Communication

Languages of Canada: Official status, diversity, and Indigenous tongues Languages of Canada Overview of Canada's linguistic landscape: English and French status, census measures, immigrant languages, Indigenous tongues, and regional differences in policy and usage.

Languages of Iran Overview of the languages spoken in Iran, their families, regional distribution, scripts, legal status, and cultural significance.

Languages of Ireland Survey of the languages spoken in Ireland today: Irish (Gaeilge), English, Ulster Scots, sign languages, immigrant and historical languages, their status, regional use, and cultura…

Languages of Pakistan: Overview, Major Tongues, Scripts and Historical Influences Languages of Pakistan Survey of Pakistan's linguistic landscape: official and national languages, major regional languages, language families and scripts, historical influences, and contemporary issues.

Languages of South Africa Overview of South Africa's eleven official languages, their families, regional distribution, historical background, public use, and notable linguistic features.

Languages of the Caucasus Overview of the languages spoken in the Caucasus region: major families, characteristic features, history, contact influences, current status, and notable distinctions.

Languages of the United Kingdom Overview of the languages spoken across the UK, including indigenous Celtic and Germanic languages, immigrant and sign languages, their history, status, and contemporary use.

Languages of the United States An overview of the linguistic landscape of the United States: major languages, historical development, official status, education, and notable communities.

Lao script Writing system used for the Lao language; an Indic-derived abugida related to Khmer and Thai, with unique curvilinear letters, tone marks, and a compact set of consonants and vowel…

Latvian language (Latviešu valoda) Latvian language Latvian is the official state language of Latvia, a Baltic language using a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics. It has roughly 1.75 million native speakers and a prominent litera…

Laugh (laughter) Laugh Laughter is a vocal, often social vocalization and facial expression associated with amusement, social bonding, and complex emotional responses in humans.

Le Courrier — French-language daily newspaper founded in Geneva Le Courrier Le Courrier is a Geneva-based French-language daily founded in 1868. Originating with Catholic roots, it later shifted toward social and left-leaning coverage and remains an indepe…

Leet (1337): Internet orthography and playful coded writing Leet Leet (1337) is an alternative orthography that uses ASCII characters and letter substitutions to stylize, obfuscate, or convey identity in online communities, gaming, and hacker cu…

Leeward Caribbean Creole English An English-based creole spoken on several Leeward Islands (Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis); features, history, social use, and relationship to Standard English…

Legibility: how type design and layout affect recognition of letters Legibility Legibility is the ease with which individual letters and symbols are recognized. It depends on typeface design, sizing, spacing and layout choices that influence reading accuracy a…

Leonese language (Llionés): history, features, and current status Leonese language Leonese (Llionés) is a Romance language of northwestern Iberia, historically from the Kingdom of León. It survives in parts of Spain and Portugal and is the focus of local revival…

Letter (alphabetic character) Letter A letter is a written symbol in an alphabetic system that represents speech sounds or phonemes. This article explains forms, history, differences from other writing systems, and co…

Letter box (mailbox): purpose, types, history and use Letter box A letter box (mailbox) is a receptacle for receiving postal items at homes, businesses, or public locations. This article explains forms, functions, history, placement, and differe…

Letter case: uppercase and lowercase letters, history, rules, and computing Letter case Letter case distinguishes uppercase (capital) and lowercase forms in alphabets such as Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic, with historical, typographic, linguistic and computing implicatio…

Lezgi (Lezgian) language — Northeast Caucasian language Lezgi language Lezgi (Lezgian) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken mainly in Dagestan and Azerbaijan. It has a complex phonology, an extensive case system, and a long written-history shaped…

Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) Library of Congress Control Number The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is a unique identifier assigned to bibliographic records by the Library of Congress for cataloging and reference purposes.

