1. APHuG – Chapter 5: Language

2. Language Defined
Organized system of spoken words by which people communicate with one another with mutual comprehension (Getis, 1985).
Languages subtly gradate one to another. Dialects and other regional differences may eventually lead to incomprehensibility - a new language.
Migration and Isolation explain how a single language can later become two or more.

3. 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.

4. Language Distribution indicates
History and conquest
Isolation or integration of cultures
Migration of people
Economic Domination of certain cultures
Influence of wealth and technology
Political Divisions (country boundaries)
Physical geography barriers (mts., deserts)

5. Language Divisions Language Families Language Branches Language Groups
Languages
Dialects
Accents

6. Language Families
a collection of individual languages with a common ancestor
a family may be divided into several divisions or branches

7. Languages and Language Families

8. Language Branches
a group of languages that share a common origin but have evolved into different languages
example: Romance Branch - Indo-European Family
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanch

10. Language Groups Several individual languages within a language branch
share a common origin in recent past
few differences in grammar and vocabulary

11. Indo-European Language Branches
Non-Indo-European Language Families and Branches

12. Language Divisions for English
-- Indo-European
-- Germanic
-- West Germanic
-- English
-- Northeastern
-- Boston (Pak da ka o-fa dere, pleese!)
Language Families
Language Branches
Language Groups
Languages
Dialects
Accents

13. Mutual Intelligibility
Isogloss: A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs
Criterion for a language: Speakers can understand each other
Problems
Measuring “mutual intelligibility”
Standard languages and government impact on what is a “language” and what is a “dialect”
Dialect: variant of standard language by ethnicity or region
Vocabulary
Syntax
Cadence, pace
Pronunciation

14. The Queens English
A dialect is a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
English has an especially large number of dialects.
One particular dialect of English, the one associated with upper-class Britons living in the London area, is recognized in much of the English-speaking world as the standard form of British speech, known as British Received Pronunciation (BRP). 14 14 14

15. Differences between British and American English
The earliest colonists were most responsible for the dominant language patterns that exist today in the English-speaking part of the Western Hemisphere. 15 15 15

16. Differences in Vocabulary and Spelling
English in the United States and England evolved independently (Isolation) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
U.S. English differs from that of England in three significant ways: vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
The vocabulary is different because settlers in America encountered many new objects and experiences, which were given names borrowed from Native Americans.
As new inventions appeared, they acquired different names on either side of the Atlantic.
Spelling diverged because of a strong national feeling in the United States for an independent identity.
Noah Webster, the creator of the first comprehensive American dictionary and grammar books, was not just a documenter of usage, he had an agenda.
Webster argued that spelling and grammar reforms would help establish a national language, reduce cultural dependence on England, and inspire national pride. 16 16 16

17. Differences in Pronunciation
Differences in pronunciation between British and U.S. speakers are immediately recognizable.
Interaction between the two groups was largely confined to exchange of letters and other printed matter rather than direct speech.
Surprisingly, pronunciation has changed more in England than in the United States.
People in the United States do not speak “proper” English because when the colonists left England, “proper” English was not what it is today. 17 17 17

18. British Slang Words Below are a few slang words commonly used in Britain.
Bloke - man. 'John is a nice bloke to know.'
Botched - poor quality repairs. 'He made a botched job of fixing the television.'
Bottle - courage. 'He doesn't have the bottle to ask her.'
Cheesed Off - fed up
Chuck it down - to rain, often heavily. 'It is going to chuck it down soon.'
Chuffed - If you are chuffed, you are happy with something. 'I was chuffed to win a medal!'
Daft - Crazy / stupid
Dosh - Money / cash 'I haven't got much dosh to give you.'
Gobsmacked - Incredibly amazed. 'I was gobsmacked when I saw my birthday presents.'
Gutted - Not happy because of an event that has occurred that didn't go your way. 'I was gutted when I didn't win the race'
Jammy - Used in place of lucky when describing someone else. 'He was very jammy winning the lottery'.
Scrummy - Delicious. Shortened from scrumptious. 'The food was very scrummy'
Skint - Broke. No money. 'I'm skint, I wont be able to buy the DVD today.'
to Snog - to long kiss
Telly - Television 'I watched the news on the telly last night.' 18 18 18

19. Indo-European Language Family - Germanic Branch
West Germanic
English (514 million)
German (128)
Dutch (21)
East Germanic
Danish (5)
Norwegian (5)
Swedish (9)

20. Germanic Branch - English
Diffused throughout the world by hundreds of years of British colonialism. Brought to New World by British colonies in s. Has become an important global lingua franca.

