Language Key Issues * Origins of Language

Language Key Issues * Origins of Language
Where are English language speakers distributed? Why is English related to other languages? Where are other language families distributed? Why do people preserve local language? * The American Perspective

The Importance of Language to Geographers
Language and religion are two of the most important cultural traits for geographers to study. Geographers describe the spatial distributions of language and religion across the landscape because these distributions are useful measures of cultural identification.

Language and Religion Are Tied to Patterns of Migration
Why do people living in different places speak the same language and practice the same religion? Because people migrate from one place to another. Why do people living in different places speak different languages and practice different religions? Because of lack of migration or other forms of spatial interaction.

Defines Human Cultural
2.5 million years ago Proto-tongue Language divergence- develop variations upon need (Snake, Iceberg, Buffalo) Language replacement- invaders replace Language extinction- language is dead Follow diffusion through reverse reconstruction- words that are similar to a geographic area

The Indo-European Language Family
Branches of Indo-European Germanic branch Indo-Iranian branch Balto-Slavic branch Romance branch Origin and diffusion of Indo-European Kurgan and Anatolian theories

Language Families

Indo-European Language Family
The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.

Germanic Branch of Indo-European
The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic groups. English is in the West Germanic group. 9

Romance Branch of Indo-European
The Romance branch includes three of the world’s 12 most widely spoken languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese), as well as a number of smaller languages and dialects.

South Asian Languages & Language Families
Indo-European is the largest of four main language families in South Asia. The country of India has 18 official languages.

The Complexities of Overlapping Languages
JAMMU AND KASHMIR: DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES The area comprising the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir is one of remarkable linguistic diversity. Within it two major language families, the Indo-European and the Sino-Tibetan, each dominate over extensive areas, while an as-yet-unclassified language, Burushaski, occupies a relatively small niche along the border with China and Afghanistan. Among the Indo-European languages, Kashmiri, Shina, and several other local tongues (spoken over much of the Northern Areas and in a small portion of Kargil district) form a distinct Dardic group, whose area of dominance also extends across the northern part of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan and into northeastern Afghanistan. Whether or not this group constitutes a separate sub-family within the Indo-European family is a question still debated by linguists; but none doubts the linguistic affinity of Dardic languages. Kashmiri, despite accounting for the largest number of speakers in the state, occupies only a relatively small area centering on the Vale of Kashmir. 12

Kurgan Theory of Indo-European Origin
In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7000 years ago.

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

Roots of Language Literary tradition- a system of written communication. Many languages lack a literary tradition, therefore impeding advancement and documentation. Ideograms Ideogram- “letters” that represent ideas or concepts, not specific pronunciations.-Chinese; Japanese - Sumerian and Egyptian have both ideographic and phonetic components.

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.

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

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.

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 - English
Diffused 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 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. Do 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.

Differences between British and American English are:
“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.

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

Some Indo-European Shared Words
Which languages share a common ancestor? Some Indo-European Shared Words 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.

Indo-European Language Family - Romance Branch
Like 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 Branch
The 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

Distribution of Other Language Families
Classification of languages Distribution of language families Sino-Tibetan language family Other East and Southeast Asian language families Afro-Asiatic language family Altaic and Uralic language families African language families

Indo European is the largest- Sino-Tibetan 2nd
19 Languages Families Each has its own branch Groups Language Dialects Indo European is the largest- Sino-Tibetan 2nd Germanic Branch (West)- English Romance- Spanish, Italian etc.. Prot-Indo European- original- What theory backs this up Conquest theory- Kurgan Hearth Agriculture theory- farming on the Danube- “snow”- but not “sea”

Mono Lingual and Multi Lingual State
Language often defines a culture or creates a homogeneous nation Multilingual states are countries that speak more then one language- Often creates problems- The Basque, Walloons, English Monolingual- Not many left because of our friction of distance

Conflict because of Language
Canada Belgium Cyprus Nigeria English and French in Quebec Dutch and the French- Belgium Greek and Turkey- Island off of Turkey- “Green Line” Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo 230+

Language Divisions in Belgium
There has been much tension in Belgium between Flemings, who live in the north and speak Flemish, a Dutch dialect, and Walloons, who live in the south and speak French.

Language Variations Official Language- Used by the govt for legal proceedings May have more then one- Canada Standard Language- acceptable or taught form of language- Mid-West British Received Pronunciation Germans learn High German

Language Families of the World
Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 50 million speakers are named.

Language Families of Africa
The 1000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language families, including Austronesian languages in Madagascar.

Languages of Nigeria More than 200 languages are spoken in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa (by population). English, considered neutral, is the official language.