Lingua franca: languages that bridge speech communities Lingua franca A lingua franca is a language used to enable communication between people with different native tongues; historically and today it includes trade, diplomatic and scientific vehicul…

Linguistic reduction Linguistic reduction describes the shortening, weakening or loss of sounds in ordinary speech—processes such as contractions, elision, cliticization and vowel centralization that a…

Lingwa de planeta (Lidepla): an international auxiliary language Lingwa de planeta Constructed international auxiliary language blending vocabulary from ten major world languages. Designed to be neutral, regular, and easy to learn for international communication…

Lisp (speech disorder) Lisp A lisp is a speech sound disorder that affects the production of sibilant sounds like /s/ and /z/, producing distorted, substituted or indistinct speech; it is common in childhood…

Acronyms and Initialisms: Definitions, Formation, and Usage List of acronyms and initialisms Clear explanation of acronyms and initialisms: what they are, how they form, historical background, common examples across fields, and rules for pronunciation, capitalization, and…

Balto-Slavic languages: overview and classification List of Balto-Slavic languages Classification and list of Balto-Slavic languages, covering Baltic and Slavic branches, extant and extinct languages, historical background, typical features, and notable distincti…

List of country calling codes Overview of international telephone country calling codes: structure, regional grouping, governance, dialing conventions, notable examples and practical points for users and admini…

Dialects of English: overview and major regional varieties List of dialects of English Survey of major English dialects worldwide, their distinguishing features, historical development, and examples of regional varieties and sociolinguistic distinctions.

List of endangered languages Overview of endangered languages: how lists are made, criteria for endangerment, causes, notable examples, and approaches to documentation and revitalization.

List of Indo-European languages — overview and major branches List of Indo-European languages Survey of the Indo-European language family: its major branches, characteristics, origin hypotheses, historical development, and notable examples and distinctions.

List of languages — overview, classification and examples List of languages An organized overview of languages: what counts as a language, how they are classified, historical development, uses, and distinctions such as dialects, endangered and constructed…

List of languages by number of native speakers Overview of how languages are ranked by native speakers, common methodological issues, typical top languages, and political or linguistic factors that affect counts.

List of languages by writing system Overview of major writing systems, their types, origins, and examples of languages that use each script, with notes on shared scripts, directionality and modern changes.

North American Numbering Plan area codes List of North American Numbering Plan area codes Overview of North American Numbering Plan (NANP) area codes: what they are, how they are structured, their history, uses, and notable distinctions across the NANP territory.

Lje (Cyrillic letter Љ) — palatal lateral used in Serbian and Macedonian Lje Љ (lje) is a distinct Cyrillic letter representing the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/, used as a separate letter in Serbian and Macedonian alphabets and commonly transliterated as…

Loanword: words adopted from one language into another Loanword A loanword is a word taken from one language and incorporated into another. This article explains how loanwords arise, common types and adaptations, historical examples, and their…

Lojban: a constructed logical language Lojban Lojban is a constructed language designed for syntactic unambiguity and based on predicate logic. It evolved from Loglan and is used for linguistic study, experimentation, and a sm…

Longwave radio Longwave Longwave radio refers to low-frequency radio signals (roughly 30–300 kHz) with kilometer-scale wavelengths, prized for long-range ground-wave propagation and used for broadcasting,…

Lossy compression: principles, common formats, and practical trade-offs Lossy compression Lossy compression reduces file size by discarding information deemed less important to human perception. Widely used for images, audio, and video, it balances storage, bandwidth, a…

Low Saxon Low Saxon (Lower Saxon) chiefly denotes a group of West Low German dialects of northern Germany and the Netherlands, and more generally things related to the Lower Saxony region an…

Luxembourgish language A West Germanic language of the Moselle Franconian group, Luxembourgish is the national tongue of Luxembourg and a living vernacular used in speech, media and local culture.

Mail: the postal system for letters, parcels and official services Mail Physical mail (post) is the system for sending letters, small to medium parcels and official items; it includes services, history, delivery methods and distinctions from other carr…

Mailing list — postal and electronic address lists for distribution Mailing list A mailing list is a compiled set of postal or electronic addresses used to distribute messages, newsletters, advertisements, or announcements; it includes management practices, typ…

Mailman (mail carrier): role, duties, history and modern changes Mailman A mailman or mail carrier delivers postal items, sorts and tracks mail, and serves as a public-facing link for the postal service. Roles, equipment, history, variations, and modern…

Main-Franconian dialects Main-Franconian (Mainfränkisch) are German dialects spoken around the Main river in Franconia. They form a locally varied group historically rooted in the old Frankish lands and re…

Malagasy language: Austronesian tongue of Madagascar Malagasy language Malagasy is the Austronesian language spoken across Madagascar. It has Southeast Asian origins, African and Arab influences, diverse dialects, and serves as the island's principal…

Malay language (Bahasa Melayu) Malay language A major Austronesian language of Southeast Asia, Malay is spoken across Sumatra, the Riau Islands, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Singapore and serves as a national and literary l…