DeBlij Chapter 6: Language

AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

LANGUAGE• Language: “a systematic means of

communicating ideas or feelings by the use of signs, gestures, marks and…. Vocalization”

Offensive in S. Europe & Brazil Offensive in Iran

LANGUAGE

• Standard Language: (often originates from area around the most important city)– Britain: Received Pronunciation– China: Northern Mandarin– Modern Standard Arabic

DIALECTS• Dialects:

– regional variations of standard language

• Isoglosses: – indicate the extent of the area

in which a particular word is used

• Mutual Intelligibility: – two people can understand

each other when speaking

Regional Accent: Glasgow, Scotland

British Colloquialisms (slang)

• Gutted• Snog• Loo• Nosh• Chav• Git

• Devastated• Kiss• Bathroom• Food• Trashy person• Annoying person

What is the word for this?

“I caught the train”

Into what languages do you think the New York City school system translates

official communications with parents?

1. Spanish2. French3. German4. Chinese5. Japanese6. Urdu7. Persian8. Hindi9. Russian10.Bengali11.Haitian Creole12.Korean13.Arabic

What makes a distinct language?– Not simply the ability to

comprehend others– A language represents a

cultural community– Currently about 5,000-

6,000 languages (600 in India; 1000 in Africa)

Language Family

• Spoken by 50% of people

• Found in Asia & Europe

• Most widely spoken Indo-European languages:

Indo-European Languages

English: 445 millionHindi: 366 millionSpanish: 340 million

Language Group

Language Subfamily

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES NUMBERS 1-5

Irish1. Aon2. Do 3. Tri4. Ceathair5. Cuig

Italian1. Uno2. Due3. Tre4. Quattro5. Cinque

Persian1. Yak2. Do3. Se4. Cahar5. Panj

Bengali1. Ek2. Dvi3. Tri4. Car5. pac

THE INDOEUROPEANS

How did the Indo-European Language spread from the Russian Steppe 5,000 years ago?

• Conquest Theory: Indo-Europeans spread west into Europe on horseback overpowering local populations and spreading their language

Agriculture TheoryProto-European languages spread into Europe through agriculture

Problem: Russian Steppe not an agricultural center – so proposed hearth in TurkeyEvidence: Genetic distance decay originating from southern TurkeySuggestion: Agricultural frontier moved 11 miles every generation (25 years)

English: FriendScottish: CarIrish: CaraWelsh: CeraintBreton: Kamarad

UralicLanguages

(non Indo-European)

Basque, a pre-Indo-European language, is a language isolate (it does not seem to be related to other living languages)

Altaic Language(non Indo-European)

“only firefighters allowed to park here”,

Catalan

Longest Town Name (Welsh)

The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave

English Hebrew Arabic

Father Aba ab

Earth ‘olam ‘alam

Mother Em Umm

Rain Matar Matar

Knife Sakeen Sikeen

Most people near and south of the Equator speak a Bantu language. Bantu languages are interrelated suggesting that they are recent languages

The oldest languages belong to the Khoisan Family

Madagascar was populated originally by people from Asia

“Turkic” States•Azerbaijan•Turkey•Kazakhstan•Kyrgyzstan•Turkmenistan•Uzbekistan

Uralic Languages•Finnish•Estonian•Saami•Hungarian

Dravidian Language appears to have been “pushed” south.Dravidian languages may have originated as a Altaic language or from the Indus River Civilization

Hindi is the most prominent Indo-European Language

Mandarin is • one of the world’s oldest languages• spoken by the greatest contiguous population clusters on Earth

To create a national language, China developed the Pinyin (“spell sound”) system

Mao Tse Tung Mao Zedong

Peking Beijing

Saving Face in China

TRACING LANGUAGES

• Sound Shift:– The analysis of similar words having similar

sounds • German: Vater • Dutch: Vader • English: Father

• Deep Reconstruction:– Tracing the origins of languages

Language Divergence:• Languages branch into

dialects• Isolation increases differences• Eventually dialects become

distinct languages

Language Convergence:• Due to migration, languages

may come together (Spanglish)

Language Replacement:• Traditional, small languages

are replaced by invasion

August Schleicher (19th C.)Proposed Language Tree

pre-Proto-Indo-European language existed. They called it Nostratic.

