Language

Key Issues 1. Where are English language

speakers distributed? 2. Why is English related to other

languages? 3. Where are other language families

distributed? 4. Why do people preserve local

language?

Key Issue 1: Where are English-language speakers

distributed? • Language- a system of communication

through speech, or other conventional methods, that groups of people understand to have the same meaning.

• Language (another definition)- Organized system of spoken words by which people communicate with one another with mutual comprehension (Getis, 1985).– Official language- language designated for use

by a country’s government.

Roots of Language

IdeogramsIdeogram- “letters” that represent ideas or concepts, not specific pronunciations.-Chinese; Japanese

- Sumerian and Egyptian have both ideographic and phonetic components.

•Literary tradition- a system of written communication.

•Many languages lack a literary tradition, therefore impeding advancement and documentation.

How to Write Down a Language?

Phonetic

•Most languages, including Romance languages

•Symbols (letters) generally represent

sounds, not ideas. A phonetic

alphabet is the key innovation.

Symbol Meaning English Sound

      vulture short A, as in cat

      forearm long A, as in table

    leg hard B, as in big

     basket,hillside

hard C (K), as in call

      hobble rope CH, as in children

       hand hard D, as in dog

     two reed leaves

long E, as in lead

      vulture short E, as in met

      horned viper F, as in flower

Language as Element of Cultural Diversity

• 6000+ Languages spoken today, not including dialects

•1500+ Spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa alone

•400+ in New Guinea alone

•100+ in Europe

However, this diversity is diminishing:

•2000+ Threatened or Endangered Languages

Geographer’s Perspective on Language

• Language is an essential element of culture,

•possibly the most important medium by which culture is transmitted.

• Languages even structure the perceptions of their speakers. Attitudes, understandings, and responses are partly determined by the words available.

•Languages are a hallmark of cultural diversity with distinctive regional distributions.

• English is spoken by one-half a billion people across the globe. – It is the official language of at least 42 countries;

two billion people live in one of these countries.

• The widespread diffusion of English is thanks to the colonial practices of the British. – Through their colonization of the Earth, English

was spread eventually to N. America, Ireland, S. Asia, S. Pacific, S. Africa, and numerous other remote locations.

Germanic Branch - EnglishDiffused throughout the world by hundreds of years of British

colonialism. Brought to New World by British colonies in 1600s. Has become an important global lingua franca.( Universal Language)

Indo-European Language Family - Germanic Branch

West Germanic

•English (514 million)

•German (128)

•Dutch (21)

East Germanic

•Danish (5)

•Norwegian (5)

•Swedish (9)

Germanic Branch - Icelandic

Iceland colonized by Norwegians in AD 874.

Largely unchanged because of isolation combined with literary tradition.

Highly developed literary tradition. Ancient sagas can be read by modern speakers of Icelandic.

Development of English • British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages

that we appropriately call, Celtic. • Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded

and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years.

• Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A.D.

• These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles.

– King Richard spoke French as his primary language and the royal court spoke French for many years after the invasion

• Once they were driven out, few people wished to speak the “enemy’s” language anymore, but the French influence on the language had already taken place.

• Today’s English can be seen as a hybrid of the original Germanic languages, with some Celtic and French mixed in. (along with varying degrees of influence from a large number of other languages.)

– English is seen as a very ugly language due to this mesh up

Development of English

Germanic Tribes (Germany/Denmanrk)

• Jutes

• Angles

• Saxons

Vikings (Norway)• 9th - 11th Centuries

Normans (French)• Battle of Hastings, 1066

• French was official language for 150 years.

• Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by a distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation. – English has the largest # of dialects b/c of its

wide diffusion.– Due you have a dialect? How about Coach Serina?

• Standard language- a dialect well-established and recognized for government use.– Which way are we taught in school

• British Received Pronunciation- the official dialect of English used by politicians, broadcasters, and actors in Great Britain.

• “My Fair Lady” was a musical in the 50’s that depicted social effects of dialect.

• Differences between British and American English are:– Vocab- different mainly because settlers in America

encountered new objects and experiences, many of which were assigned Native American names.

– Grammar- distinctly different because Americans had a strong national feeling for an independent identity.

• The first American dictionary, published by Noah Webster was purposely altered from British spelling to differentiate the two languages.

– Pronunciation- the most obvious reason for differences is that large expanse of water that seems to separate the U.S. from the U.K. The extreme physical separation caused the language to diverge into two very distinct dialects.

• Dialects within the States are numerous and varied due to the number of people in the U.S., the wide land area across which the language is spoken, the historical mobility of the American people as they ventured across the West, and the varied ethnicity of the English-speakers within this country.

• Three main dialects exist in England:-Northern-Midland-Southern

• These are used to classify many of the dialects within the U.S.– What are some words that are different for each of these

regions?

• Isogloss- the word-usage boundary that can be constructed for any word.

Key Issue 2: Why is English related to other languages?

