Corpus language
A corpus language is a language that has no living speakers but for which numerous records produced by its native speakers survive.Egyptian Language, Old English and Elamite.
Some corpus languages left a very large corpus, such as
Semitic language that may be close to classical Arabic
.
Corpus languages are studied using the methods of corpus linguistics, but corpus linguistics can be used (and is commonly used) for the study of the writings and other records of living languages.
Not all extinct languages are "corpus languages," since there are many extinct languages in which few or no writings or other records survive.
References
- ^ Langslow, D.R. 2002 "Approaching bilingualism in corpus languages" in James Noel Adams, Mark Janse, Simon Swain (edd.) Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Text Oxford: OUP.