Language

1. Language Chapter 5

2. Introduction • Estimated 7299 languages in the world • Only 10 are spoken by more than 100 million people –English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, Mandarin, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Japanese • About 100 languages are spoken by more than 5 million • 70 languages between 2 and 5 million

3. continued • Language- a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning • Literary tradition- a system of written communication • Most languages have, but many do not

4. continued • Most countries designate an official language • The one used by the government for laws, reports, and public objects, such as road signs, money, and stamps • Language is an important part of culture because it is the means through which cultural values are transmitted

5. Origin and Diffusion of English • Location of English speakers serves as a case study for understanding the process by which any language is distributed around the world • A lang. originates in one place and diffuses to other locations thru the migration of its speakers

6. continued • English is spoken by ½ billion people (2nd highest total– Mandarin the highest) • Mandarin people clustered in China • English speakers are spread around the world –official language in more than 50 countries and spoken by a large amount of people in other countries as well

7. continued • The contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world exists because of migration from England to their colonies around the world during the past 4 centuries • English is the official language of most of its former colonies

10. continued • English first diffused from England to North America in the 17th century • Ireland was taken in the 17th century, South Asia in the mid-18th, the South Pacific in late 18th early 19th, and southern Africa in the late 19th century • English became the official language even though in many cases only the rulers and an elite class of local residents could speak it

11. continued • The US was responsible for the spread of English to places such as the Philippines in the early 20th century

12. Origin of English in England • Global distribution of English is a product of migration since the 17th century • Doesn’t explain how English became the language of the British Isles • Around 450AD England was invaded by three Germanic tribes • Angles from southern Denmark, Jutes from northern Denmark, and Saxons from northwestern Germany

13. continued • The toponym England comes from Angles’ Land • Other people later invaded England and added to basic English • Ex. Vikings of Norway in the 9th century

14. continued • Even though English is a Germanic language, it is quite different today • Mainly due to the Norman Invasion in 1066 • Normans were from France, and made French the official language of England for the next 300 years • Commoners still spoke mostly English • 1204 Normandy was lost to France and started a period of conflict b/w the 2

15. continued • Because of the conflict people didn’t want to speak French anymore • 1362 Parliament issued the Statute of pleading to change official court language back to English • During the 300 year period of Norman domination the Germanic language spoken by commoners and the French spoken by the gov. and clergy meshed into Modern English

16. Dialects of English • Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation • Speakers of one dialect can usually understand speakers of another • Geographers like to study dialects because they reflect distinctive features of the environments in which groups live • Because of its global scope, English has a large number of dialects

17. continued • Standard language- a dialect that is well established and widely recognized as the most acceptable form • British Received Pronunciation (BRP)- standard from of British speech found in upper class London • Standard language of British English

18. Differences Between British and American English • Isolation is the major reason why American English is so different from British English • During the 18th and 19th century it was difficult to travel back and forth between America and England and technology to transmit the human voice across the ocean was not yet available

19. continued • US English is different in 3 notable was: vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation • Vocabulary can be attributed to the new objects and experiences of American settlers • Ex. Raccoons • Many names were taken from Native American languages

20. continued • New invention were given different names in different places • Elevators are called lifts in England • Spelling changed because of a strong national feeling for an independent identity • Webster set out to create an American English

21. continued • Differences in pronunciation can be attributed to isolation • People were not often able to speak directly to one another– communication was thru letters and newspapers not spoken word • A significant example is of difference is the letters a and r

22. Fast, path, half Lord Americans pronounce unaccented syllables more clearly ah sound as in father Laud– British don’t pronounce r’s unless it becomes before a vowel Secret’ry, necess’ry pronunciation

23. Dialects in the United States • Major diff. in US dialects originated because of differences in dialects among the original settlers • Original 13 colonies can be grouped into three areas, New England, Middle Atlantic, and Southeastern • 2/3 of New England colonists were from southeastern England

24. continued • ½ the Southeastern colonist were also from SE England, but came from other classes such as prisoners, indentured servants, and political refugees • Mid-Atlantic colonists were much more diverse • Northern England, Scots, Irish, German, Dutch, and Swedish

25. Current Dialect Differences in the East • Most dialect differences in the US are still on the East Coast • Dialects have been documented thru the study of particular words • Isogloss- a word-usage boundary

26. continued • 2 important isoglosses separate the eastern US into 3 major dialect regions • Northern, Midlands, and Southern • Some words are common in one region but rarely used in the other two • Lang. differences tend to be greater in rural areas because farmers are more isolated from people from other regions

27. continued • Ex. “pail” up North and “bucket” in Midlands and South • Ex. “sneakers” vs. “tennis shoes”

