Elements of Culture

1. Elements of Culture Languages of the World & a Brief History of the English Language

2. Humans are the only creatures with a LANGUAGE • LANGUAGE • A mode of communication that is: • Mutually intelligible (all in a society can understand) • Capable of both CONCRETE and ABSTRACT expression (Past & Future) • Infinitely CREATIVE--once the rules are understood, communicators can express NEW and UNIQUE concepts • CHANGES over TIME • Can be transcribed (verbal-written)

3. Humans are the only creatures with a LANGUAGE • Animals COMMUNICATE, but {to the best of our knowledge} do not speak a language • Whales, dolphins, dogs, bees, ants, eagles...all have modes of communication • There are various research studies debating Chimpanzee ability to learn English • so far, they have memorized thousands of words...but the ABSTRACT communication is the challenge

4. Languages of the World • How many distinct languages are currently spoken worldwide? • What languages have the greatest number of speakers? • How are these languages related to each other?

5. Languages of the World-Terms to Know • Terms to remember: • FIRST language (L1) or NATIVE language • The language a speaker learns first (with fluency) • Normally acquired through natural speech via parents and community • SECOND language (L2) • The second (or third, or fourth…) language a speaker learns • Usually acquired through study and translation from first language

6. Languages of the World-Terms to Know • Terms to remember: • DEAD language • A language no longer acquired as a first language • While there are people who “speak dead languages,” these speakers learned these languages as a SECOND language. (LATIN is a dead language) • LANGUAGE FAMILY • Languages evolve like animals, changing, branching off from parent groups, and creating new distinct identities

7. Languages of the World-Quantity • How many distinct languages are currently spoken worldwide? • It is estimated that there are about 7,000 distinct languages worldwide! • 90% of these languages have LESS than 100,000 speakers • There are 46 languages with ONLY ONE speaker! (Iriquoian and Huronian, languages native to North America, have SINGLE speakers.)

8. Languages of the World-Frequency • What languages have the greatest number of speakers? (2010 Numbers) • Mandarin has the most speakers with 955 Million (~14.5% of the world’s population) • Spanish has the second highest quantity of NATIVE speakers with 405 Million • ENGLISH has the second highest quantity of TOTAL speakers with 840 Million • More people learn English as their SECOND language than any other language (500 million)

9. Languages of the World-Terms to Know • LINGUA FRANCA • A language that is systematically used as means of communication between speakers of differing FIRST languages • ENGLISH is the Lingua Franca of Air Traffic Control worldwide-EVERY pilot and EVERY air traffic control tower in the WORLD communicates in ENGLISH. • (Can you imagine the problems trying to find a translator if there was no lingua franca?!) • Most scientific publishing uses English as Lingua Franca (ELF)

10. Languages of the World-Connections • How are languages of the world related to each other? • Many MAJOR LANGUAGE FAMILIES *listed by % of world population (Geographic Location) and {one specific example} • INDO-EUROPEAN: 45% (Europe/North America) {English} • Sino-Tibetan: 22% (East Asia) {Mandarin} • Niger-Congo: 6.4% (Sub-Saharan Africa) {Swahili} • Afro-Asiatic: 6% (North Africa) {Arabic} • Austronesian: 5.9% (SE Asia/Oceania) {Malay} ...and many many more...

11. Spread of Indo-European Languages Probable Origins

12. Roots of English: Indo-European Family • Indo-European Branches • Indian • Armenian • Iranian • GERMANIC • Balto-Slavic • Albanian • Celtic • Hellenic • Italic

14. Similarities among “Family Members”

15. Language and CULTURE--What can you INFER about a culture given a few facts about the language? • Most of our “English” military terms come from French (or old Norman): • Lieutenant, pistol, squad, siege, camouflage, logistics, brigade, sergeant, captain, general, surveillance, army… • What assumptions can you make about the early English speakers’ cultural relationship with France? • (France was known as Gaul/Normandy)

16. Composition of the English Language

17. Language and CULTURE--What can you INFER about a culture given a few facts about the language? • What can you assume about the relationship between the people of the British Isles (where English originated) and people of Germanic descent? • What’s the deal with all the Latin??

