1. Types of Language Non-spoken languages Sign language Body language
Touch or tactile language
Spoken languages
Natural languages
Artificial languages

2. Languages by Size About 6,900 languages
A lot of small languages and just a handful of very large languages (recent phenomenon)
Languages by Size

3. Language Families
Most languages have a historical relationship with one or more other languages. The term language family and branch express these relationships.
6 major language families: Indo- European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian, Trans-New Guinea
Geographers tend to focus on the major language families when making and using maps.

4. Language Families: Indo-European
The Indo-European language family has the largest number of speakers and the widest geographical distribution
The Indo-European language family is divided into multiple branches.

5. Language Families: Indo-European
Renfrew Hypothesis:
Began in the Fertile Crescent (FC) and then Europe’s languages came from Anatolia, N. Africa and Arabia’s languages came from the Western Arc of FC, SW Asia and S. Asia’s languages came from the Eastern Arc of the FC

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

7. Language Families: Indo-European
Dispersal Hypothesis:
From the hearth eastward into present-day Iran
Around the Caspian
Into Europe

8. European Languages Language Sub-Families of Europe Romance languages
Germanic languages
Slavic languages

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

10. Sub-Saharan African Languages
Dominant language family: Niger-Congo
Relatively recent migration
Continued recognizable similarities among subfamilies

11. How Do Languages Diffuse?
Human interaction
Print distribution
Migration
Trade
Rise of nation-states
Colonialism
Religion
Tourism

12. Multilingualism Monolingual State One language is spoken
Multilingual State
More than one language is spoken
Official Language
Gov’t-selected language(s) used to enhance communication in a multilingual state

13. Case Study: Nigeria Hundreds of languages
Nigeria – a colonial creation
Choice of English as “official” language rather than any indigenous language

14. Linguistic Dominance Not all countries have an official language
Many of the world’s languages are largely unofficial
Unofficial, or stateless, languages typically aren’t used for gov’t functions and are rarely taught in schools

15. Language Dynamics Languages change over time
New technologies and innovations can add new vocabulary words
Words are also borrowed form other languages – loanwords
Migration can cause languages to change

16. Pidgin and Creole Languages
Pidgin language – combines parts of two or more languages into a simplified structure and vocab
Creole language – Pidgin language that developed a more complex structure and vocab
Pidgin and Creole Languages

17. Lingua Francas
Lingua franca – language used among speakers different languages for trade and commerce
English is used as a lingua franca for commerce, science, travel, business, and pop culture

18. Global Dominance of English
The language of international communication is often English

19. Language Endangerment and Diversity
The world is currently experiencing the fastest rate of language extinction ever
Geographers analyze how linguistically diverse a country is by computing a linguistic diversity index (LDI)

20. Dialect Regions
Geographer Hans Kurath began the study of dialect geography
Kurath identified isoglosses, which shows the boundary of word usage

21. Standard Dialects
Some standard dialects can be accepted as the norm or authoritative model of language usage
These dialects usually are associated with her status or prestige (the Queen’s English)
Standard dialects are not the only way to properly use a language

22. Toponyms
Toponyms are influenced by political power and settlement history
Toponyms change after decolonization, after a political revolution, or to memorialize people or events