbki nie przydą same do gąbki (pigeons!) = Slovak Nech nik nečaká, že mu pečené holuby budú padať do úst (pigeons!) = Slovenian Pečeni golobje ne lete nobenemu v usta [pigeons!] = Swed. Stekta sparvar flyger inte in i munnen (sparrows!). Paczolay (1997) shows that many other proverbs and idioms, however, can also be found in North America and/or Latin America and/or the Slavic-Orthodox civilization, e. g. E. A prophet not without honor in his own country, Span. Nadie es profeta en su tierra.

Typical communicative strategies

(Sources and further information for this section: Axtell 1993, Collett 1993, Morrison et al. 1994, Hickey/Stewart 2005, Grzega 2006)

In Geert Hofstede’s terms Europe can, to a large extend, be considered an individualistic civilization (i. Gerard Hendrik Hofstede (born 2 October 1928, Haarlem) is an influential Dutch writer on the interactions between National Cultures e. a rather direct and analytic style is preferred, important points are mentioned before an explanation or illustration in an argument, decisions are based on compromise or the majority’s vote); in contrast, the Sinic (Chinese), Japanese, Arabic and Hindu (Indian) civilizations are collectivistic (i. e. a rather indirect and synthetic style is used, explanations and illustrations are mentioned before the essential point of an argument, decisions are reached through consent). We can further make Edward Hall’s distinction between “low context” communication (i. Edward Hall (also Halle; c 1498 &ndash 1547 English chronicler and Lawyer, was born about the end of the 15th century being a son of John Hall e. direct style, person-oriented, self-projection, loquacity) and “high context” communication (i. e. indirect style, status-oriented, reservation, silence). Most European nations use “low context” communication.

What are some specific features of European communication strategies?

1. One of them is the mostly reciprocal use of address terms (this is different in the Slavic Orthodox and Asian civilizations). Status seems to play a less important role than in the Sinic and Japanese civilizations. Communication between the sexes is absolutely normal in Europe, whereas it is traditionally very rare in the Arabic civilization. As to pronouns, we can point out the pronominal dualism in the vast majority of European languages (which also exists in Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala [vos vs. usted], the Slavic Orthodox nations [e. g. Russ. ty vs. vy]; it has also been said that the American dialect form y'all is/was occasionally used as a formal address pronoun--cf. y'all). Y'all, sometimes spelled as " Ya'll " " Yawl " or " Yaw " and archaically spelled " You-all " There are also tendencies in the nominal series of address terms, which distinguish Europe from other civilizations. In private, Europeans nowadays agree on addressing each other by the first name comparatively fast; in business communication, one should first use the correct title, even if a change toward less formal addressing may occur quite rapidly again. Titles are definitely more important in the Hindu, Arabic, Sinic and Japanese civilizations; the Slavic Orthodox civilization can be characterized particularly by the frequency of nicknames in all kinds of private and informal conversation. Nicknames are sometimes used in informal and social situations among close friends and associates in the Americas (North and South/Latin).
2. Concerning salutation terms in Europe (cf. especially Spillner 2001) we find that many of them include wishes for a good time of the day, for health (or the question whether somebody is in good health), for success or for luck. The common Arabic and Asiatic wish for peace, though, is absent in European civilization. It is also noteworthy that many European salutation phrases are frequently (at least in informal situations) very much reduced on a phonetic level, which is not so much the case in Arabic, Hindu (Indian), Sinic (Chinese) and Japanese civilizations.
3. Frequent small talk topics are traveling, soccer (and other international sports disciplines), hobbies, American entertainment industry and the weather. In contrast, sexuality, death, religion, politics, money or class, personal issues and swearing are generally tabooed. Any racial, ethnic, sexist and cultural biased comments are shunned and morally opposed in Europe (and all developed countries) more than anywhere else. In Hindu, Arabic, Sinic and Japanese civilization people are frequently asked about their family (in Arabic civilization, however, this excludes the wife. . . even the word "wife" is compared to the "F" word in English-speaking countries). Due to their status-oriented nature, people from the Far East civilizations often ask for “administrative form” information, especially in Japan.
4. Among Europeans (includes the Americas and Australia) and sometimes east Asians (esp. in Japan), the phrases for “thank you” are expected and welcomed in quite a number of situations (it's said the most in Great Britain and North America), whereas South Asian and Middle Eastern people use the phrase in a more economical way and often contend themselves with simple looks of thanks; on the other hand, other non-western civilizations (i. e. Polynesians of the south Pacific and Native American tribes) have rather extended formulae of thanks.
5. With requests (cf. especially Trosborg 1995 and Cenoz/Valencia 1996), the bare imperative is normally avoided in favor of devices such as questions, modal auxiliaries, subjunctive, conditional, special adverbs. The exchange of verbal stems, which is found in Japanese and Sinic languages, is not a part of (Indo-)European languages.
6. When somebody has to say no, this is normally accompanied by some form of apology or explanation. In the civilizations of the Far East and many Native American tribes in North America, the formal equivalents for “no” are unaccepted and/or basically tabooed in general.
7. Apologies are necessary with face-threatening acts or after somebody has intruded somebody else’s private sphere--which is bigger and thus more easily violated in North America and Asia than in Europe and bigger in Europe (esp. the British Isles for etiquette reasons) than in Latin America and the Arab nations, and the concept of privacy and apology is universal, but varies from northern/western, eastern/Slavic and southern/Mediterranean countries. (Cf. especially Trosborg 1995).
8. If the national descriptions by Axtell (1998) and Morris et al. (1979) are compared, then the following conclusions can be drawn with regard to compliments: in Europe one can safely make compliments on somebody’s clothes and appearance, meals and restaurants, voluntary offerings, a room’s equipment.