21. 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.

22. 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)

23. 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).

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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

28. Language Complexity
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.
In Switzerland, four official languages, a history of peace and tolerance, and a political system that puts power in the hands of local leaders ensure peace.
Nigeria has more than 200 individual languages!

29. Key Terms
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 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.”

30. 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

31. Key Terms
CREOLE - a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with an indigenous language.
Ccreole examples:
New Orleans’ French Quarter
a. mo pe aste sa banan b. de bin alde luk dat big tri c. a waka go a wosu d. olmaan i kas-im chek e. li pote sa bay mo f. ja fruher wir bleiben g. dis smol swain i bin go fo maket
I am buying the banana they always looked for a big tree he walked home the old man is cashing a check he brought that for me Yes at first we remained this little pig went to market

32. Key Terms
CREOLE - a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with an indigenous language. Often they are pidgins
Can you guess which colonizing language is the base for each of the following creole examples?
New Orleans’ French Quarter
a. mo pe aste sa banan b. de bin alde luk dat big tri c. a waka go a wosu d. olmaan i kas-im chek e. li pote sa bay mo f. ja fruher wir bleiben g. dis smol swain i bin go fo maket
French based Seychelles Creole English based Roper River Creole English based Saran English based Cape York Creole French based Guyanais German based Papua New Guinea Pidgin German English based Cameroon Pidgin

33. Key Terms
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.
Sounds Familiar - English Dialects Website
Common American Slang
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 (creek) freeloader; welfare dragon fly diapers
Location Australia Deep South (U.S.) Middle Atlantic States Australia South (U.S.) Britain; Brit. Colonies

34. Dialects in the United States
Major differences in U.S. dialects originated because of differences in dialects among the original settlers.
The original American settlements can be grouped into three areas: New England, Middle Atlantic, and Southeastern.
Two-thirds of the New England colonists were Puritans from East Anglia in southeastern England.
About half of the southeastern settlers came from southeast England, although they represented a diversity of social-class backgrounds.
The immigrants to the Middle Atlantic colonies were more diverse because most of the settlers came from the north rather than the south of England or from other countries. 34 34 34

35. Dialects in the Eastern U.S.
Fig. 5-4: Hans Kurath divided the eastern U.S. into three dialect regions, whose distribution is similar to that of house types (Fig. 4-9). 35 35 35

36. Minor Dialects Today 36 36 36

37. What American Do You Speak? 37 37

38. NOTE
The following slides on Language formation and theory are NOT included in your textbook or study guide!!!

39. Language Formation
Linkages among languages marked by sound shifts, slight changes in a word across languages over time
Milk = lacte in Latin leche in Spanish
lait in French latta in Italian
Language divergence: Breakup of a language into dialects and then new languages from lack of interaction among speakers
Language convergence: When peoples with different languages have consistent interaction and their languages blend into one

40. The Study of Historical Languages
Backward reconstruction: Tracking sound shifts and the hardening of consonants backward to reveal an “original” language
Can deduce the vocabulary of an extinct language
Can recreate ancient languages (deep reconstruction)

41. Origins of Proto-Indo-European
Renfrew Hypothesis: Began in the Fertile Crescent, and then
Europe’s languages from Anatolia
North Africa and Arabia’s languages from the Western Arc of Fertile Crescent
Southwest Asia and South Asia’s languages from the Eastern Arc of Fertile Crescent

43. Agriculture Theory
With increased food supply and population, migration of speakers from the hearth of Indo-European languages into Europe

44. Dispersal Hypothesis From the hearth eastward into present-day Iran
Around the Caspian
Into Europe

45. Key Terms
ISOLATED LANGUAGE - a language that is not related to any other languages and thus not connected to any language families. Examples include Basque and Korean and Icelandic.
Basque Spain

46. A Pre-Indo-European Survivor: Basque
The best example of an isolated language in Europe is Basque.
Basque is spoken by 1 million people in the Pyrenees Mountains. 46 46 46

47. The Case of Euskera
Spoken by the Basque and in no way related to any other language family in Europe

48. An Unchanging Language: Icelandic
Unlike Basque, Icelandic is related to other languages.
Icelandic’s significance is that over the past thousand years it has changed less than any other in the Germanic branch. 48 48 48

49. 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.

51. Endangered Languages Why are they disappearing? Globalization
Migration (Urbanization)
Economic Development
- Lingua Francas Media
Internet (Requires Arabic Character Set)
Lingua Franca - a language used for trade by two people who speak different native tongues.