• Language family- a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history.

• Language branch- a collection of languages within a family that are related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago.

• Language group- collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in relatively recent history.

• Largest family is Indo-European, spoken by nearly 3 billion people.

Indo-European Language Family (50%

of World)Main Branches:

• Germanic - Dutch, German

• Romance - Spanish, French

• Baltic-Slavic - Russian

• Indo-Iranian - Hindu, Bengali

Indo-European Language Branches

Non-Indo-European Language Families

and Branches

• Vulgar Latin- the Latin that people in the provinces learned; substandard.

• Evidence exists that a “super family” language once was used, known as Proto-Indo-European.– little conclusive evidence has been

found, and the issue is hotly debated among linguists. Most theories on the diffusion of language are conjecture and invalidated.

English Sanskrit      

Greek Latin Armenian Old Irish Lithuanian

me mam eme me is - manefather pitar       pater pater hayr athair -mother matar       mater mater mayr mathair motinabrother bhratar       - frater elbayr brathair brolis

daughter duhitar thugater- - dustr - duktercow gav- bous bos kov bo guovs(Latv)eoh (OE ) asvas hippos equus - ech asva, marehound svan kuon canis sun con sunfoot pad pod- ped- otn - -new navas ne(w)os novus nor nue naujasbears bharati     pherei  fert bere berid -two duva duo duo erku do duthree trayas treis tres erek tri trys

Which languages share a common ancestor?

Many Indo-European languages have common words for snow, winter, spring; for dog, horse, cow, sheep bear but not camel, lion, elephant, or tiger; for beech, oak, pine, willow, but not palm or banyan tree.

Some Indo-European Shared Words

Indo-European Language Family - Romance BranchLike English these languages have

been spread by Colonialism.

• Spanish (425 million)

• Portuguese (194) - most in Brazil

• French (129)

• Italian (62)

• Romanian (26)

Indo-European Family - Romance BranchThe Roman Empire, at its height in 2nd century A.D., extinguished many local languages. After the fall of Rome in the 5th century, communication declined and languages evolved again.

Literature was all written in Latin until the 13th and 14th centuries.

• Dante Alighieri’s 1314 Inferno written in vulgar latin (Florentine).

Key Issue 3: Where are other language families distributed?

• The main language families of the world, other than Indo-European (spoken by 50% of world population) are:-Sino-Tibetan spoken by 20% of pop; in China and S.E. Asia-Afro-Asiatic spoken by 5% of pop; N. Africa and S.W. Asia and Mid East-Austronesian spoken by 5% of pop; S.E. Asia-Niger-Congo spoken by 5% of pop; sub-Saharan Africa-Dravidian spoken by 5% of pop; in India-Remaining 10% speak one of following: -Nilo-Saharan -Amerindian -Caucasian (Georgian) -Altaic -Uralic -Japanese -Korean -Ausro-Asiatic

Languages and Language Families

World Languages

• 6000+ Languages spoken today, not including dialects

• 1500+ Spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa alone

• 400+ in New Guinea alone

• 100+ in Europe

However, this diversity is diminishing:

• 2000+ Threatened or Endangered Languages

Sino-Tibetan Language Family (20%)

Branches:

• Sinitic - Mandarin (1075),Cantonese (71),

• Austro-Thai (77) - Thai, Hmong

• Tibeto-Burman - Burmese (32)

Chinese languages based on 420 one syllable words with meaning infered from context and tone.

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.

Afro-Asiatic Language FamilyMain Branch:

Semitic

•Arabic (256)

Language of the Koran; spread by Islamic Faith and Islamic (Ottoman) Empires

•Hebrew (5)

Language of the old Testament (with Aramaic); completely revived from extinction in Israel, 1948.

Niger-Congo Difffusion • proto-Bantu peoples

originated in Cameroon-Nigeria

• They spread throughout southern Africa AD 1 - 1000

• Bantu peoples were agriculturalists who used metal tools

• Khoisan peoples were hunter-gatherers and were no match for the Bantu.

• Pygmies adopted Bantu tongue and retreated to forest

• Hottentots and Bushmen retained the clicks of Khoisan languages

Polyglot States

In Switzerland, four official languages, a history of peace and tolerance, and a political system that puts power in the hands of local leaders help ensure peace.

Polyglot States

Nigeria has more than 200 individual languages! English is the official language. Even though only 20% speak standard English, 80% speak pidgin English.In Nigeria ethnic conflict

between southern Ibos and western Yoruba led the government to move the capital to a more neutral central location (Abuja). Many other ethnic battles rage continuously.

Polyglot States

India has 16 official languages. Hindi is spoken in the north by about 400 million, but the majority in the south speak Dravidian languages (Tamil) and resist Hindi. English functions as a lingua franca for government, education, and big business.

The U.S. Constitution specifies no official language. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that governments must assist in the learning of English, especially in the schools. However, many states and local jurisdictions provide ballots and information in multiple languages.