Linguae Francae — past and present

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1975, Haarmann 1993, Grzega 2006)

Europe’s history is characterized by four linguae francae:

• (Medieval and Neo-) Latin (from the beginning till 1867, with Hungary as the last country to give up Latin as an official language apart from the Vatican), with a gradual decline as lingua franca since the late Middle Ages, when the vernacular languages gained more and more importance (first language academy in Italy in 1582/83), in the 17th c. A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality even at universities).
• French (from the times of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV, ca. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people This article is about a cardinal For information on the Russian also called The Red Eminence, see Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov. Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent 1648 (i. e. after the Thirty Years' War, which had hardly affected France, thus free to prosper), till the end of World War I, ca. For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All 1918)
• English. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Linguae francae that were less wide-spread, but still played a comparatively important role in European history are:

• Provençal (= Occitan) (12th--14th century, due to the Troubadour poetry)
• Middle Low German (14th--16th century, during the heyday of the Hanseatic League, particularly in Northern and Northeastern Europe. Provençal ( Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people mostly in Provence (in southern France Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan A troubadour ( IPA:, originally) was a composer and performer of Occitan Lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100&ndash1350 Middle Low German ( ISO 639 -3 code gml) is a Language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. The Hanseatic League (also known as the Hansa) was an alliance of trading cities and their Guilds that established and maintained trade Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland )

First dictionaries and grammars

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1975, Haarmann 1993, Grzega 2006)

The first type of dictionaries are glossaries, i. A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed Words in a specific language with definitions etymologies pronunciations and other information or a book of alphabetically See also List of glossaries A glossary is a list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms e. more or less structured lists of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans is among the first. A new wave of lexicography can be seen from the late 15th century onwards (after the introduction of the printing press, with the growing interest for standardizing languages). The pursuit of lexicography is divided into two related disciplines Practical lexicography is the art or Craft of compiling writing and editing dictionaries A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image

Language and identity, standardization processes

(Sources and further information for this section: Haarmann 1975, Haarmann 1993, Grzega 2006)

In the Middle Ages the two most important definitory elements of Europe were Christianitas and Latinitas. Thus language—at least the supranational language—played an elementary role. This changed with the spread of the national languages in official contexts and the rise of a national feeling. Among other things, this led to projects of standardizing national language and gave birth to a number of language academies (e. g. 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, 1635 Académie française, 1713 Real Academia de la Lengua in Madrid). The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and Philology. L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language “Language” was then (and still is today) more connected with “nation” than with “civilization” (particularly in France). “Language” was also used to create a feeling of “religious/ethnic identity” (e. g. different Bible translations by Catholics and Protestants of the same language). Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin

Among the first standardization discussions and processes are the ones for Italian (“questione della lingua”: Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian > Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (standard is based on Parisian), English (standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on: chancellery of Meißen/Saxony + Middle German + chancellery of Prague/Bohemia [“Common German”]). London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. But also a number of other nations began to look for and develop a standard variety in the 16th century.