29. Pronunciation Differences • Pronunciation differences are more familiar to us than word differences • Ex. New England accent known for dropping the “r” sound from words such as heart and lark • Very similar to Southern England, the place of origin of most colonists • New England and Southern accents sound odd to most Americans because the standard pronunciation throughout the American West comes from the Mid-Atlantic states

30. Why is English Related to Other Languages? • Language family- a collection of languages related thru a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history • English is part of the Indo-European family • Most widely spoken language family • More than 3 billion speak an Indo-European language as their first language

31. Indo-European Branches • Language branch- a collection of languages related thru a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago • Indo-European family is divided into 8 branches • 4 spoken by large #s of people –Indo-Iranian, Romance, Germanic, and Balto-Slavic

32. continued • Indo-Iranian languages are clustered in South Asia, Romance in __________ and ____________, Germanic in ____________ and _____________, and Balto-Slavic in _____________ • The 4 less popular Indo-European languages are Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Celtic

33. Germanic Branch of Indo European • German and English are closely related • Dates back 1500 years to Germanic invasions of England • Language group- a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary

34. continued • English belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family • Other Germanic languages include: Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic

35. Indo-Iranian Branch of Indo-European • Most speakers of all Indo-European family • More than 100 languages spoken by more than 1 billion people • Subdivided into 2 groups • Indic (eastern) • Iranian (western)

36. Indic Group of Indo-Iranian language Branch • Most widely used languages of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh • 1/3 of Indians (mostly in Northern India) speak Hindi • Hindi is spoken many ways, but has only one official way to write it • Use a script called Devanagari

37. continued • Language is one of the main elements of cultural diversity in India • 4 important lang. families are used • Indo-European in the north • Dravidian in the south • Sino-Tibetan in the northeast • Austro-Asiatic in the central and eastern highlands

38. continued • India’s constitution recognizes 18 official languages– 13 of which are Indo-European including Bengali and Urdu

39. continued • Bengali is the most important language in Bangladesh • Pakistan’s main lang. is called Urdu • Spoken much like Hindi, but written with the Arabic alphabet since most Pakistanis are Muslim

41. Balto-Slavic Branch of Indo-European • Slavic was once a single language • Developed diff. after migration into eastern Europe in the 7th century AD • Can now be divided into Baltic, East, West, and South Slavic groups

42. East Slavic and Baltic Groups of the Balto-Slavic Language Branch • Eastern languages are the most widely spoken • Esp. Russian • Importance increased with the rise of the Soviet Union • Soviets forced absorbed nations to learn Russian to foster cultural unity • Ukrainian and Belarusan are also important

43. West and South Slavic Groups of the Balto-Slavic Language Branch • Most spoken West Slavic language is Polish, followed by Czech and Slovak • Czech and Slovak are similar • Speakers can understand each other • Czechoslovakia tried to use both to satisfy the 2 ethnic groups when that country existed • The most important South Slavic language is Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian • Really the same language, but each group calls it by their own name for pride purposes

44. Romance Branch of Indo-European • Evolved from Latin spoken by Romans 2000 years ago • 4 most widely used are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian • European regions where these languages are spoken are pretty much the national boundaries of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy • Countries separated by mountain ranges

46. Origin and diffusion of Romance Languages • As Roman armies conquered and occupied the provinces of its empire they brought Latin with them • Native languages were suppressed or extinguished in favor of Latin • The empire grew over a period of several hundred years and Latin evolved during that time • Each province spoke the Latin of the conquering army of the time and absorbed some words from the existing language

47. continued • The people in the Roman provinces learned the spoken form of Latin known as Vulgar Latin • Vulgar refers to the masses • After the fall of Rome in the 5th century, communication among the former provinces declined • Created greater regional differences in the Latin spoken • By 8th century it had evolved into distinct languages

48. Romance Language Dialects • Dialect of French called Francien (Paris region) became the standard from of French in the 16th century • Most local dialects disappeared • Most important surviving dialect difference is b/w the North and South • North= langue d’oil • South= langue d’oc

49. continued • The names of the dialects derive from different ways the word yes was said • The standard from of Spanish is known as Castilian, and has been so since the 15th century • Spanish and Portuguese have worldwide importance because of their colonial activities • 90% of speakers live outside Europe • Spanish is the official language of 18 Latin American Countries and Portuguese is spoken in Brazil (just as many people as other 18)

50. continued • Portuguese and Spanish of the Western hemisphere is different than what is spoken in Europe • The Spanish Royal Academy meets once a week to clarify rules for spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation of the Spanish language around the world • Official dictionary was published in 1992 and includes hundreds of words w/ origins outside Spain