Human Geo Chapter 5 (key issue 2)
Germanic branch (indo-European branches)
- English belongs to the west Germanic group of the Germanic language branch of the indo-European family. - German and Dutch are also west Germanic group languages. - the Germanic branch also includes languages in the north Germanic group, spoken in Scandinavia. - the 4 Scandinavian languages-Swedish, danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic- all derive from old Norse, which was the principal language spoken throughout Scandinavia before a.d. 1000. - four distinct languages emerged after that time because of migration and the political organization of the region into 4 independent and isolated countries.
Norman invasion (origin and diffusion of English)
- English is quite different from German today primarily because England was conquered by the Normans in 1066. - the Normans, who came from present day Normandy in France, spoke French, which they established as England's official language for the next 300 years. - the leaders of England, including the royal family, nobles, judges, and clergy, spoke French. However, the majority of the people, who had little education, did not know French, so they continued to speak English to each other. - England lost control of Normandy in 1204, and entered a long period of conflict with France. As a result, fewer people in England wished to speak French, and English again became the country's unchallenged dominant language. - recognizing that nearly everyone in England was speaking English, parliament enacted the statue of pleading in 1362 to change the official language of court business from French to English. Parliament continued to conduct business in French until 1489. - during the 300 year period that French was the official language of England, the Germanic language used by the common people and the French used by the leaders mingled to form a new language.
Sedentary farmer theory
- archaeologist Colin renfrew argues that the first speakers of proto-indo-European lived 2,000 years before the kurgans, in the eastern part of present day turkey. Supporting renfrew, biologist Russell d. Gray dates the first speakers even earlier, at around 6700 b.c. - this hypothesis argues that indo-European diffused into Europe and South Asia along with agricultural practices rather than by military conquest. The language triumphed because its speakers became more numerous and prosperous by growing their own food instead of relying on hunting.
Balto-Slavic branch (indo-European branches)
- balto-Slavic languages predominate in Eastern Europe. - Slavic was once a single language, but differences developed in the 7th century a.d., when several groups of Slavs migrated from Asia to different areas of Eastern Europe and thereafter lived in isolation from one other. As a result, this branch can be divided into east, west, and south Slavic groups, as well as a Baltic group. - the most widely used Slavic languages are the eastern ones, primarily Russian, which is spoken by more than 80% of Russian people. - in Eastern European countries that were dominated by the Soviet Union, Russian was taught as the 2nd language. - the most spoken west Slavic language is polish, followed by Czech and Slovak. - the most widely used south Slavic language is the one spoken in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. When they were all part of yogoskavia, the language was called Serbo-Croatian. This name now offends Bosnians and Croatians because it recalls when they were once in a country that was dominated by Serbs. Instead, the names Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian are preferred by people in these countries, to demonstrate that each language is unique, even though linguists consider them one. Bosnians and Croats write the language in the Roman alphabet, whereas Montenegrins and Serbs use the Cyrillic alphabet.
Nomadic warrior theory
- linguists and anthropologists disagree on when and where proto-indo-European originated and the process and routes by which it diffused. - the first proto-indo-European speakers were the kurgan people, according to archeologist marija gimbutas. The earliest archaeological evidence of the kurgans dates to around 4300 b.c., near the border between present day Russia and Kazakhstan. - among the first people to domesticate horses and chariots, the kurgans migrated in search of grasslands for their animals. This took them westward through Europe, eastward to Siberia, and southeastward to Iran and South Asia. - between 3500 and 2500 b.c., kurgan warriors, using their domesticated horses and chariots to establish military superiority, conquered much of Europe and South Asia.
English on the internet
- more than 1/2 of all internet content is in English.
Origin and diffusion of English
- the British isles have been inhabited for thousands of years, but we know nothing of their early languages until tribes called the celts arrived around 2000 b.c., speaking languages we call Celtic. - around a.d. 450, tribes from mainland Europe invaded, pushing the celts into the remoter northern and western parts of Britain, including Cornwall and the highlands of Scotland and wales.
