Sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with oral languages, s...

Lip reading, method by which the deaf are able to read the speech of others from the movements of the lips and mouth. It is sometimes referred to as speech reading, which technically also incl...

African literature, literary works of the African continent. African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature...

Arabic literature, literary works written in the Arabic language. The great body of Arabic literature includes works by Arabic speaking Turks, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Jews, and ...

Indo-European, family of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world's population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first...

Krapp, George Philip, 1872–1934, American scholar, b. Cincinnati. Krapp joined the faculty of Columbia Univ. in 1897, was professor of English at the Univ. of Cincinnati (1908–10) and at Colum...

Shawnee or Shawano, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

Yugoslav or South Slav literature, literature written in Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, and, especially after World War II, Macedonian languages. The Serbian and Croatian literary languages are si...

Canopus, ancient city of N Egypt, 12 mi (19 km) E of Alexandria. Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus' ship, died there. In Hellenistic times Canopus was known as a pleasure city for the rich. Vases...

Guaraní, indigenous group living in the eastern lowland area of South America, related to the Tupí of the Rio São Francisco and the Tupinambá on the Atlantic coast. The Guaraní language is cur...