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Language

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Introduction to Language

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Language Tidbits Most people in the United States know only English English is the official language in over 50 countries A third of the worlds population live in countries where English is the official language English is the second most spoken language in the world

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What is language? Language: a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning Does Ebonics meet this criteria? Literary Tradition: a system of written communication

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Language Continued Many countries have an official language. This is used by governments for laws, reports, and public objects If a country has more than one official language, than they can require all public documents to be in both languages As of 1988, Canada has two official languages, English and French

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Global Distribution of Language The distribution of language is a result of interaction and isolation Interaction occurs when a group of people migrates to another place and teaches their language to the people they encounter (Ex: British Colonization) Isolation occurs if the people have few connections after the migration (Ex: Spanish in Latin America)

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Origin of English English is widely distributed through the world as a result of British Imperialism English diffused to North America in the 1600s with the settling of Jamestown English diffused to Ireland, India, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa, etc. in the form of British Colonialism

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British Commonwealth

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Origin of English in England The Celts came to Great Britain in 2000 B.C. (or B.C.E.) speaking Celtic In 450 A.D. (C.E.), tribes from Europe invaded, pushing the Celts into modern-day Scotland and Wales The invading tribes were the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons

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German Invasion All three were Germanic tribes, hence English having Germanic roots All the tribes had a common language, but after being isolated, the language took on a form of its own This was also due to other European influences that migrated to Great Britain

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Norman Invasion One reason English and German are different today is due to the Normans The Normans spoke French, and it was the official language of England for 300 years The royal family spoke French, but the people spoke English In 1489, English became the official language of England

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Dialects of English Dialect: a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation (Is Ebonics a dialect?) Usually, a speaker of one dialect can understand the speaker of another (Ex: American English and Australian English)

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What is this song about? Waltzing Matilda Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong You'll come a waltzing matilda with me Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda You'll come a waltzing matilda with me And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

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Dialects Continued Sometimes a dialect is recognized as being a standard language Example: British Received Pronunciation (BRP) This was the language used at universities like Oxford and Cambridge Oh why cant the English learn to speak?

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British and American English The first colonists spoke a British form of English With isolation from Great Britain, and the arrival of immigrants, the form of English shifted into what it is today American and British English differ in three ways: vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation

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Vocabulary New physical features had to be given names New animal and plant species also had to be named Native Americans also added to our vocabulary: canoe and moccasin New inventions like the elevator (lift), flashlight (torch), toilet (loo)

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Spelling Webster was determined to make American English unique, and published his dictionary with that agenda He created new grammar and spelling rules Color vs. Colour, Analyze vs. analyse Center vs. Centre

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Pronunciation One key difference between American and British pronunciation are the sounds of the letters a and r. Fast vs. faaaahhhst Lord vs Laaahhhd Secretary vs. Secratry See Hugh Laurie teach British slang!

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Dialects in the United States There are many words in the United States that are unique to that region An isogloss is a word-usage boundary Cellar or Basement? Coke, Pop, or Soda? Water fountain or drinking fountain? Are Mary, Merry, and Marry pronounced the same? Wedgie anyone?

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Indo-European Language Branch

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Why is English related to Other Languages? English is part of the Indo-European language family A language family is a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history. Indo-European is the language family with the most speakers.

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Indo-European Branches Within language families are language branches A language branch is a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed thousands of years ago. Indo-European is divided into eight branches: West Germanic, Romance, Baltic-Slavic, Indo- Iranian, Greek, and Armenian

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Germanic Branch English is part of the Germanic Language Group A language group is a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past, and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary

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Western Germanic Branch Includes the languages of German, English, Afrikaans, and Dutch German is spoken mainly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland English is spoken on every continent (key places: Great Britain, United States, Canada, India, Japan, and Australia) Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands

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West Germanic Branch There are over 669 million native speakers The Germanic branch also includes North Germanic languages of Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Danish]