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 Family
Main 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 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.

How about the U.S.? 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.

Fill in your map using your book

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
Give us da food we need fo today an every day. Hemmo our shame, an let us go Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you, Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready, And we no stay huhu wit dem Fo 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. Term Is he fair dinkum? Why I declare! Down by the crick bludger mosquito hawk nappies Meaning Is he real or genuine? That’s remarkable! Down by the stream freeloader; welfare dragon fly diapers Location Australia Deep South (U.S.) Middle Atlantic States Australia South (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.

Language Diversity and Uniformity
Preserving language diversity Hebrew: reviving extinct languages Celtic: preserving endangered languages Multilingual states Isolated languages Global dominance of English English as a lingua franca Diffusion to other languages

Language Divisions in Belgium
There has been much tension in Belgium between Flemings, who live in the north and speak Flemish, a Dutch dialect, and Walloons, who live in the south and speak French.

Language Areas in Switzerland
Switzerland remains peaceful with four official languages and a decentralized government structure.

Old French Dialects

The Geography of Old French
Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the langue d'oïl, the continuum of varieties of Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland during the period roughly from 1000 to 1300 A.D. It was known at the time as the langue d'oïl to distinguish it from the langue d'oc, (also then called Provençal) which bordered these areas to the south.

French-English Boundary in Canada
Although Canada is bilingual, French speakers are concentrated in the province of Quebec, where 80% of the population speaks French.

The Environment Provides Refuge
Inhospitable environments offer protection and isolation Provide outnumbered linguistic groups refuge from aggressive neighbors Linguistic refuge areas Rugged bill and mountain areas Excessively cold or dry climates Impenetrable forests and remote islands Extensive marshes and swamps Unpleasant environments rarely attract conquerors Mountains tend to isolate inhabitants of one valley from another

Examples of Linguistic Refuge Areas
Rugged Caucasus Mountains and nearby ranges in central Eurasia are populated by a large variety of peoples Alps, Himalayas, and highlands of Mexico are linguistic shatter belts — areas where diverse languages are spoken American Indian tongue Quechua clings to a refuge in the Andes Mountains of South America In the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, an archaic form of Spanish survives due to isolation that ended in the early 1900s

Examples of Linguistic Refuge Areas
The Dhofar, a mountain tribe in Oman, preserve Hamitic speech that otherwise has vanished from Asia Tundra climates of the far north have sheltered certain Uralic, Altaic, and Inukitut (Eskimo) speakers On Sea Islands, off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, some remnant of an African language, Gullah, still are spoken

Linguistic Ecology Today environmental isolation is no longer the linguistic force it once was Inhospitable lands and islands are reachable by airplanes Marshes and forests are being drained and cleared by farmers The world is interactive

Internet Hosts A large proportion of the world’s internet users and hosts are in the developed countries of North America and western Europe.

Online Population English is still the largest language on the internet, but there has been rapid growth in many others, especially Chinese.

This graphic shows the uneven numbers of speakers of languages in the world. Nearly 80% of the world's population speaks only 83 (1.1%) of the world's languages. The 3,586 (51.2%) smallest languages are spoken by only 0.2% of the world's population.

Extinct or Endangered Languages - Cameroon (11)
BISHUO BUNG BUSUU DULI GEY 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 Francas Media 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

Origin, Diffusion, and Dialects of English
Origin and diffusion of English English colonies Origin of English in England Dialects of English Dialects in England Differences between British and American English Dialects in the United States

Invasions of England 5th - 11th centuries
The groups that brought what became English to England included Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings. The Normans later brought French vocabulary to English.

Old & Middle English Dialects
The main dialect regions of Old English before the Norman invasion persisted to some extent in the Middle English dialects through the 1400s.

British English Southern English engages in r-dropping, that is, r's are not pronounced after vowels, unless followed by another vowel. Cockney - Originally the dialect of the working class of East End London. Estuary English - From London down the Thames and into Essex, Sussex, and even Kent, a new working and middle class dialect has evolved and is rapidly become "the" southern dialect. It combines some of the characteristics of Cockney with RP, but makes much less use of Cockney slang. East Anglian - This dialect is very similar to the Southern The dialect of the East Midlands, once filled with interesting variations from county to county, is now predominantly RP. R's are dropped, but h's are pronounced. The West Country - r's are not dropped, initial s often becomes z (singer > zinger) & initial f often becomes v (finger > vinger). West Midlands - This is the dialect of Ozzie Osbourne! Lancashire - This dialect, spoken north and east of Liverpool, has the southern habit of dropping r's. Yorkshire - This dialect is known for its sing-song quality, a little like Swedish, and retains its r's. Northern - The Northern dialect closely resembles the southern-most Scottish dialects.