Treatment of linguistic minorities

(Sources and further information for this section: Stephens 1976, Price 1998, Ahrens 2003, Grzega 2006)

Despite the importance of English as an international lingua franca also in Europe, Europe can be associated with its linguistic diversity, which also includes the special protection of minority languages, e. g. by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages founded in the 1990s. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe This underlines that the popular view of “one nation = one language” (cf. Wirrer 2003) is mostly false.

A minority language can be defined as a language used by a group that defines itself as an ethnic minority group, whereby the language of this group is typologically different and not a dialect of the standard language. For several years now, Jan Wirrer has been working on the status of minority languages in Europe (cf. , e. g. , Wirrer 2000 and 2003). In Europe--e. g. thanks to the European Charter of Regional and Minority Language--some languages are in quite a strong position, in the sense that they are given special status, such as Basque, Irish, Welsh/Cymraeg, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romance/Romansh and Romani, native language of the Roma/Gypsies in Eastern Europe), whereas others are in a rather weak position (e. The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins g. Frisian, Scottish Gaelic, Turkish, Saami/Lappish, Sorbian/Wendish and Yiddish, the once common language of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe). Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, ˌaʃkəˈnazim sing Especially allochtonous minority languages are not given official status in the EU.

Some minor languages don’t even have a standard yet, i. e. they have not even reached the level of an ausbausprache yet, which could be changed, e. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties g. , if these languages were given official status. (cf. also next section).

Issues in language politics

(Sources and further information for this section: Siguan 2002, Ahrens 2003, Grzega 2006)

France is the origin of two laws, or decrees, concerning language: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1239), which says that every document in France should be written in French (i. e. not in Latin nor Occitan) and the French Loi Toubon, which aims at eliminating Anglicisms from official documents. The Toubon Law (full name law 94-665 of 4 August 1994 relating to usage of the French language) is a law of the French government mandating But a characteristic feature of Europe is linguistic diversity and tolerance, which is not only shown by the European Charta of Regional and Minority Languages. An illustrative proof of the promotion of linguistic diversity in the Middle Ages is the translation school in Toledo, Spain, founded in the 12th century (in medieval Toledo the Christian, the Jewish and the Arab civilizations live together remarkably peacefully). Toledo Spain locationpng|thumb|right|200px|Location of Toledo in Spain

This tolerant linguistic attitude is also the reason why the EU’s general rule is that every official national language is also an official EU language. However, Letzebuergish/Luxemburgish is not an official EU language, because there are also other (stronger) official languages with “EU status” in that country. Luxembourgish (lb Lëtzebuergesch Luxembourgeois Luxemburgisch Luxemburgs Lussimbordjwès also called Luxembourgian, also spelled Luxemburgish, is one of Several concepts for an EU language policy are being debated:

• one official language (e. g. English, Interlingua, or Esperanto). Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA is by far the most widely spoken constructed International auxiliary language in the world
• several official languages (e. g. English, French, German, Spanish + another topic-dependend language).
• all national languages as official languages, but with a number of relais languages for translations (e. g. English or Esperanto as relais languages).
• New immigrants in European countries are expected to learn the host nation's language, but are still speaking and reading their native languages (i. e. Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Swahili and Tahitian) in Europe's increasingly multiethnic/multicultural profile.

