In
linguistics, attested languages are languages (living or
dead) that have been documented and for which the evidence (attestation) has survived to the present day. Evidence may be
recordings
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
,
transcriptions,
literature or
inscriptions. In contrast, unattested languages may be names of purported languages for which no direct evidence exists, languages for which all evidence has been lost, or hypothetical
proto-languages proposed in
linguistic reconstruction.
Within an attested language, particular
word forms directly known to have been used (because they appear in the literature, inscriptions or documented speech) are called attested forms. They contrast with unattested forms, which are reconstructions hypothesised to have been used based on indirect evidence (such as etymological patterns). In linguistic texts, unattested forms are commonly marked with a preceding
asterisk
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
(*).
See also
*
Historical linguistics
*
List of languages by first written accounts
*
Spurious languages
References
Historical linguistics
Unattested languages
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