How about the U.S.?

Key Issue 4: Why do people preserve local languages?

• Extinct language- language no longer spoken or used in daily activities by anyone in the world.

• Isolated language- a language unrelated to any other and not attached to any specific branch. – Ex. Basque, spoken by over 1 million people in

the Pyrenees Mts. of Spain.– Icelandic, spoken by the Norwegians who

originally emigrated to Iceland and remained isolated for several hundred years.

Other Variations

• Lingua franca- a universal language understood globally.

• Pidgin language- a simplified version of a lingua franca, used to communicate typically in areas where contact is just beginning.

• Ebonics- the dialect spoken by many blacks who migrated from the South to the large cities in the North who wished to preserve their distinctive accents.

• Franglais- the hybrid English-French language resulting from a combination of the two.

• Spanglish- similar to franglais, only a English-Spanish hybridization.

PIDGIN - a form of speech that adopts simplified grammar and limited vocabulary from a lingua franca, used for communication between speakers of two different languages.

Examples include Hawaiian Pidgin, Haitian Patois, and the creoles of West Africa that resulted from the slave trade.

“No eat da candy, Bruddah, it's pilau. Da thing wen fall on da ground.”

Give us da food we need fo today an every day.Hemmo our shame, an let us goFo all da kine bad stuff we do to you,Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready,And we no stay huhu wit demFo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us.No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff,But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us.Cuz you our King.You get da real power,An you stay awesome foeva.Dass it!”

Matthew 6:9-13 “The Lord’s Prayer”

- Taken from Da Jesus Book, a twelve year effort by 6 linguists to translate the New Testament into Hawaiian Pidgin, published 2001

DIALECT - a regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary.

Social Dialects - can denote social class and standing.

Vernacular Dialects - the common, slang, speech of a region.

TermIs he fair dinkum? Why I declare!Down by the crickbludger mosquito hawknappies

MeaningIs he real or genuine? That’s remarkable!Down by the stream freeloader; welfare dragon flydiapers

LocationAustraliaDeep South (U.S.)Middle Atlantic StatesAustraliaSouth (U.S.)Britain; Brit. Colonies

Endangered Languages

•As recently as 3,000 years ago, there were 10,000 to 15,000 languages in the world.

Now: about 6000 left.

•Of those, 1/2 will be gone by the year 2100 and all but 500 of the rest will be endangered.

•More than 90 percent of the languages in existence today will be extinct or threatened in little more than a century if current trends continue.

Extinct or Endangered Languages - Cameroon

(11) BISHUO

BUNG

BUSUU

DULIGEY

LUO

NAGUMI

NDAI

NGONG

YENI

ZUMAYA

Extinct Languages - USA (93)

ABNAKI-PENOBSCOT ACHUMAWI AHTENA APACHE, KIOWA APACHE, LIPAN ATAKAPA ATSUGEWI BILOXI CADDO CAHUILLA CATAWBA CHEHALIS, LOWER CHEROKEE CHETCO CHINOOK CHINOOK WAWA CHITIMACHA CHUMASH CLALLAM COEUR D'ALENE COOS COQUILLE COWLITZ CUPEÑO EYAK FLATHEAD-KALISPEL GALICE GROS VENTRE HAN HAWAI'I PIDGIN SIGN LANGUAGE HOLIKACHUK HUPA IOWA-OTO KALAPUYA KANSA KASHAYA KATO KAWAIISU KITSAI KOYUKON LUMBEE LUSHOOTSEED MAIDU, NORTHEAST MAIDU, NORTHWEST MAIDU, VALLEY MANDAN MARTHA'S VINEYARD SIGN MATTOLE MENOMINI MIAMI MIWOK MOBILIAN MOHEGAN MONO NANTICOKE NATCHEZ NISENAN NOOKSACK OFO OSAGE POMO POWHATAN QUAPAW QUILEUTE QUINAULT SALINAN SALISH SERRANO SHASTA SIUSLAW SNOHOMISH TANAINA TILLAMOOK TOLOWA TONKAWA TÜBATULABAL TUNICA TUSCARORA TUTELO TUTUTNI TWANA UNAMI WAILAKI WAMPANOAG WAPPO WASCO-WISHRAM WINTU WIYOT WYANDOT YANA YOKUTS YUKI YUROK

Endangered Languages

Why are they disappearing?

Globalization and Economic Change

Migration (Urbanization)

Deforestation

Economic Development

- Lingua FrancasMedia

Internet (Requires Arabic Character Set)

• The most obvious, and the main, reason for preserving a language is to preserve language diversity and to promote a self-identity.

• Many groups have revived their languages recently in order to help preserve an integral part of their culture– Examples include Hebrew and Celtic

• Rubenstein, James- Cultural Landscape; An Introduction to Human Geography

• http://www.glendale.edu/geo/reed/cultural/cultural_lectures.htm

• http://www.quia.com/pages/mrsbellaphg.html

• Google