World Geography I H : Chapter 5 Language

How many percent of the world's population speak a language that fits into one of seven other language families?

2 to 6 percent

Native American Extinct Language

74 languages extinct in the United States that were once spoken by Native Americans.

Dialect

A dialect is a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.

Isogloss

Boundaries of where regional words are used can be mapped; such a word usage boundary is known as an isogloss.

Language Families

Collection of languages related through a common ancestral language

Language Groups

Collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display similar grammar and vocabulary.

Language Branches

Collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language. Differences are not as significant or as old as between families.

Official Language

Designated language to be used for official documents and public objects.

Origin and Diffusion of Language Families: English

-Modern English has evolved primarily from the language spoken by three Germanic tribes invading the British Isles. 1. Angles- from southern Denmark 2. Jutes-fromnorthernDenmark 3. Saxons- from northwestern Germany -Over time, others invaded England and their languages influenced the basic English. • Vikings from present-day Norway • Normans from present-day Normandy in France spoke French.

Balta-Slavic Branch

-Spoken primarily in Eastern Europe. -Divided into East Slavic and Baltic Groups AND West and South Slavic Group

Indi-Iranian Branch

-Spoken primarily in South Asia. -Most speakers of the language branch. -Subdivided into eastern group (Indic) and western group (Iranian).

Germanic Branch

-Spoken primarily in northwestern Europe and North America. -Divides into High and Low Germanic subgroups. English is classified in the Low Germanic group.

Romance Branch

-Spoken primarily in southwester Europe and Latin America. -Most widely used are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. Regions where spoken languages tend to correspond to the political boundaries of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.

Dialects in the United States: The 13 original colonies can be grouped into what three dialect regions?

1. New England 2. Southeastern 3. Midlands

Where are the 473 languages nearly extinct?

- 46 in Africa - 182 in Americas - 84 in Asia - 9 in Europe - 152 in Pacific

Pronunciation

- Chief cause was limited interaction between speakers of varying dialects.

English Diffusion in North America

- First successful colony was Jamestown, VA, in 1607. - Defeat of France by England secured English as the dominant language in North America. - United States responsible for diffusing English to several places—e.g., Philippines.

Spelling

- Noah Webster sought to make English used in America distinct from England to reduce cultural dependence by changing spellings of words in his dictionary.

Difficulties can arise at the boundary between two languages. Varying degrees of difficulties: Switzerland

- Peacefully exists with multiple languages. - Switzerland attributes success to decentralized government, in which local authorities hold most of the power, and decisions are frequently made on a local level by voter referenda. - Four official languages—German (65%), French (18%), Italian (10%), and Romansh (1%)

Vocabulary

- Settlers in America encountered many new objects and experiences not present in England. - Climate and geography differ significantly between England and America.

Difficulties can arise at the boundary between two languages. Varying degrees of difficulties: Belgium

- Southern Belgians (Walloons) speak French. - Northern Belgians (Flemings) speak Flemish. - Pressure from Flemish speakers led to the division of Belgium into two independent regions with each controlling their own cultural affairs, public health, road construction, and urban development.

Origin and Diffusion of Proto-Indo-European

- Two Theories 1. Nomadic Warrior Hypothesis 2. Sedentary Farmer Hypothesis

Isolation of islands and peninsulas contributed to overall independent development to what languages?

-Austronesian -Austro-Asiatic -Tai Kadai -Japanese -Korean

English Diffusion Across the World

-English language migrated with the people of England when they established colonies over four centuries. English is an official language in most former British colonies.

Niger-Congo: Swahili

-First language of 800,000 people. -Official language of Tanzania. -Spoken by 30 million Africans. It is the language used to speak with outsiders from different villages.

English language is noticeably different than English spoken in England in three ways.

1. Vocabulary 2. Spelling 3. Pronunciation

Lingua Franca

A lingua franca is a language of international communication.

Southeastern

About 1⁄2 came from southeastern England, while the others represented a diversity of social-class backgrounds.

Two largest language families in Southwest Asia and North Africa and Central Asia are...?

Afro-Asiatic and Altaic

Altaic

Altaic language with most speakers in Turkish, and became official language of several countries that gained independence when Soviet Union broke up -- e.g., Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

Extinct Language

An extinct language is one that is no longer spoken or read in daily activities by anyone in the world.

Isolated Language

An isolated language is one unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any language family. • Arise from lack of interaction with speakers of other languages.

Afro-Asiatic

Arabic is major language, official language in 24 countries of S.W. Asia and North Africa, and one of the six official languages in U.N.

Sino-Tibetan

Encompasses language spoken in the People's Republic of China and several smaller counties in Southeast Asia. -No single Chinese language

Expansion Diffusion

Expansion diffusion is the spread of a trait through the snowballing effect of an idea.