The Nostratic language tells us about its speakers

No words for domesticated plants/animals – probably hunters & gatherers

AMERICAN LANGUAGESEastern Hemisphere 40 language families

Western Hemisphere 200 language families

– Native American languages appear to have diverged quickly

WHAT HAS INFLUENCED THE SPREAD OF LANGUAGES?

• Factors: – Literacy– Technology – Political organization

• Large, technologically advanced, literate societies spread their languages (e.g. Latin)

• Linguistic divergence occurs when the Roman Empire falls

• Important influences for European languages:– The Printing Press (1588)– Rise of Nation States

Bilingualism

• U.S.– Large Hispanic Minority

(esp. S & S.W.)– Backlash – “English Only”

groups– Bilingualism & Regional

Division• Canada• Belgium

– Does Bilingualism create social and economic isolation?

Multilingualism• Monolingual States:

– Japan, Uruguay, Venezuela, Iceland, Portugal, Poland, Lesotho

– No true monolingual states (all have minorities)

• Multilingual States:– Bilingual States: Canada &

Belgium– Multilingual: Switzerland;

India; South Africa

Language & Trade

Esperanto• Invented language for mass

communication• Indo-European language• Not widely adopted

– Europeans multilingual– Nobody ‘needed’ to learn

Esperanto

"La inteligenta persono lernas la interlingvon Esperanto rapide kaj facile. Esperanto estas la moderno, kultura lingvo por la internacia mondo. Simpla, fleksebla, praktiva solvo de la problemo de universala interkompreno, Esperanto meritas vian seriozan konsieron. Lernu la interlingvon Esperanto."

“The intelligent person learns the language Esperanto quickly and easily. Esperanto is the modern, cultural language for the international world. A simple, flexible, practical solution of the problem of an universal mutual understanding, Esperanto deserves your serious consideration. Learn language Esperanto."

Language & TradeLingua Franca• A common language spoken by people

with different native tongues• Swahili

– Mix of Bantu languages, Arabic, Persian

Creolization• Languages sound different when spoken

far away• Pidgin: a simplified or modified language

– Caribbean – Pidgin English (African languages & simple English)

– Pidgin becomes more complex and becomes a lingua franca called “creole”

Canada• British North America Act

(1867)– Granted French law &

language in Quebec

• Quebec Today– 85% French speaking– All business must function in

French– All commercial signs must be

in French

Belgium

Today

Dutch speaking north (Flanders)

French speaking south (Wallonia)

Attempt to make French official language created a Flemish identity

NigeriaToday• 3 major languages

– Hausa – Northern lingua franca– Yoruba – Southwestern

language– Ibo – Southeastern language

• Nigeria chose English as the official language

• English takes time to learn and is not always useful for local employment

Official Languages• Theoretically used by the

elite and meant to enhance communication

• Official Languages – Benin – French– Angola – Portuguese– Mauritania – French, Arabic– Suriname – Dutch– Singapore – English, Malay,

Chinese, Tamil– United States – No official

language• Official languages

sometimes associated with colonizer

Toponymy

Trentino, Italy

Toponymy

• Two-Part Names– Amsterdam (River Amstel + dam)– Battle Creek, MI (Event + feature)– Budapest (towns of Buda + Pest)

• Classifying Place Names– Descriptive (Rocky Mountains)– Associative (Mill Valley, California)– Incident (Battle Creek, Michigan)– Possessive (Johnson City, Texas)– Commemorative (San Francisco)– Commendatory (Paradise Valley, Arizona)

Classification?• Smithtown• Hauppauge• Stony Brook• Port Jefferson• Kings Park• Belle Terre

Changing Place Names

• Colonialism– Rhodesia became Zimbabwe

• Conflict– Islas Malvinas or Falkland Islands?– Congo or Zaire? Cecil Rhodes

Londonderry or Derry?

How does globalization affect languages?