provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified provides the main...
TRANSCRIPT
Language
Why do geographers study language?
• Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified
• Provides the main means by which learned customs and skills pass from one generation to the next
• Facilitates cultural diffusion of innovations• Because languages vary spatially, they
reinforce the sense of region and place• Study of language called linguistic geography
and geolinguistics by geographers
Geographer’s Perspective on Language
• Language is an essential element of culture,
•possibly the most important medium by which culture is transmitted.
• Languages even structure the perceptions of their speakers.
• Attitudes, understandings, and responses are partly determined by the words available.
•Languages are a hallmark of cultural diversity with distinctive regional distributions.
Invasions of England
Figure 5-3
The first speakers of the language that became known as English were tribes that lived in present day Germany and Denmark. They invaded England in the 5th Century.
Where Are English Language Speakers Distributed?
• Dialects of English– Dialect = a regional variation of a language– Isogloss = a word-usage boundary– Standard language = a well-established
dialect– Dialects
• In England• Differences between British and American
English
Where Are English Language Speakers Distributed?
• Dialects of English– Dialects in the United States
• Settlement in the eastern United States– Current differences in the eastern United States
» Pronunciation differences
Why is English in the United States different
from English in England?• Isolation• Immigration• Vocabulary
– New Animal– New Inventions
• Spelling
Soft Drink Differences
Figure 5-8
Reflects voting from Popvs.Soda.com, but it is updated. Does this reflect what you know to be true? Example of isogloss.
administration(Washington)caucus (John Adams)lengthy (John Adams) lengthily(Jefferson)belittle (Jefferson)muckraker(Theodore Roosevelt)
lunatic fringe(Theodore Roosevelt)bloviation(Harding)normalcy(Harding)misunderestimate(G. W. Bush)embetterment(G. W. Bush)
Presidential Top Ten
American Dialect Society
DecadeGoogle
2010App
2009Tweet
2008 Bailout
2007Subprimed
2006Plutoed
English Speaking Countries
• Language — tongues that cannot be mutually understood
Terms used in the study of language?
• Dialects — variant forms of a language that have not lost mutual comprehension– A speaker of English can understand the various
dialect of the language– A dialect is distinctive enough in vocabulary and
pronunciation to label its speaker– Some 6,000 languages and many more dialects are
spoken today
Terms used in the study of language?
• Pidgin language — results when different linguistic groups come into contact– Serves the purposes of commerce– Has a small vocabulary derived from the various
contact groups– Speakers of different languages need to communicate
but don't share a common language.– Official language of Papua, New Guinea is a largely
English-derived pidgin language, which includes Spanish, German, and Papuan words
Terms used in the study of language?
• Lingua franca — a language that spreads over a wide area where it is not the mother tongue– A language of communication and commerce– Swahili language has this status in much of East
Africa– English is Lingua franca of international business
world-wide
Terms used in the study of language?
Kenya• Kenya has two official languages: Swahili and English.
These lingua franca facilitate communication among Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic language speakers.
Kenya• English became important during the
British colonial period and is still associated with high status.
• This shopping center caters to Maasai herders who speak a Nilotic language and Kikuyu farmers who speak a Bantu language.
• Jambo means “hello” in Swahili.
English-Speaking Countries
Figure 5-2
English is the official language in 57 countries. It is interesting to note that while English is predominantly spoken in the United States and Australia, it has not been declared the official language.
Why Is English Related to Other Languages?
• Indo-European branches– Language branch = collected of related
languages– Indo-European = eight branches
• Four branches have a large number of speakers:
– Germanic– Indo-Iranian– Balto-Slavic– Romance
Branches of the Indo-European Family
Figure 5-9
Languages of the World
• Anatolia (modern day Turkey)
• Renfrew’s Hypothesis sedentary farmer
Western arc of Fertile Crescent came the languages of North Africa and Arabia
From the Fertile Crescent’s eastern arc ancient languages spread into present day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Later, they would be replaced by Indo-European languages
Proto-Indo-European Language Hearth
• Stephen Oppenheimer argues that people came out of Central Africa
• People traveled along the now-flooded coastlines of East Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, and into India about 80,000 years ago.
• Oppenheimer’s research supports theories by some linguists indicating that the heart of the Proto-Indo-European language could lie in India.
Proto-Indo-European Language Diffusion
• Renfrew Hypothesis• Conquest Theory
– East to West on
horseback
• Dispersal Hypothesis
IdeogramsIdeogram- “letters” that represent ideas or concepts, not specific pronunciations.-Chinese; Japanese
- Sumerian and Egyptian have both ideographic and phonetic components.
Phonetic
•Most languages, including Romance languages
•Symbols (letters) generally represent sounds, not ideas. A phonetic alphabet is the key innovation.
• 6000+ Languages spoken today, not including dialects
• 1500+ Spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa alone
• 400+ in New Guinea alone
• 100+ in Europe
However, this diversity is diminishing:
• 2000+ Threatened or Endangered Languages
Where Are Religions Distributed?
Universalizing religions• Seek to appeal to all people
Ethnic religions• Appeal to a smaller group of people living
in one place