Dialects in the Eastern U.S.
Hans Kurath divided the eastern U.S. into three dialect regions, whose distribution is similar to that of house types.

English Dialects in the United States
Dialects reveal a vivid geography American English is hardly uniform from region to region At least three major dialects, corresponding to major culture regions, developed in the eastern United States by the time of the American Revolution Northern Midland Southern

The three subcultures expanded westward and their dialects spread and fragmented Retained much of their basic character even beyond the Mississippi River Have distinctive vocabularies and pronunciations Drawing dialect boundaries is often tricky

Languages and the Settlement Patterns of NC
What impacts on North Carolina’s form of southern English can be attributed to the introduction of all of these groups of settlers? Germans Scotch Highlanders Scotch-Irish Swiss

Lingua Franca- Universal Language of business Isogloss-
Swahili- English- Mandarin Isogloss- Pidgin- simplified Lingua Franca forced by the dominate culture Pidgin French, Gullah Once it is taught to their kids it becomes part of their culture and is in turn called CREOLE- pidgin language that is the main language of the people 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. Spanglish- similar to franglais, only a English-Spanish hybridization.

American dialects suggest we are not becoming a more national culture by overwhelming regional cultures Linguistic divergence is still under way Dialects continue to mutate on a regional level Local variations in grammar and pronunciation proliferate The homogenizing influence of radio, television, and other mass media is being defied

Simplified Dialect Regions of America

Dialect Regions of America

The British and Americans Two Peoples Separated by a Common Language
block of flats chips crisps fag lift loo mince nappy pram queue rucksack spanner torch American apartment building French fries potato chips cigarette elevator restroom ground beef diaper baby carriage line of people backpack wrench flashlight

Percent Spanish-Speaking Residents by State

The Trail of Tears

Language Extinction in America
Oklahoma holds highest density of indigenous languages in the United States. This Hotspot includes languages originally spoken in the area as well as the languages of tribes from farther east that were forcibly relocated onto reservations in Oklahoma during the 1800s. Many of these languages are highly endangered as the younger generations shift to speaking English. Endangered Languages include: Kansa ( < 20 speakers, Siouan) Mohave ( < 75 speakers, Yuman) Sac/Sauk ( < 20 speakers, Algonquian) Wichita ( < 3 speakers, Caddoan)

Language Extinction in America
The Northwest Pacific Coast and Western Plateau is one of the most endangered hotspots. Every language in the American part of the hotspot is endangered or moribund. As you go farther north and east, the languages are more robust, but throughout British Columbia indigenous languages spoken near urban centers are threatened because speakers of indigenous languages are likely to shift to speaking English. Endangered Languages include: Kutenai (< 10 speakers, isolate, spoken in Canada and U.S.) Quileute (< 10 speakers, Chemakuan, spoken in U.S.) Squamish (< 20 speakers, Salish, spoken in Canada) Yakima (< 10 speakers, Sahaptian, spoken in U.S.)

An English Speaking World ?
More than 320 million people - a tenth of the world's population - speak English as their first language; hundreds of millions more as their second language. English is the language used for all Air Traffic Control. Fifty percent of the world's telephones are in English-speaking countries. Fifty percent of the songs on the European hit parade are in English. Eighty percent of all computer data is in English. During World War II, BBC radio broadcasts in English were heard throughout Europe. The Edward R. Morrow, W.W. II Victory-in-Europe broadcasts of 1945, along with the subsequent decline of the British Empire, signaled the rise of the U.S. variety of English to prominence. U.S. English has been disseminated world-wide by U.S. business concerns and the military and is associated with economic and political power.

English Speaking Countries
English is an official language in 50 countries, including some in which it is not the most widely spoken language. It is also used and understood in many others.

Key Concepts Dialect Language branch Language family Language group
Literary tradition Extinct language Creolized language Ebonics Shatter belts Multilingual states Isogloss Lingua franca British Received Pronunciation Pidgin language Franglais Spanglish Denglish Revived language Isolated language

Key Concepts Custom Folk culture Popular culture Taboo Habit
Culture wars National culture International culture Subculture Acculturation Enculturation Cultural landscapes Monochronic cultures Polychronic cultures Cultural areas Indigenous cultures Globalization of popular culture Environmental problems of cultural globalization

Rubenstein, James- Cultural Landscape; An Introduction to Human Geography
Ike Heard- Google

Language Key Issues * Origins of Language

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