52. How Do Languages Diffuse?
Human interaction
Print distribution
Migration
Trade
Rise of nation-states
Colonialism
Elizabeth J. Leppman

53. Effects of Spatial Interaction
Lingua franca: A language used among speakers of different languages for 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

54. Multilingualism
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: Government-selected language or languages to try to enhance communication in a multilingual state

55. Global Language English as lingua franca for
Commerce
Science
Travel
Business
Popular culture
Continued use of native languages for day-to-day activities

56. World’s Top 10 Languages Mandarin Chinese 726 Million
English Million
Spanish Million
Hindi Million
Arabic Million
Portuguese Million
Bengali Million
Russian Million
Japanese Million
German Million

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

58. Internet Hosts, by Language
Fig 5-1-1a: The large majority of internet hosts in 1999 used English, Chinese, Japanese, or European languages.

59. English: An Example of a Lingua Franca
A language of international communication (internet) is known as a lingua franca.
The term, which means language of the Franks, was originally applied by Arab traders during the Middle Ages to describe the language they used to communicate with Europeans, whom they called Franks.
A group that learns English or another lingua franca may learn a simplified form, called a pidgin language.
Two groups construct a pidgin language by learning a few of the grammar rules and words of a lingua franca, while mixing in some elements of their own languages.
Other than English, modern lingua franca languages include Swahili in East Africa, Hindustani in South Asia, and Russian in the former Soviet Union. 59 59 59

60. Global Dominance of English
One of the most fundamental needs in a global society is a common language for communication.
Increasingly in the modern world, the language of international communication is English.
When well-educated speakers of two different languages wish to communicate with each other in countries such as India or Nigeria, they frequently use English. 60 60 60

61. English Speaking Countries

62. Interesting Facts about the English Language
English is spoken as a first language by 427 million
English is spoken as a second language by another 350 million
English is the most widely taught language in over 100 countries
In 70 countries English has official status:
more than any other language

63. Development of English - Adopted Words
Germanic Tribes (Germany/Denmark)
kindergarten, angst, noodle, pretzel
Vikings (Norway)
take, they, reindeer, window
Normans (French)
renaissance, mansion, village, guardian 63 63

64. Diffusion of English People from England establishing colonizes.
Seventeenth century:
North America
Ireland
Eighteenth century
South Asia
South Pacific,
Nineteenth century
Southern Africa.
More recently, the United States has been responsible for diffusing English to several places. 64 64 64

65. Invasions of England 5th–11th centuries
Fig. 5-2: The groups that brought what became English to England included Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings. The Normans later brought French vocabulary to English. 65 65 65

66. Basis of English
English originated with three invading groups who settled in different parts of Britain. (Anglo’s – Saxon’s - Jutes)
The language each spoke was the basis of distinct regional dialects of Old English. 66 66 66

67. African-American Lingua Franca
Examples include dialects spoken by African-Americans and residents of Appalachia.
African-American slaves preserved a distinctive dialect in part to communicate in a code not understood by their white masters.
In the twentieth century living in racially segregated neighborhoods within northern cities and attending segregated schools, many blacks preserved their distinctive dialect.
That dialect has been termed Ebonics, a combination of ebony and phonics.
The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association has classified Ebonics as a distinct dialect, with a recognized vocabulary, grammar, and word meaning. 67 67 67

68. Franglais
The French are particularly upset with the increasing worldwide domination of English.
French is an official language in 26 countries and for hundreds of years served as the lingua franca for international diplomats.
The widespread use of English in the French language is called franglais, a combination of francais and anglais, the French words for French and English. 68 68 68

69. Spanglish
Spanglish is a richer integration of English with Spanish than the mere borrowing of English words.
New words have been invented in Spanglish that do not exist in English but would be useful if they did.
Spanglish has become especially widespread in popular culture, such as song lyrics, television, and magazines aimed at young Hispanic women, but it has also been adopted by writers of serious literature. 69 69 69

70. English – becoming a lingua franca of the world (commerce and science)
One Global Language?
Esperanto Experiment
occurred in early 1900s
based on Latin & other Eur. languages
failed – not a global tongue (Indo-Eur.), lacked practical utility
English – becoming a lingua franca of the world (commerce and science) 70 70

71. What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
Place: The uniqueness of a location, what people do in a location, what they create, how they impart a certain character, a certain imprint on the location
Toponym: A place name
Imparts a certain character on a place
Reflects the social processes in a place
Can give a glimpse of the history of a place

72. Changing Toponyms Major reasons people change toponyms
After decolonization
After a political revolution
To commodify or brand a place
To memorialize people or events