18. Composition of the English Language

19. History of ENGLISH-Important Dates • ?BCE-43 CE--Celts occupy British Isles • Language has no writing system, and is overtaken by future invading forces • 43-410 CE--Romans occupy England • Latinate roots (29%) • ~410 CE--Goths sack Rome; Romans head home to Italy • 410-1066 CE--Angles, Saxons, Jutes invade England • Germanic roots (26%) • THIS IS THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

20. OLD ENGLISH is incomprehensible to modern speakers Beowulf read in its original OLD ENGLISH

21. History of ENGLISH-Important Dates • 1066--The Norman Invasion by William the Conqueror • French Roots (29%) • Because FRENCH was the language of the upper classes (the conquerors) FRENCH became the language of the royal court (POWER changes language...or Language control is power…) • The English commoners, trying to communicate with all of the conquering masses, began to blend languages together to create a Lingua Franca • THIS BEGINS THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

22. MIDDLE ENGLISH is somewhat intelligible to modern speakers: The Canterbury Tales read in its original Middle English

23. History of ENGLISH-Important Dates • 1399--Following the 100 Years War with France, King Henry IV becomes the first monarch to give a speech in “English” • Before this, English was the slang, or colloquial language of peasants and commoners • 1500s--The moveable type printing press is invented • Standardization of spelling and grammar • Dictionaries are created • Bibles are printed and brought to The New World • 1590-1611--Shakespeare • Invents more than 2,000 words

24. How we THINK Shakespearean English sounded “Sonnet 116” (first in Queen’s English, then in Early Modern)

25. History of ENGLISH-Important Dates • 1714-1818--American Enlightenment • Greek (6%)...the language of Philosophy • ~1850--American English is standardized and distinct from British English • THE MODERN PERIOD • 1945--The victory of the Allied powers following WWII establishes ENGLISH as a world wide Lingua Franca • 1950--The number of English as a SECOND language speakers outnumbers First language speakers • 1994--Text Messaging is invented • THE DEATH OF ENGLISH

26. MODERN ENGLISH...ES? Amy Walker--”21 Accents”

27. Which ENGLISH is her original (FIRST) language?!

28. Accents, and Dialects, and Languages...oh my!-- What’s the difference, really? More TERMS to know...it’s all about being able to UNDERSTAND each other! • LANGUAGE • collection of syntactical, grammatical, and vocabulary rules • People who speak the SAME language CAN understand each other • People who speak DIFFERENT languages CANNOT understand each other

29. Accents, and Dialects, and Languages...oh my!-- What’s the difference, really? • PIDGIN • NO NATIVE SPEAKERS-moderately intelligible to both languages • This is a language created when two or more people who speak different languages create a blended language to understand each other • Some “Spanglish” in border towns are Pidgin-like • CREOLE • NATIVE SPEAKERS!--moderately intelligible to both languages • A Pidgin that is used over time; becomes native • Many people in the Bayou of LA speak a French/English Creole

30. Accents, and Dialects, and Languages...oh my!-- What’s the difference, really? • DIALECT • Subsets of a LANGUAGE usually associated with a specific geographic place • Dialects have groups of vocabulary specific to their region • a “patio” in CA is a “porch” in AL • They also have specific grammatical/syntactical rules • “y’all” is a dialectic marker: rule for contraction • People who speak DIFFERENT dialects CAN understand each other...mostly (mutually intelligible)

31. Accents, and Dialects, and Languages...oh my!-- What’s the difference, really? • ACCENT • The pronunciation of words • in CA people [wash] clothes, while in MN, they [warsh] clothes • If the WORDS are different, it is a dialect marker, if the SOUNDS are different, it is an accent marker • People who speak with DIFFERENT accents CAN understand each other...mostly (mutually intelligible)

32. The Politics of Dialects and Accents • In January of 2014, China tried to outlaw CANTONESE • They argued that it was a DIALECT of MANDARIN, and the people of China needed to speak the STANDARD DIALECT • The Cantonese speaking people fought back, arguing that their LANGUAGE was unique, and valuable • The Chinese government recanted, but is still fighting to change the signage in Canton to Mandarin Read more in The Economist

33. Politics of Dialects-“What about ‘Ebonics?’” • First, “Ebonics” has a NEGATIVE connotation • AAVE • African American Vernacular English • “Where you at?” “Who she?” • Is this a language, dialect, accent, pidgin, or creole? • It is a DIALECT • Mutually intelligible to other English dialects • specific grammatical rule set: “to be” deletion • Not GEOGRAPHIC, but SOCIOECONOMIC • AAVE has not been granted “language” status...due to lower socioeconomic status of speakers? (Highly controversial in the 1990s)

34. AAVE in LA

35. Politics of Dialects and Language • “The pen is mightier than the sword” • Language is the mode through which we socialize, romanticize, criticize, and revolutionize our world. • The one with the voice is the one with the power. ...when you really think about it, everything you have ever read, heard, or said, is just a different collection of 26 letters...

36. Next Time….PHONETICS The SOUNDS those 26 letters make… How to describe Amy Walker’s 21 accents...and YOUR OWN! :)