Origin & Diffusion of Languages Mother Tongue-the first language spoken by Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago. Deep reconstruction-by studying sound shifts, linguists try to re-create an extinct language. Sound shifts occur as languages change over time and space. Hard consonants tend to soften over time such as – v and t in the German word vater softened into vader in Dutch and father in English. These shifts are referred to by linguists as “Grimm’s law”. English linguist, William Jones studied ancient Sanskrit in South Asia and first noticed the resemblance to ancient Greek and Latin. The Grimm Brothers of late 19th century Germany collected and wrote fairy tales from the German oral tradition. They suggested that sound shifts could be used to scientifically prove the relationship between languages.

Origin & Diffusion of Languages Linguists can find linkages among languages by examining sound shifts – a slight change in a word across languages over time. Sound shifts occur as languages change over time and space. Hard consonants tend to soften over time such as – v and t in the German word vater softened into vader in Dutch and father in English. These shifts are referred to by linguists as “Grimm’s law”. English linguist, William Jones studied ancient Sanskrit in South Asia and first noticed the resemblance to ancient Greek and Latin. The Grimm Brothers of late 19th century Germany collected and wrote fairy tales from the German oral tradition. They suggested that sound shifts could be used to scientifically prove the relationship between languages.

An example of sound shift: Latin for milk is lacte Italian is latta Spanish is leche French is lait Another example of sound shift is: German vater Dutch vader English father Picture at right is the Via Appia at Casal Rotondo outside of Rome-built by the Censor Appius Claudius Caecus to join Rome to Capua and Brindisi in the South around 312 BC. Latin is the ancient ancestor of most of the Western European languages spoken today, especially the Romance languages of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.

How are Languages Formed? Language divergence – when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages. Language convergence – when peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one.

How are Languages Formed? Mutual Intelligibility- means two people can understand each other when speaking. Problems: Cannot measure mutual intelligibility Many “languages” fail the test of mutual intelligibility Standard languages and governments impact what is a “language” and what is a “dialect”

How do Languages Diffuse? human interaction-2,000 years ago-Han China, Roman Empire-spread languages over vast empires print distribution-Gutenberg’s movable type printing press (1452-first Gutenberg Bible) helped to diffuse, standardize & stabilize European languages Migration-ancient & more recent migration from 16th century to now diffused languages e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, English & French Trade-encouraged the spread of goods & languages Rise of nation-states-stabilized & standardized languages Colonialism-mercantilism & colonies spread European languages in the Americas, Africa & Asia

Spatial Interaction helps create: Lingua franca – A language used among speakers of different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce. Pidgin language – a language created when people combine parts of two or more languages into a simplified structure and vocabulary. Creole language – a pidgin language that has developed a more complex structure and vocabulary and has become the native language of a group of people. First known lingua franca was a pidgin language created in the 1200s along the Mediterranean Sea-Southern France – Franks language mixed with Italian, Greek, Spanish and Arabic-came to be known as a Frankish language or lingua franca Arabic became a lingua franca during the Islamic expansion-English did so in the colonial period Swahili is the lingua franca of the East African coast-developed from African bantu mixed with Arabic & Persian-50 million speakers from southern Somalia to East African Lakes region. Creole-stems from a pidgin language formed in Caribbean from English, French & Portuguese mixed with African languages South East Asia-Bazaar Malay is spoken from Myanmar to Indonesia, Philippines to Malaysia-a lingua franca in the region.

Monolingual State a country in which only one language is spoken Multilingual State a country in which more than one language is in use Official Language should a multilingual state adopt an official language? Monolingual states-Japan, Uruguay, Venezuela, Iceland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland and Lesotho. Multilingual State-Canada, Belgium, India, Peru-with Indigenous languages Official Language-many former African colonies adopted English, French or Portuguese as official languages to tie people together, Angola-Portuguese, Nigeria & Ghana-English, Ivory Coast-French India-Hindi & English are official languages Tanzania-English & Swahili