Select Bibliography

• Rüdiger Ahrens (ed. ): Europäische Sprachenpolitik / European Language Policy, Heidelberg: Winter 2003.
• R. E. Asher et al. (eds. ): The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Oxford: Pergamon 1994.
• Roger Axtell: Do's and Taboos Around the World, White Plains: Benjamin 1993.
• Jasone Cenoz / Jose F. Valencia: 'Cross-Cultural Communication and Interlanguage Pragmatics: American vs. European Requests', in: Journal of Pragmatics vol. 20 (1996): p. 41-54.
• Peter Collett: Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms, London: Simon & Schuster 1991.
• Gyula Décsy: Die linguistische Struktur Europas: Vergangenheit – Gegenwart – Zukunft, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1973.
• Manfred Görlach (ed. ), English in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002.
• Joachim Grzega: EuroLinguistischer Parcours: Kernwissen zur europäischen Sprachkultur, Frankfurt: IKO 2006, ISBN 3-88939-796-4 (most of the information presented here is a summary of this book--the book was positively reviewed by Norbert Reiter here and by Uwe Hinrichs here)
• Harald Haarmann: Soziologie und Politik der Sprachen Europas, München: dtv 1975.
• Harald Haarmann: Universalgeschichte der Schrift, 2nd ed. , Frankfurt (Main)/New York: Campus 1991.
• Harald Haarmann: Die Sprachenwelt Europas: Geschichte und Zukunft der Sprachnationen zwischen Atlantik und Ural, Frankfurt (Main): Campus 1993.
• Martin Haspelmath: "The European Linguistic Area: Standard Average European", in: Martin Haspelmath et al. (eds. ), Language Typology and Language Universals, vol. 1, p. 1492-1510, Berlin: de Gruyter 2001.
• Martin Haspelmath et al. (eds. ): The World Atlas of Language Structures, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005.
• Bernd Heine / Tania Kuteva: The Changing Languages of Europe, New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.
• Leo Hickey / Miranda Stewart (eds. ): Politeness in Europe, Clevedon etc. : Multilingual Matters 2005.
• Samuel Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York: Simon & Schuster 1996. Samuel Phillips Huntington (born April 18, 1927) is an American political scientist who gained prominence through his " Clash of Civilizations
• Peter A. Kraus: Europäische Öffentlichkeit und Sprachpolitik: Integration durch Anerkennung, Frankfurt (Main)/New York: Campus.
• Ernst Lewy: Der Bau der europäischen Sprachen, Tübingen: Niemeyer 1964.
• Desmond Morris et al. (1979): Gestures: Their Origins and Distribtions, New York: Stein & Day.
• Terri Morrison et al. : Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in Sixty Countries, Holbrook: Adams Media 1994.
• Gyula Paczolay: European Proverbs in 55 Languages with Equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese, Veszprém: Veszprém Press 1997.
• Baldur Panzer: "Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede im Wortschatz europäischer Sprachen", in: Werner Besch et al. (eds. ), Sprachgeschichte, vol. 2, p. 1123-1136, Frankfurt (Main): Lang 2000.
• Siegfried Piotrowski / Helmar Frank (eds. ): Europas Sprachlosigkeit: Vom blinden Fleck der European Studies und seiner eurologischen Behebung, München: KoPäd 2002.
• Glanville Price: Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe, Oxford: Blackwell 1998.
• Peter Rehder: 'Das Slovenische', in: Rehder, Peter (ed. ), Einführung in die slavischen Sprachen, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1998.
• Helmut Schmidt: Die Selbstbehauptung Europas: Perspektiven für das 21. Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (born 23 December 1918 is a German Social Democratic Politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany Jahrhundert, Stuttgart/München: Deutsche Verlangs-Anstalt 2000.
• Miquel Siguan: Europe and the Languages, 2002, English internet version of the book L'Europa de les llengües, Barcelona: edicions 62.
• Bernd Spillner: Die perfekte Anrede: Schriftlich und mündlich, formell und informell, national und international, Landsberg (Lech): Moderne Industrie.
• M. Stephens: Linguistic Minorities in Western Europe, Llandysul 1976.
• Anna Trosborg: Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints and Apologies, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter 1995.
• Jan Wirrer (ed. ): Minderheitensprachen in Europa, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag 2000.
• Jan Wirrer: 'Staat -- Nation -- Sprache, eine Gleichung, die -- fast -- aufgeht: Minderheiten- und Regionalsprachen in Europa", in: Metzing, Dieter (ed. ), Sprachen in Europa: Sprachpolitik, Sprachkontakt, Sprachkultur, Sprachentwicklung, Sprachtypologie, p. 21-52, Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2003.

External links

• ELAMA
• EuroLinguistiX (ELiX) (including an academic journal, a discussion forum, a wiki for projects, a collection of internet links as well as a bibliography of Eurolinguistic studies)

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