Official languages
- the European Union recognizes 24 official and working languages. - English is an official language in 58 countries, more than any other language. Two billion people live in a country where English is an official language
Origin and diffusion of Romance languages
- the Romance languages belong to a single branch because they originated from Latin, the "romans' language." - the rise in the importance of the city of Rome 2,000 years ago brought a diffusion of its Latin language. At its height in the 2nd century A.D., the Roman Empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Black Sea on the east and encompassed all lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. As the conquering Roman armies occupied the provinces of this vast empire, they brought the Latin language with them. In this process, the languages spoken by the natives of the provinces were either extinguished or suppressed in favor of the language of the conquerors. - even during the period of the Roman Empire, Latin varied to some extent from one province to another. The empire grew over a period of several hundred years, and the Latin used in each province was based on that spoken by the Roman army at the time of occupation. The Latin spoken in each province also integrated words from the language formerly spoken in the area. - the Latin that people in the provinces learned was not the standard literary form but a spoken form, known as Vulgar Latin, from the Latin word referring to "the masses" of the populace. - following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century a.d., communication among the former provinces declined, creating still greater regional variations in spoken Latin. By the 8th century, regions of the former empire had been isolated from each other long enough for distinct languages to evolve. - in the past, when migrants were unable to communicate with speakers of the same language back home, major differences emerged between the languages spoken in the old and new locations, leading to the emergence of distinct, separate languages. This was the case with the migration of Latin speakers 2,000 years ago. - Romance branch languages have achieved worldwide importance because of the colonial activities of their European speakers. - Spanish is the official language of 18 Latin American states, and fewer than 10% of the speakers of Spanish live in Spain. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil which has a population of 200 million, compared to only 10 million in Portugal. The division of central and South America into Portuguese and Spanish speaking regions resulted from a 1493 decision by pope Alexander vi to give the western portion of the new world to Spain and the eastern part to Portugal. The treaty of tordesillas, singed a year later, carried out the papal decision.
Indo-Iranian branch (indo-European branches)
- the branch of the indo-European language family with the most speakers is indo-Iranian. - the branch is divided into the Iranian, or western, group and the Indic, or eastern, group. - the major Iranian group languages include Persian (Farsi) in Iran, Pashto in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, and Kurdish, used by the Kurds of western Iran, northern Iraq, and eastern turkey. These languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. - the most widely used languages in South Asia belong to the indo-European language family and, more specifically, tot be Indic group of the indo-Iranian branch. - ethnologue identifies 461 languages currently spoken in India, including 29 languages spoken by at least 1 million people. - the official language of India is Hindi, which is an indo-European language. Originally a variety of Hindustani spoken in the area of New Delhi, Hindi grew into a national language in the 19th century, when the British encouraged its use in the government. - after India became an independent in 1947, Hindi was proposed as the official language, but speakers of other languages strongly objected. - English-the language of the British colonial rulers-has been retained as a secondary official language. Speakers of different Indian languages who wish to communicate with each other sometimes use English as a common language. - India also recognizes 22 scheduled languages, including 15 indo-European, 4 Dravidian, 2 sino-Tibetan, and 1 austro-asiatic. The government of India is obligated to encourage the use of these languages. - Hindi is spoken in many different ways, but there is only 1 way to write Hindi, using a script called Devanagari.
Diffusion of English
- the contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world exists because the people of England migrated with their language when they established colonies over the course of four centuries. - English first diffused west from England to North America in the 17th century. The first successful English colonies were built in North America, beginning with Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. - after England defeated French in a battle to dominate the North American colonies during the 18th century, the position of English as the principal language of North America was assured. - similarity, the British took control of Ireland in the 17th century, South Asia in the mid 18th century, the South Pacific in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and Southern Africa in the late 19th century. In each case, English became an official language, even if only the colonial rulers and a handful of elite local residents could speak it. - into the 20th century, the United States was responsible for diffusing English to several places, most notably the Philippines, which Spain ceded to the U.S. in 1899, a heat after losing the Spanish American war. After gaining full independence in 1946, the Philippines retained English as one of its official languages, along with Filipino.