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Romance Branch The Romance Branch evolved from the Latin language spoken by Romans 2,000 years ago It has 859 million native speakers. The four most common Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian French and Spanish are two of the six official UN languages

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Romance Branch Romanian is spoken in Romania and Moldova. Other Romance Languages include Romansh (one of Switzerlands four official languages), and Catalan (spoken in Spain, and the official language of Andorra) Haitian Creole is a language spoken in Haiti

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History of the Romance Languages Latin was spread by the soldiers of the Roman Empire When they conquered a group of people, they taught them Latin The people spoke a different form of Latin called Vulgar Latin, or Latin of the People. Ex: The Latin word for horse is equus, but the vulgar Latin word for horse was caballus. Italian: cavallor, Spanish: caballo, Portuguese: cavalo, and French: cheval

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Spanish and Portuguese Both of these languages are important around the world due to Spanish and Portuguese imperialism Spanish is the official language in 18 Latin American countries Portuguese is the official language of Brazil This is due to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1493

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Haitian Creole When a language is a mix of a colonial language and an indigenous language, it is said to be a creole or creolized language A creolized language forms when a colonized group adopts the language of the dominant group, but makes some changes

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Language A systematic means of communicating ideas and feelings through the use of signs, gestures, marks, or vocal sounds Linguistic Geography is the study of speech areas and the local variations by mapping word choices, pronunciations, or grammatical constructions

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Language Families A grouping of languages with a shared, but fairly distinct origin The most common language family is the Indo-European family English is the most widely used language Mandarin is spoken by the largest number of native speakers Romance languages form a sub-family in the Indo- European family and include Spanish, French, and Italian

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Languages A standard language is a language designated for use by the government, schools, media, and other aspects of public life An official language is one endorsed by the government as the one everyone should know and use A country may have more than one official language

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Dialects A regional variation of a standard language Isogloss is a word usage boundary Ex: Coke vs. Pop

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Language Barriers Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two languages Multilingualism is the ability to communicate in more than two languages Pidgin is a combination of languages Ex: Spanglish It becomes a creole language if the Pidgin language is the first language of the people that speak it

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Lingua Franca An established language that comes to be spoken and understood over a large area English is lingua franca for most of the world Toponymy: the study of place names Extinct Language: languages that were once used, but no longer spoken Revived Language: the reclamation of an extinct language Ex: Hebrew

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Balto-Slavic Branch The roots of the Slavic language are Asian Due to isolation of different groups when they arrived in Eastern Europe, different languages emerged Languages include: Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Baltic, and Bulgarian

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Baltic-Slavic Branch Russian is the most widely spoken language, and is spoken by 80 percent of the Russians Russian is one of the six official languages of the UN Ukrainian is spoken in the Ukraine, and Belorusian in Belarus. The Baltic languages include Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian.

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Baltic-Slavic Branch Other widely spoken languages are Polish (Poland), Czech (Czech Republic), and Slovak (Czech Republic) Speakers of Czech and Slovak can understand each other Slovenian is in Slovenia, Macedonian in Macedonia, and Serbia-Croatian is spoken by Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs.

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Indo-Iranian Branch The Indo-Iranian branch has the most speakers. It has over 100 languages with over 1 billion native speakers The branch includes the languages of Persian (Farsi), Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi

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The Indic Group One-third of Indians use an Indic languages called Hindi It is spoken many different ways, but there is a common written form of the language called Devanagari Indias constitution recognizes 18 official languages

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The Indic Group Pakistans principal language is called Urdu, and the written form of the language is Arabic Bangladeshs official language is Bengali

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The Iranian Group Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in Iran and neighboring countries Persian or Farsi is the main language in Iran. Other languages include Kurdish and Pathan. All of these are written in Arabic.

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Greek and Armenian Greek and Armenian are in the Indo- European family, but are not language branches Greek is spoken in Greece, and has 12 million native speakers. Armenian is spoken in Armenia, and has 6 million native speakers.

