Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I

Ibibio
Is a Cross River language spoken by 1,5 to 2 million Ibibio in the Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Because of its importance in trade and education in the region, many Annang and Efik people also speak Ibibio. Ibibio is a member of the Benue-Congo group, which forms part of the Niger-Congo language family. It is closely related to Efik.

Icelandic
Is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. It is an inflected language with four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Its closest relative is Faroese and can be somewhat understood by some Norwegians as well, depending on their dialect and education. While most Western European languages have reduced greatly the extent of inflection, particularly in noun declension, Icelandic retains an inflectional grammar comparable to that of Latin, Ancient Greek, or more closely, Old English.

Iban
Is spoken in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo) and the Sarawak state region of Malaysia by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group (formerly known as "Sea Dayak"). It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, and is closely related to Malay.

Ibanag
(Also Ybanag or Ibanak) is spoken by up to 500,000 speakers in the Philippines, in the northeastern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, especially in Tuguegarao City, Solana, Cabagan, and Ilagan and with overseas immigrants in countries located in the Middle East, UK and the U.S.A.. Most of the speakers can also speak Ilocano, the lingua franca of Northern Luzon. Ibanag is derived from bannag 'river' . It is closely related to Gaddang, Itawis, Agta, Atta, Yogad, Isneg and Malaweg.

Igbo
Is a language spoken in Nigeria by around 18 million speakers (the Igbo), especially in the southeastern region once identified as Biafra. The language was used by John Goldsmith as an example to justify going away from the classical linear model of phonology as laid out in The Sound Pattern of English. It is written in the Roman script. Igbo is a tonal language, like Yoruba and Chinese. Most Igbo people prefer that the language be spelled Igbo rather than Ibo.

Ikalanga
Or Kalanga is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana and Zimbabwe by 300 000 people or more. It is known for its extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalized, velarized, aspirated, and breathy voiced consonants.

Illinois
Is a Native American language formerly spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by several subtribes, among them the Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Tamaroa. Later the Illinois tribes were forcibly removed from that state, eventually settling in northeastern Oklahoma. The modern descendants of the Illinois are called the Peoria. Illinois is an Algic language of the Algonquian phylum. It is part of a larger language often called Miami-Illinois, and forms a dialect continuum with Miami and is part of a larger Central and Plains sprachbund. The language is currently considered extinct. The Illinois language is extensively documented in three French Jesuit dictionaries from the early 18th century.

Illyrian
Are a group of Indo-European languages that were spoken in the western part of the Balkans in former times by ethnic groups identified as Illyrians: Delmatae, Pannoni, Illyrioi, Autariates, Taulanti (see List of Illyrian tribes). The Illyrian languages are generally, but not unanimously, reckoned as centum languages. Some sound-changes and other language features are deduced from what remains of the Illyrian languages, but because no writings in Illyrian are known, there is not sufficient evidence to clarify its place within the Indo-European language family aside from its probable centum nature. Because of the uncertainty, most sources provisionally place Illyrian on its own branch of Indo-European, though its relation to other languages, ancient and modern, continues to be studied and debated.

Ilokano
Is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines. Being an Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East Timor), and Paiwan (of Taiwan).

Inari Sami
Is a Sami language spoken by some 300-400 people in northern Finland. The main centre is the town of Inari. It is the only language that is spoken only in Finland. Inari Sami has an official Roman alphabet and some literature exists. There is one rap artist, Amoc, who raps in the language. Despite its small number of speakers, it is not endangered in the sense that it would be likely to die out soon. Official policy favors the conservation of the language, e.g. requiring translation services. However, only about 10% of public servants in the area can actually serve the Inari Saami-speaking population in Inari Saami, so Finnish is used by the remaining 90%.

Indonesian
Is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a standardized dialect of the Malay language that was officially defined with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, and the two languages remain quite similar. The language is spoken fluently as a second language by most Indonesians, who use a regional language (examples are Minangkabau and Javanese) at home and in their local community. Most formal education, as well as nearly all national media and other communication, are in Indonesian. Indonesian is also spoken by some people in East Timor. The Indonesian name for the language is Bahasa Indonesia (literally language of Indonesia); this name is sometimes used in English as well. The language is sometimes called "Bahasa" by English-speakers, though this simply means "language" in Indonesian.

Izhorian
(Also called Ingrian) is spoken by the Izhorians of Ingria. It has approximately 300 speakers, most of whom are aging.

