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

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

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...

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

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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

Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system...

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...

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...

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...

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

often called a "dead language", Latin did not undergo language death. Between the 6th and 9th centuries, natural language change in the vernacular Latin...

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

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

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

these languages shared certain sound changes that did not affect other closely related languages around the North Sea at the time, these sound changes were...

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

Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is...

A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing...

The Salishan languages (/ˈseɪlɪʃən/ SAY-lish-ən), also known as the Salish languages (/ˈseɪlɪʃ/ SAY-lish), are a family of languages found in the Pacific...

A natural language or ordinary language is a language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take...

In language change, analogical change occurs when one linguistic sign is changed in either form or meaning to reflect another item in the language system...

Sango is a language with contested classification, with some linguists considering it a Ngbandi-based creole, while others argue that the changes in Sango...

An extinct language or dead language is a language with no living native speakers. A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a symbol...

can occur when there is a change in the environment in which one is speaking, or in the context of speaking a different language or switching the verbiage...

Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is...