Language… Chapter 5 – Key Issue 1

The Hyper-Polyglot What’s the value in speaking multiple languages? What three would you add to your repertoire and why?

The Unseen Value of Language Alan Yu - How Language Seems To Shape One's View Of The World Reading Keith Chen – Could Your Language Affect Your Ability to Save Video

What is Language… Language is a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning. Literary tradition refers to a system of written communication. Many, not all, countries designate at least one official language to be used for official documents and public objects—e.g., road signs and money. Do we? Language is not only the words themselves, but how we use them. Grammar, Structure, Slang… are all a part of language Languages are interconnected AND unique (Until 6:21) Languages are interconnected AND unique

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman A Language You Speak One Two Three Four Five EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish One Two Three Four Five

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman OneUno TwoDos ThreeTres FourCuatro FiveCinco EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish One Two Three Four Five

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman OneUnoUn TwoDosDeux ThreeTresTrois FourCuatroQuatre FiveCincoCinq EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish One Two Three Four Five

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman OneUnoUnUno TwoDosDeuxDue ThreeTresTroisTre FourCuatroQuatreQuattro FiveCincoCinqCinque EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish One Two Three Four Five

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman OneUnoUnUnoEins TwoDosDeuxDueZwei ThreeTresTroisTreDrei FourCuatroQuatreQuattroVier FiveCincoCinqCinqueFunf EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish One Two Three Four Five

Investigate – Create This Chart In Your Notes EnglishSpanishFrenchItalianGerman OneUnoUnUnoEins TwoDosDeuxDueZwei ThreeTresTroisTreDrei FourCuatroQuatreQuattroVier FiveCincoCinqCinqueFunf EnglishSwedishNorwegianDutchFinnish OneEttEnAyneYski TwoTvåToTwayKaski ThreeTre DreeKolme FourFyraFireFiehrNejä FiveFemFamFaihfViisi

A Case Study - Scandinavia

World’s languages organized into: Language Families: collection of languages related through a common ancestral language Language Branches: collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language. Differences are not as significant or as old as between families. Language Groups: collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display similar grammar and vocabulary.

The Language Tree The two largest language families are… 1.Indo-European Predominate language family in Europe, South Asia, North America and Latin America. 2.Sino-Tibetan Encompasses languages spoken in the People’s Republic of China and several smaller countries in Southeast Asia. No single Chinese language Mandarin is the most-used language in the world and the official language of both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.

Language Family Distribution Indo- European Sino- Tibetan Austrones ian Afro- Asiatic Niger- Congo DravidianJapaneseAltaic You Tell Me… MandarinTagalogBerber, Arabic XhosaXhosa, Yoruba Tamil, Telugu JapaneseTurkish, Uzbek

Map Work Connecting Language Family to Location Identify all of the locations where an Indo-European Language is a primary/prevalent/official language. Classification of Languages 2/3 of the world’s population speak a language that belongs to the Indo- European or Sino-Tibetan language family. 2 to 6 percent of the world’s population speak a language that fits into one of seven other language families. Remainder of population speaks a language belonging to one of 100 smaller families.

Language Families in Africa More than 1,000 distinct languages have been documented. Several thousand dialects recognized. Most lack a written tradition. Niger-Congo Swahili First language of 800,000 people Official language of Tanzania Spoken by 30 million Africans Language used to speak with outsiders from different villages

Languages of Southwest Asia and North Africa and Central Asia Two largest language families are… 1.Afro-Asiatic Arabic is major language. Official language in 24 countries of S.W. Asia and North Africa One of the six official languages in U.N. 2.Altaic Altaic language with most speakers is Turkish. Altaic language became official language of several countries that gained independence when Soviet Union broke up—e.g., Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

Language Facts There are about 7,000 languages in the world. There are 50,000 characters in the Chinese language. You’ll need to know about 2,000 to read a newspaper % of the world’s population speaks Mandarin as their first language. There are about 2,200 languages in Asia. 50% of educational time in Luxembourg devoted to learning English, German, and French. There are 2,400 languages classified as being ‘endangered’. 231 languages are now completely extinct. Eastern Siberia, Northwest Pacific Plateau of North America, Central South American rainforests, And Northern Australia are hotspots for endangered language China has the most English speakers

Language Facts There are 12 Conlangs in Lord of The Rings. There are 24 working languages of the EU. There are 6 official UN languages. The bible is available in 2454 languages. The oldest written language was believed to be written in about 4500 BC. South Africa has 11 official languages – the most for a single country. The pope tweets in 9 languages. The US has no official language. You can use an ATM in Latin in Vatican City.