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Language Families A grouping of languages with a shared, but fairly distinct origin The most common language family is the Indo-European family English is the most widely used language Mandarin is spoken by the largest number of native speakers Romance languages form a sub-family in the Indo- European family and include Spanish, French, and Italian

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Languages A standard language is a language designated for use by the government, schools, media, and other aspects of public life An official language is one endorsed by the government as the one everyone should know and use A country may have more than one official language

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Language Barriers Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two languages Multilingualism is the ability to communicate in more than two languages Pidgin is a combination of languages Ex: Spanglish It becomes a creole language if the Pidgin language is the first language of the people that speak it

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Lingua Franca An established language that comes to be spoken and understood over a large area English is lingua franca for most of the world Toponymy: the study of place names Extinct Language: languages that were once used, but no longer spoken Revived Language: the reclamation of an extinct language Ex: Hebrew

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Origin and Diffusion of Indo- European The existence of a single ancestor cannot be proved with certainty, because it would have existed thousands of years before the invention of writing or recorded history. Individual Indo-European languages share common root 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.

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Kurgan Theory of Indo-European Origin Fig. 5-9: In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7,000 years ago.

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Nomadic Warrior Theory

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Sedentary Farmer Theory

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Anatolian Hearth Theory of Indo- European Origin Fig. 5-10: In the Anatolian hearth theory, Indo-European originated in Turkey before the Kurgans and diffused through agricultural expansion.

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Language Families of the World Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the worlds main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

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Major Language Families Percentage of World Population Fig. 5-11a: The percentage of world population speaking each of the main language families. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan together represent almost 75% of the worlds people.

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Indo-European Languages Continued

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Balto-Slavic Branch The roots of the Slavic language are Asian Due to isolation of different groups when they arrived in Eastern Europe, different languages emerged Languages include: Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Baltic, and Bulgarian

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Baltic-Slavic Branch Russian is the most widely spoken language, and is spoken by 80 percent of the Russians Russian is one of the six official languages of the UN Ukrainian is spoken in the Ukraine, and Belorusian in Belarus. The Baltic languages include Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian.

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Baltic-Slavic Branch Other widely spoken languages are Polish (Poland), Czech (Czech Republic), and Slovak (Czech Republic) Speakers of Czech and Slovak can understand each other Slovenian is in Slovenia, Macedonian in Macedonia, and Serbia-Croatian is spoken by Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs.

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Indo-Iranian Branch The Indo-Iranian branch has the most speakers. It has over 100 languages with over 1 billion native speakers The branch includes the languages of Persian (Farsi)-Iran, Bengali-Bangladesh, Hindi-India, Urdu-Pakistan, and Punjabi- India

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The Indic Group One-third of Indians use an Indic languages called Hindi It is spoken many different ways, but there is a common written form of the language called Devanagari Indias constitution recognizes 18 official languages

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The Indic Group Pakistans principal language is called Urdu, and the written form of the language is Arabic Bangladeshs official language is Bengali

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The Iranian Group Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in Iran and neighboring countries Persian or Farsi is the main language in Iran. Other languages include Kurdish and Pathan. All of these are written in Arabic.

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Greek and Armenian Greek and Armenian are in the Indo- European family, but are not language branches Greek is spoken in Greece, and has 12 million native speakers. Armenian is spoken in Armenia, and has 6 million native speakers.

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Sino-Tibetan Family The Sino-Tibetan family encompasses languages spoken in the Peoples Republic of China as well as several smaller countries in Southeast Asia.

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Sinitic Branch Chinese Languages There is no single Chinese language. Spoken by approximately three- fourths of the Chinese people, Mandarin is by a wide margin the most used language in the world. Other Sinitic branch languages are spoken by tens of millions of people in China. The Chinese government is imposing Mandarin countrywide.

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Structure of Chinese Language The structure of Chinese languages is quite different (from Indo-European). They are based on 420 one-syllable words. This number far exceeds the possible one-syllable sounds that humans can make, so Chinese languages use each sound to denote more than one thing. The listener must infer the meaning from the context in the sentence and the tone of voice the speaker uses. In addition, two one-syllable words can be combined.