Ingush
Is a language spoken by approximately 415,000 people (2005), known as the Ingush, across a region covering Ingushetia, Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Russia. Ingush and Chechen, together with Bats, constitute the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Ingush is spoken by about 415,000 people (2005), primarily across a region in the Caucasus covering Ingushetia, Chechnya, Uzbekistan and parts of Russia. Speakers can also be found in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Belgium, Norway, Turkey and Jordan.

Inuktitut
Is the name of the varieties of Inuit language spoken in Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree-line, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and to some extent in northeastern Manitoba as well as the territories of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and traditionally on the Arctic Ocean coast of Yukon. It is recognised as an official language in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It also has legal recognition in Nunavik - a part of Quebec - thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and is recognised in the Charter of the French Language as the official language of instruction for Inuit school districts there. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut - the Inuit area in Labrador - following the ratification of its agreement with the Canadian federal government and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian census estimates that there are roughly 30,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada, including roughly 200 who live regularly outside of traditionally Inuit lands.

Inupiaq
Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Inupiak or Inupiatun is a group of dialects of the Inuit language spoken in northern and northwestern Alaska. There are roughly 10,000 speakers of these dialects; the people are known as Inupiat.

Inuvialuktun
Is a word routinely used to describe the varieties of the language of the Inuit spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by those Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuit. Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta in the Northwest Territories, Banks Island, part of Victoria Island and the Arctic Ocean coast of the Northwest Territories - the lands of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The government of the Northwest Territories considers Inuvialuktun distinct from the Inuktitut spoken in Nunavut. Inuvialuktun is an official language of the Northwest Territories and is written using the Roman alphabet, like all NWT official languages, and has no tradition of Inuktitut syllabics. However, the official understanding of Inuvialuktun is somewhat at variance to the way linguists understand it. Rather than a single dialect, Inuvialuktun is a politically motivated grouping of three quite distinct and separate dialects.

Irish
A Goidelic language spoken in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, and the United States, is constitutionally recognised as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. On 13 June 2005, EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union. The new arrangements will come into effect on 1 January 2007.

Irish Sign Language
Is the sign language of Ireland, used primarily in the Republic of Ireland. It is also used in Northern Ireland, though Northern Ireland Sign Language (NISL) and British Sign Language are used more often. Irish Sign Language is more closely related to French Sign Language than to British Sign Language, which was first used in Dublin. It has influenced sign languages in Australia and South Africa, and has little relation to either spoken Irish or English.

Irulas
Is a scheduled tribe of India. They are found in various parts of India, but their main habitat is in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu. Their population in this region is at least 25,000. According to the anthropologists, the Irulas belong to the Negrito (or Negroid) race. Their main occupationsa are snake and rat catching. They also work as labourers (coolies) in the fields of the landlords during the sowing and harvesting seasons or in the rice mills. Fishing is also a major occupation.

Isan
Is the language of the Isan region of Thailand. It is a tonal language of the Tai family, and is closely related to Lao, but has also been much influenced by Thai: the three are substantially mutually comprehensible. Phonology and the rules for determining tones vary in each dialect, but are generally similar to Lao. The Khorat dialect blends features of Isan and Thai. The vocabulary is largely the same as in Lao, except for the use of Thai loan words and neologisms. It was previously written using the Lao script, with Tua Tham used for religious inscriptions. Since the introduction of Thai language schooling in the 1920s it has been written in the Thai script.

Istro-Romanian
Is a Romance language used in a few villages in the peninsula of Istria, on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. It is spoken by people who call themselves Vlasi or Rumâni / Rumâri, but are called Ciribiri / Cici by the local population and Istrian Vlachs by linguists.

Italian
Is a Romance language spoken by about 80 million people primarily in Italy. Standard Italian is based on the Tuscan dialect and is somewhat intermediate between the languages of Southern Italy and the Gallo-Romance languages of the North. Like many languages written using the Latin alphabet, Italian has double consonants. However, contrary to, for example, French and Spanish, double consonants are pronounced as long (geminated) in Italian. As in most Romance languages (with the notable exception of French), stress is distinctive. Out of the Romance languages, Italian is generally considered to be the one most closely resembling Latin in terms of vocabulary, though Romanian most closely preserves the declension system of Classical Latin while Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology.

Izhorian
(Also called Ingrian) is spoken by the Izhorians of Ingria. It has approximately 300 speakers, most of whom are aging.

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