Expansion Diffusion of English

Expansion has occurred in two ways with English. 1. English is changing through diffusion of new vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. 2. English words are fusing with other languages. » Ex. Words, such as cowboy, hamburger, jeans, and T-shirt were allowed to diffuse into French. » Ex. English words have spurred the creation of English-like words to replace traditional Spanish words, such as parquin (Spanglish) for estacionamiento (Spanish)

French in Canada

French • Québec government has made the use of French mandatory in many daily activities. • Québec faces challenges integrating a large number of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Latin America who don't speak French. - Immigrants prefer to use English as the lingua franca because of its greater global usage.

What are the four most widely spoken branches of Indo-European?

Germanic branch, Indo-Iranian branch, Balto-Slavic branch, Romance branch

2/3 of the world's population speak a language that belongs to these language family.

Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan

The two largest language families are...?

Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan

New England

Inhabited by settlers from England

Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European

It is theorized that Germanic, Romance, Balto- Slavic, and Indo-Iranian languages all stemmed from a common ancestral language. - Proto-Indo-European

World's language is organized into:

Language Families, Language Branches, Language Groups

Why do language difference tend to be greatest in rural areas?

Language differences tend to be greatest in rural areas because of limited interaction with people from other dialect regions.

Language

Language is a system of communication through, speech, a collection of sound that a group of people understands to have the same meaning.

Standard Language

Languages with multiple dialects may recognize one as the standard language that is widely recognized as the most acceptable for government, business, education, and mass communication. Ex. England's is known as British Received Pronunciation (BRP).

Why is the large number of English dialects?

Large number of speakers and widespread distribution in the United States has contributed to the existence of a large number of English dialects.

Literary Tradition

Literary tradition refers to a system of written communication.

English on the Internet

Majority of content on Internet is in English. - Dominance of content in English is waning. » Percentage of English-language online users declined from 46 percent in 2000 to 27 percent in 2010. - Mandarin will likely replace English as the most-frequently used online language before 2020.

Mandarin

Mandarin is the most-used language in the world and the official language of both the People 's Republic of China and Taiwan. It is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

What has media done distinctive words in a region?

Mass media has reduced the number of regionally distinctive words.

African Language Families

More than 1,000 distinct languages have been documented. -Several thousand dialects recognized. -Most lack a written tradition.

Midlands

Most diverse group—e.g., Quakers from north of England, Scots and Irish, German, Dutch, and Swedish migrants.

West and South Slavic Groups

Most spoken west Slavic language is Polish followed by Czech and Slovak, while the most widely spoken south language is Serbo-Croatian.

East Slavic and Baltic Groups

Most widely used language is Russian followed by Ukrainian and Belarusian.

Indo-European

Predominate language family in Europe, South Asia, North America and Latin America.

Remainder of the population speaks what language?

Remainder of the population speaks a language belonging to one of 100 smaller families.

Spanish United States

Spanish • Increasingly important language in recent years in United States because of large-scale immigration from Latin America. - Some communities now issue public notices, government documents, and advertisements in Spanish. - Radio stations and TV now broadcast in Spanish in places where most of the 35 million Spanish speakers live. • In reaction, 30 states and number of localities have laws making English the official language. - Some courts have judged these laws to be unconstitutional restrictions on free speech.

Examples of Isolated Language: Basque in Europe and Icelandic

• Ex. Basque in Europe - Only language currently spoken that survives since the period before the arrival of Indo-European speakers. - First language of 666,000 people in the Pyrenees Mountains of northern Spain and southwestern France. » Mountain chain serving as a natural barrier to diffusion helped them preserve their language. • Ex. Icelandic - Language has changed less than any other Germanic language.

Examples of Lingua Franca

• Ex. English - First language of 328 million people - Spoken fluently by another 1⁄2 to 1 billion people. - Official language in 57 countries - People in smaller countries learn English to participate more fully in the global economy and culture. • Other Examples - Swahili in East Africa - Hindi in South Asia - Indonesian in Southeast Asia - Russian in former Soviet Union.

Dialect or Language?

• Increasingly difficult to determine whether two languages are distinct or whether they are dialects of the same language. • Several languages in Italy that have been traditionally classified as dialects of Italian are now viewed by Ethnologue as distinct enough to merit consideration as a new language. - Examples include Emiliano-Romagnolo, Liguri, Lombard, and Sicilian.

Which English words are specific to a dialect?

• Rural life • Food • Objects from daily activities

Preserving Endangered Languages: Celtic

• Significant to English speakers because of its primacy in the British Isles. • Survives only in remote parts of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and on the Brittany peninsula of France. • Celtic speakers must work hard to preserve their language in face of diffusion by others who have greater political and economic strength.