Common ancestry of indo-European languages
- the existence of a single ancestor-which can be called proto-indo-European cannot be proved with certainty. - because the origin of language families predate recorded history, the evidence that indo-European originated with a single language comes primarily from words related to the physical environment. For example: * individual indo-European languages share common words for winter and snow but not for ocean. Therefore, linguists conclude that original proto-indo-European speakers probably lived in a cold climate or one that had a winter season but did not come in contact with oceans. * individual indo-European languages share words for animals and trees (such as beech, oak, bear, deer, pheasant, and bee), but other words are unshared (such as elephant, camel, rice, and bamboo). Therefore, linguists conclude that original proto-indo-European speakers lived in a place where the shared animals and trees are found, whereas the unshared words were added later, after the original language split into branches.
Romance branch (indo-European branches)
- the four most widely used contemporary Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. - the European regions in which these 4 languages are spoken correspond somewhat to the boundaries of the modern state of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. Rugged mountains serve as boundaries among those 4 countries. - the 5th mist widely used Romance language, Romanian, is the principal language of Romania and Moldova. It is separated from the other romance speaking European countries by slavic-speaking peoples.
Origin and diffusion
- the origin and diffusion of language branches and individual languages can be documented because these processes have occurred since recorded history began. - the origin and initial diffusion of language families predate recorded history, so we can only speculate about them.
German invasion (origin and diffusion of English)
- the tribes invading the British isles were known as the angles, jutes, and saxons. The jutes came from northern Denmark, the angles from southern Denmark, and the saxons from northwestern Germany. - modern English has evolved primarily from the language spoken by the angles, saxons, and jutes. - the 3 tribes who brought the beginnings of English to the British isles shared a language similar to that of other people in the region from which they came. English people and others who trace their cultural heritage back to England are often called Anglo-saxons, after the 2 larger tribes. - the name England comes from angles' land. In old English, angles was spelled engles, and the angles' language was known as englisc. - the angles came from a corner, or angle, of Germany known as Schleswig-Holstein. - at some time in history, all Germanic people spoke a common language, but that time predates written records. - the common origin of English with other Germanic languages can be reconstructed by analyzing language differences that emerged after Germanic groups migrated to separate territories and lived in isolation from each other, allowing their languages to continue evolving independently. - Other people's subsequently invaded England and added their languages to the basic English. Vikings from present day Norway landed on the northeastern coast of England in the 9th century. Although defeated in their effort to conquer the islands, many Vikings remained in the country, and enriched the languages with new words.
Pidgin language
A group that learns English or another lingua Franca may learn a simplified form, called a pidgin language. - to communicate with speakers of another language, two groups construct a pidgin language by learning a few of the grammar rules and words of a lingua Franca and mixing in some elements of their own languages.
Lingua Franca
A language of international communication, such as English. - to facilitate trade, speakers of two different languages create a lingua Franca by mixing elements of 2 languages into a simple common one. - the term, which means "language of the franks" was originally applied by Arab traders during the Middle Ages to the language they used to communicate with Europeans, whom they called franks. - more than 90% of students in the European Union learn English in middle or high school. - the Japanese government has even considered adding English as a second official language.
Indo-European branches
Indo European is divided into eight branches. Four are widely spoken, and four much less so.
Franglais (combining English with other languages)
Is a mix of French and English. French is an official language in 29 countries and for hundreds of years served as the lingua Franca for international diplomats. Traditionally, language has been an especially important source of national pride and identity in France.
Denglish (combining English with other languages)
Is the mix of German and English. The d stands for deutsch, the German word for German.
Spanglish (combing English with other languages)
Is the mix of Spanish and english. English is diffusing into the Spanish language spoken by 34 million hispanics in the United States. New words have been invented in Spanglish that do not exist in English but would be useful if they did.
How many people belong to the indo-European language family?
Nearly 1/2 of the world's people speak a language belonging to the indo-European language family. - Indo-European languages have a common ancestor that predates recorded history.
Logograms
Rather than sounds, Chinese languages are written primarily in logograms, which are symbols that represent words or meaningful parts of words.
