Vernacular language in the context of "Native language"

A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or isolated areas.

The non-standard dialects of a language with a writing system will operate at different degrees of distance from the standardized written form.

The Syriac language (/ˈsɪriæk/ SIRR-ee-ak; Classical Syriac: ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, romanized: Leššānā Suryāyā), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (Urhāyā), the Mesopotamian language (Nahrāyā) and Aramaic (Aramāyā), is an Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is the academic term used to refer to the dialect's literary usage and standardization, distinguishing it from other Aramaic dialects also known as 'Syriac' or 'Syrian'. In its West-Syriac tradition, Classical Syriac is often known as leššōnō kṯoḇonōyō (lit. 'the written language or the book language') or simply kṯoḇonōyō, or kṯowonōyō, while in its East-Syriac tradition, it is known as leššānā ʔatīqā (lit. 'the old language') or saprāyā (lit. 'scribal or literary').

It emerged during the first century AD from a local Eastern Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, it gained a prominent role among Eastern Christian communities that used both Eastern Syriac and Western Syriac rites. Following the spread of Syriac Christianity, it also became a liturgical language of eastern Christian communities as far as India and China. It flourished from the 4th to the 8th century, and continued to have an important role during the next centuries, but by the end of the Middle Ages it was gradually reduced to liturgical use, since the role of vernacular language among its native speakers was overtaken by several emerging Neo-Aramaic languages.

Secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Latin lyrics. However, many secular songs were sung in the vernacular language, unlike the sacred songs that followed the Latin language of the Church, which is not to say there are not secular songs in Latin or not secular songs that are religious in theme.

In the Middle Ages, and even through the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, any music that was not commissioned by the Catholic Church (or, later, a Protestant church) for liturgical use was and still is considered "secular music." Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) (commonly called "Ode to Joy") and Messiah (Handel) are both examples of secular music because, despite being wholly and innately religious in theme, they were not commissioned by any church or for use in any religion's liturgy. Symphony No. 9 was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London for theater performance, not by the Catholic Church, the Church of England, or any other church and not for liturgical use. Likewise, "Messiah (Handel) was commissioned by the Duke of Devonshire to be performed in Dublin theaters for a series of charity concerts, not by the Catholic Church or any other church and not for liturgical use. So, while "secular" today is often taken to mean non-religious in any way, when it refers to music from the Middle Ages through as late as the 19th century, music with a religious theme may be and very often is "secular music" for the simple fact that it was not written on behalf of any commissioning church or for liturgical use, meaning "secular" does not indicate that it is thematically non-religious but that it is non-religious vis-à-vis a religious organization (i.e., the Church) did not commission its creation, sacred music being definitively music commissioned by the Church for liturgical use, for use by the Church in the Church's established rituals, the Church's ceremonies, and the Church's forms of worship, and any and all other music (i.e., music not fitting that strict definition) being secular music, no matter how religiously themed or gloriously worshipful of God it may be. A caveat: while these definitions of sacred music and secular music still hold true today when referring to such music from the past, they tend not to still hold true today for more modern music as any modern song that is themed in religious worship, regardless of if any church commissioned it or uses it in its liturgy, is not considered secular music, like Christian rock is not considered secular music today, but if it were somehow packed up and sent back to the 1500s, it would be considered secular music today because it would have been considered secular music back in the 1500s because of not being commission by the Church for liturgical use but by the artists themselves, or their labels, for their own personal or professional use and so would have come down through history to today as secular music.

The Bohemian Reformation (also known as the Czech Reformation or Hussite Reformation), preceding the Reformation of the 16th century, was a Christian movement in the late medieval and early modern Kingdom and Crown of Bohemia (mostly what is now present-day Czech Republic, Silesia, and Lusatia) striving for a reform of the Catholic Church. Lasting for more than 200 years, it had a significant impact on the historical development of Central Europe and is considered one of the most important religious, social, intellectual and political movements of the early modern period. The Bohemian Reformation produced the first national church separate from Roman authority in the history of Western Christianity, the first apocalyptic religious movement of the early modern period, and the first pacifist Protestant church.

The Bohemian Reformation included several theological strains that developed over time. Although it split into many groups, some characteristics were shared by all of them – communion under both kinds, distaste for the wealth and power of the church, emphasis on the Bible preached in a vernacular language and on an immediate relationship between man and God. The Bohemian Reformation included particularly the efforts to reform the church before Hus, the Hussite movement (including e.g. Taborites and Orebites), the Unity of the Brethren and Utraquists or Calixtines.