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Language

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

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Language

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  1. Language

  2. 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 geolinguisticsby geographers

  3. 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.

  4. Invasions of England 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. Figure 5-3

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. Why is English in the United States different from English in England? • Isolation • Immigration • Vocabulary • New Animal • New Inventions • Spelling

  8. Soft Drink Differences Reflects voting from Popvs.Soda.com, but it is updated. Does this reflect what you know to be true? Example of isogloss. Figure 5-8

  9. Presidential Top Ten 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)

  10. American Dialect Society Decade Google 2010 App 2009 Tweet 2008 Bailout 2007 Subprimed 2006 Plutoed

  11. English Speaking Countries

  12. Terms used in the study of language? • Language — tongues that cannot be mutually understood

  13. Terms used in the study of language? • Dialects — variantforms 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

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. Kenya • Kenya has two official languages: Swahili and English. These lingua franca facilitate communication among Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic language speakers.

  17. 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.

  18. English-Speaking Countries 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. Figure 5-2

  19. 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

  20. Branches of the Indo-European Family Figure 5-9

  21. Languages of the World

  22. Anatolia (modern day Turkey) • Renfrew’s Hypothesis sedentary farmer

  23. Western arc of Fertile Crescent came the languages of North Africa and Arabia

  24. 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

  25. 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.

  26. Proto-Indo-European Language Diffusion • Renfrew Hypothesis • Conquest Theory • East to West on horseback • Dispersal Hypothesis

  27. IdeogramsIdeogram- “letters” that represent ideas or concepts, not specific pronunciations.-Chinese; Japanese - Sumerian and Egyptian have both ideographic and phonetic components.

  28. Phonetic • Most languages, including Romance languages • Symbols (letters) generally represent sounds, not ideas. A phonetic alphabet is the key innovation.

  29. 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

  30. 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

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