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Chapter Five

Chapter Five. Language and Religion: Mosaics of Culture they are mentifacts - component of the ideological subsystem of culture , serving as expressions of culture and as vehicles of its transmittal to succeeding generations. Definition of Languages. Language

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Chapter Five

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  1. Chapter Five Language and Religion: Mosaics of Culture they are mentifacts - component of the ideological subsystem of culture , serving as expressions of culture and as vehicles of its transmittal to succeeding generations.

  2. Definition of Languages • Language • definition : an organized system of spoken words by which people communicate with each other with mutual comprehension. Like Chinese -Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hakka, and others with different pronunciation but same written works.(Figure 5.3 – Chinese characters) • Communication of sound (vocalization) is the crucial part of this definition • Non-human languages- elephants, dolphins, chimpanzees - basic and static unlikely evolving into complex languages. • Languages are not static but change continuously • Modern English - computer expands the vocabulary of commonly used words.

  3. Extinction Fear for languages TOP 10 LANGUAGES(percent of world speakers in parentheses)1. Mandarin/Chinese (16%) 2. English (8%) 3. Spanish (5%) 4. Arabic (4%) 5. (tie) Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian (3% each) 9. (tie) Japanese, French (2% each)Source: U.N. Environment Program • 6,800 world languages, nearly 1,700 languages are either endangered, critically endangered or vulnerable (report from Nature) • 27% of world languages are endangered. • Countries with the most endangered and extinct languages also have more endangered and extinct birds • here are 357 languages with fewer than 50 speakers each. Reference:http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/05/22/extinct.language/index.html

  4. Endangered Languages http://www.intersolinc.com/newsletters/newsletter_21.htm

  5. Trace proto languages • Ancestral language • The predecessor of Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit • Link Romance language and other languages together To prove its existence: 1) reconstruction 2) Locate the hearths 3) Diffusion routes must be traced 4) knowledge of the ways of life • Genetic classification: classification of languages by origin and historical relationship

  6. Language Family • proto-Indo-European languages (Fig 5.3) - originally hunters/fishers later became pastoralists and learnt to grow crops (in eastern Europe) 5000 bp. • Table 5.1

  7. World Pattern of Languages • Language Spread - by migration, conquests, colonization. (fig 5.5) • Fig 5.6 - Amerindian language families • three waves of migration: Amerind, Na-Dene, and Eskimo-Aleut. • Innumerable indigenous languages - extinguished.

  8. Patterns • Colonization and conquest - 1000 to 2000 Amerindian languages disappeared • 16th century - Slavic expansion caused the lost of Paleo-Asiatic languages • Australian languages from English speakers • Austro-Asiatic speakers reduced by conquest/absorption (Sino-Tibetan) • Arabic/Bantu expansion

  9. Spread • Latin replaced Celtic (abandonment of former languages) • Adoption (expansion diffusion, acculturation) - major cause of language spread. Indo-European languages was dispersed to other areas. • Arabic to N Africa,W Asia through conquest/religious conversion and superiority of culture • Relocation Diffusion - massive migration • Hierarchical Diffusion - adoption of new languages from administrator-schooling-daily contact-business.. proficiency of new languages symbolizing the culture and education, social status (in Uganda, English instead of Swahili being used to display the prestige..) • Cultural Barriers - (Greek/Turkish.. Cyprus, Breton/Caelic..) • Physical barriers - Pamirs/Hindu Kush mountains..obstacle for Indo-European), Euskara (in Basques)

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