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Chinese Ideograms Fig. 5-13: Chinese language ideograms mostly represent concepts rather than sounds. The two basic characters at the top can be built into more complex words.

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Austro-Thai and Tibeto-Burman In addition to the Chinese languages included in the Sinitic branch, the Sino- Tibetan family includes two smaller branches, Austro-Thai and Tibeto- Burman.

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Distinctive Language Families - Japanese Chinese cultural traits have diffused into Japanese society, including the original form of writing the Japanese language. Japanese is written in part with Chinese ideograms, but it also uses two systems of phonetic symbols.

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Distinctive Language Families - Korean Korean is usually classified as a separate language family. Korean is written not with ideograms but in a system known as hankul (phonetic). In this system, each letter represents a sound.

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Distinctive Language Families - Vietnamese Austro-Asiatic, spoken by about 1 percent of the worlds population, is based in Southeast Asia. Vietnamese (is) the most spoken tongue of the language family. The Vietnamese alphabet was devised in the seventh century by Roman Catholic missionaries.

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Afro-Asiatic Language Family The Afro-Asiatic-once referred to as the Semito-Hamitic language family includes Arabic and Hebrew, as well as a number of languages spoken primarily in northern Africa and southwestern Asia. Arabic is the major Afro-Asiatic language, an official language in two dozen countries of North Africa and southwestern Asia, from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula.

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Altaic and Uralic language families The Altaic and Uralic language families were once thought to be linked as one family because the two display similar word formation, grammatical endings, and other structural elements. Recent studies, however, point to geographically distinct origins.

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Altaic Languages

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Uralic Languages Every European country is dominated by Indo- European speakers, except for three: Estonia, Finland, and Hungary. The Estonians, Finns, and Hungarians speak languages that belong to the Uralic family, first used 7,000 years ago by people living in the Ural Mountains north of the Kurgan homeland.

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Language Families of Africa Fig. 5-14: The 1,000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language families, including Austronesian languages in Madagascar.

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Niger-Congo Language Family More than 95 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa speak languages of the Niger-Congo family, which includes six branches with many hard to classify languages. The remaining 5 percent speak languages of the Khoisan or Nilo-Saharan families.

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Swahili The largest branch of the Niger- Congo family is the Benue- Congo branch, and its most important language is Swahili. Its vocabulary has strong Arabic influences. Swahili is one of the few African languages with an extensive literature.

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Nilo-Saharan Language Family Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by a few million people in north-central Africa, immediately north of the Niger-Congo language region. The best known of these languages is Maasai, spoken by the tall warrior-herdsmen of east Africa.

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Khoisan Language Family The third important language family of sub- Saharan Africa Khoisanis concentrated in the southwest. Khoisan language use clicking sounds.

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Austronesian Language Family About 6 percent of the worlds people speak an Austronesian language, once known as the Malay-Polynesian family. The most frequently used Austronesian language is Malay-Indonesian. The people of Madagascar speak Malagasy, which belongs to the Austronesian family, even though the island is separated by 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) from any other Austronesian-speaking country.

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Languages of Nigeria Africas most populous country, Nigeria, displays problems that can arise from the presence of many speakers of many languages. Groups living in different regions of Nigeria have often battled. Nigeria reflects the problems that can arise when great cultural diversityand therefore language diversityis packed into a relatively small region. Fig. 5-15: More than 200 languages are spoken in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa (by population). English, considered neutral, is the official language.

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Preserving Language Diversity Thousands of languages are extinct languages The eastern Amazon region of Peru in the sixteenth century (had) more than 500 languages. Only 57 survive today, half of which face extinction. Gothic was widely spoken in Eastern and Northern Europe in the third century A.D. The last speakers of Gothic lived in the Crimea in Russia in the sixteenth century. Many Gothic people switched to speaking the Latin language after their conversion to Christianity.