Sign Languages Of Canada
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Sign Languages Of Canada
A multitude of languages have always been spoken in Canada. Prior to Confederation, the territories that would become Canada were home to over 70 distinct languages across 12 or so language families. Today, a majority of those indigenous languages are still spoken; however, most are endangered and only about 0.6% of the Canadian population report an indigenous language as their mother tongue. Since the establishment of the Canadian state, English and French have been the co-official languages and are, by far, the most-spoken languages in the country. According to the 2021 census, English and French are the mother tongues of 56.6% and 20.2% of Canadians respectively. In total, 86.2% of Canadians have a working knowledge of English, while 29.8% have a working knowledge of French. Under the ''Official Languages Act'' of 1969, both English and French have official status throughout Canada in respect of federal government services and most courts. All federal legislation is enacte ...
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Pennsylvania Dutch Language
Pennsylvania Dutch (, or ) or Pennsylvania German is a Variety (linguistics), variety of Palatine German dialects, Palatine German spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Amish, Mennonites, Fancy Dutch, and other related groups in the United States and Canada. There are approximately 300,000 native speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch in the United States and Canada. The language traditionally has been spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who are descendants of late 17th- and early to late 18th-century immigrants to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, who arrived primarily from Southern Germany and, to a lesser degree, the regions of Alsace and Lorraine in eastern France, and parts of Switzerland. Pennsylvania Dutch#Autonym, Differing explanations exist on why the Pennsylvania Dutch are referred to as ''Dutch'', which typically refers to the inhabitants of the Netherlands or the Dutch language, only distantly related to Pennsylvania German. Spe ...
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German Language
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, German-speaking Community of Belgium, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including: Poland (Upper Silesia), the Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Denmark (South Jutland County, North Schleswig), Slovakia (Krahule), Germans of Romania, Romania, Hungary (Sopron), and France (European Collectivity of Alsace, Alsace). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas. German is one of the global language system, major languages of the world, with nearly 80 million native speakers and over 130 mi ...
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Tagalog Language
Tagalog ( ,According to the ''OED'' anMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary ; ''Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority, mostly as or through Filipino language, Filipino. Its de facto Standard language, standardized and codified form, officially named ''Filipino'', is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of the nation's two official languages, alongside Philippine English, English. Tagalog, like the other and as one of the regional languages of the Philippines, which majority are Austronesian languages, Austronesian, is one of the auxiliary official languages of the Philippines in the regions and also one of the auxiliary media of instruction therein. Tagalog is closely related to other Philippine languages, such as the Bikol languages, the Bisayan languages, Ilocano language, Ilocano, Kapampangan language, ...
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Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as ( "the eloquent Arabic") or simply ' (). Arabic is the List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language, third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the Sacred language, liturgical language of Islam. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the wo ...
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Spanish Language
Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, global language with 483 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain, and about 558 million speakers total, including second-language speakers. Spanish is the official language of List of countries where Spanish is an official language, 20 countries, as well as one of the Official languages of the United Nations, six official languages of the United Nations. Spanish is the world's list of languages by number of native speakers, second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's list of languages by total number of speakers, fourth-most spoken language overall after English language, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani language, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language ...
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Punjabi Language
Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 88.9 million native speakers according to the 2023 Pakistani census, and the 11th most widely-spoken in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, according to the 2011 Census of India, 2011 census. It is spoken among a Punjabi diaspora, significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Gulf states. In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet, based on the Persian alphabet, Perso-Arabic script; in India, it is written using the Gurmukhi, Gurmukhi alphabet, based on the Brahmic scripts, Indic scripts. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and t ...
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Cantonese Language
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic languages, Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While the term ''Cantonese'' specifically refers to the prestige variety, in linguistics it has often been used to refer to the entire Yue subgroup of Chinese, including related but partially mutually intelligible varieties like Taishanese. Cantonese is viewed as a vital and inseparable part of the cultural identity for its Cantonese people, native speakers across large swaths of South China, southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in Overseas Chinese, overseas communities. In mainland China, it is the ''lingua franca'' of the province of Guangdong (being the majority language of the Pearl River Delta) and neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. It is also the dominant and co-official language of Hong Kong and Macau. Further ...
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Mandarin Language
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l= officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretches from Yunnan in the southwest to Xinjiang in the northwest and Heilongjiang in the northeast. Its spread is generally attributed to the greater ease of travel and communication in the North China Plain compared to the more mountainous south, combined with the relatively recent spread of Mandarin to frontier areas. Many varieties of Mandarin, such as those of the Southwest (including Sichuanese) and the Lower Yangtze, are not mutually intelligible with the Beijing dialect (or are only partially intelligible). Nevertheless, Mandarin as a group is often placed first in lists of languages by number of native speakers (with nearly one billion). Because Mandarin originated in North China and most Mandarin varieties are found in the north, the group is sometime ...
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Canadian Ukrainian
Canadian Ukrainian (, , ) is a dialect of the Ukrainian language specific to the Ukrainian Canadian community descended from the first three waves of historical Ukrainian emigration to Western Canada. Canadian Ukrainian was widely spoken from the beginning of Ukrainian settlement in Canada in 1892 until the mid-20th century, when the number of its speakers started gradually declining. Vocabulary The vocabulary of the dialect, circa the 1920s, consisted of mostly of common Ukrainian words, dialecticisms from Western Ukraine, and Ukrainianizations of English words. For example, concepts that were well known from the pre-emigration period continued to be called by their Ukrainian names, as in ''kukhnia'' (kitchen), and ''oliia'' (oil). Some of these were already regionally distinct to Western Ukraine, for example the word for coal ''vuhlia'' instead of what became the standard in Ukrainian, ''vuhillia''. However, for new concepts that had not existed in rural Austria-Hungary i ...
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Doukhobor Russian
Doukhobor Russian, also called Doukhobor dialect and Doukhoborese ("D'ese" in short), is a dialect of the Russian language spoken by Doukhobors, spiritual Christians from Russia, one-third of whom (about 8,300) were the largest mass migration to Canada (1899-1930). They spoke Southern Russian dialects, which slowly changed under the influence of Canadian English and neighboring Ukrainian Canadians settlers in Saskatchewan. At its peak, there were as many as 30,000 speakers, but now, there are only a few hundred. Over several generations, their original dialect has been mostly lost, as descendants are educated and immersed with Canadians, and when they do speak Russian, it is more modern Standard Russian with a Canadian accent. History It is reasonable to assume that the formative period for the speech of the Doukhobors was the first four decades of the 19th century. It was in 1802 that many heterodox groups, self-labeled as spiritual Christians including Doukhobors, were e ...
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Plautdietsch Language
Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch language, Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula Fens, Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "flat (or low) German" (referring to the plains of northern Germany or the simplicity of the language). In other Low German dialects, the word for Low German is usually realised as ''Plattdütsch/Plattdüütsch'' or ''Plattdüütsk'' , – very often also as ''Plattdeutsch'' – but the spelling ''Plautdietsch'' is used to refer specifically to the Vistula variant of the language. Plautdietsch was a Low German dialect like others until it was taken by Mennonite settlers to the southwest of the Russian Empire starting in 1789. From there it evolved and subsequent waves of migration brought it to North America, starting in 1873. In Latin America the first settlement occurred in Argentina in 1877 coming from Russia. Pl ...
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