Diglossia - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: Diglossia

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

di·glos·si·a

Audio Help [dahy-glos-ee-uh, -glaw-see-uh] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the widespread existence within a society of sharply divergent formal and informal varieties of a language each used in different social contexts or for performing different functions, as the existence of Katharevusa and Demotic in modern Greece.

2.	Pathology. the presence of two tongues or of a single tongue divided into two parts by a cleft.

[Origin: 1955–60; Latinization of F diglossie, equiv. to Gk díglōss(os) speaking two languages (see diglot) + F -ie -y³

]

—Related forms

di·glos·sic

Audio Help [dahy-glos-ik] Pronunciation Key, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Diglossia

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

di·glos·si·a Audio Help (dī-glô'sē-ə, -glŏs'ē-ə) Pronunciation Key
n. A sociolinguistic phenomenon in which complementary social functions are distributed between a prestigious or formal variety and a common or colloquial variety of a language, as in Greek, Tamil, or Scottish English.

[From Greek diglōssos, speaking two languages : di-, two; see di-¹ + glōssa, tongue, language.]

di·glos'sic adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

diglossia di·glos·si·a (dī-glŏs'ē-ə)
n.
See bifid tongue.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: di·glos·sia
Pronunciation: dI-'gläs-E-&
Function: noun
: the condition of having the tongue bifid

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

diglossia

diglossia: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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