Delaware language
- noun
:
lengua del Delaware
- Few people today speak the Delaware language fluently, but revitalization efforts are ongoing.
Examples
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The children learned basic greetings in the Delaware language at the cultural center.
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The Delaware language is part of the Algonquian family.
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He devoted years to documenting the grammar of the Delaware language.
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Many people are learning the Delaware languages to preserve their heritage.
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He devoted years to documenting the grammar of the Delaware language.
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Few people today speak the Delaware language fluently, but revitalization efforts are ongoing.
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The children learned basic greetings in the Delaware language at the cultural center.
Synonyms
A Native American language once spoken by people who lived in New Jersey and nearby states
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase simply names the language associated with the Delaware (Lenape) people, so a learner who knows the proper noun 'Delaware' and the noun 'language' can directly infer its meaning. The compositional pattern '[group/place] + language' is cross-linguistically common and thus immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Delaware language may come from the name English settlers gave to a local river after Lord De La Warr; the people who lived by that river were called 'Delaware', so their speech became known as the Delaware language. That's why today it means the language of the Lenape people from the northeastern United States.
