1. Key Issue 3
Why Do Individual Languages Vary Among Places?

3. Dialects of English
dialect- regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation Linguists map dialects using isogloss maps.

4. U.S. Dialect Maps
Click to Explore
Click to Watch

5. Tracing U.S. Dialects Through Time
The 13 original colonies can be grouped into 3 dialect regions.
New England- inhabited by settlers from England
Southeastern- about ½ came from southeastern England, while the others represented a diversity of social-class backgrounds.
Midlands- most diverse group— Quakers from north of England, Scots and Irish, German, Dutch, and Swedish migrants.

6. Making Connections
Housing Styles

7. Current U.S. Language Use
Some English words are specific to a dialect.
Rural life
Food
Objects from daily activities
Language differences tend to be greatest in rural areas because of limited interaction with people from other dialect regions.
Mass media has reduced the number of regionally distinctive words.

8. Dialects of English: UK
Languages with multiple dialects may recognize one as the standard language that is widely recognized as the most acceptable for government, business, education, and mass communication.
Example England’s is known as British Received Pronunciation (BRP).

9. US… UK
U.S. English language is noticeably different than U.K. English in 3 ways.
Vocabulary (new objects, climate and geography).
Spelling (Noah Webster’s dictionary)
Pronunciation (limited interaction between speakers of varying dialects)

11. Key Issue 4
Why Do People Preserve Local Languages?

12. Click to Watch

13. Language Diversity in Multilingual States
Having 2 languages can have positive and negative effects- some countries mange this better than others.

14. Belgium Southern Belgians (Walloons) speak French.
Northern Belgians (Flemings) speak Flemish.
Pressure from Flemish speakers led to the division of Belgium into two independent regions with each controlling their own cultural affairs, public health, road construction, and urban development.

15. Switzerland Peacefully exists with multiple languages
Switzerland attributes success to decentralized government, in which local authorities hold most of the power, and decisions are frequently made on a local level
Four official languages— German (65%), French (18%), Italian (10%), and Romansh (1%)

16. Nigeria 527 distinct languages- only 3 are widespread
Languages represent tribal cultures, and these cultures do not always get along… leading to cultural and political tensions
Is TOO MUCH diversity a bad thing?

17. Isolated Languages
Isolated languages are languages that are unrelated to any other and are unattached to a language family.
Basque- Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain
Icelandic- geographically remote island
Koro Aka- northeastern India

18. Going… Going… Gone Extinct Languages
Gothic- totally extinct
Native American- many face extinction
Hebrew- Revived with the establishment of modern Israel
Cornish- revived and taught in schools
CLICK IMAGES TO LEARN MORE

19. Preserving Celtic Languages… Preserving Celtic Cultures
Welsh- since 1988 (law) must be taught in school
Irish Gaelic- led by young Irish citizens who want to distinguish Irish culture from English culture
Scottish Gaelic- spoken by only 1% of Scots

20. Preserving Aborigine Languages
Many Aboriginal languages and dialects became extinct because native languages were forbidden for many years under Australian assimilation policies.
ExThere are less than less than 250 fluent speakers of Noongar, and the language is considered endangered
Community/cultural groups NOT the government- are leading the language preservation efforts in Australia.

21. Preserving Maori Languages
More than 10% of the population is of Maori descent.
The NZ government has adopted policies to preserve the Maori language- only 1% of the people speak the language.
CLICK TO LISTEN

22. Maori Nonverbal Language
Rubbing noses is the equivalent of shaking hands.

23. A Lingua Franca: The Global Dominance of English
The language of international communication
Has helped spread pop culture, scientific advancements, and international trade
Is the second language of many people around the world

24. Expansion Diffusion of English
African American gumbo, jazz, ebonics
Appalachian holler, crick, double negatives
Franglais French do NOT like English “creep”
Spanglishparquin (parking), taipear (to type)
Denglish use English slogan in advertising

25. Thinking Like A Geographer
Could the use of translation technology end the use of English as a lingua franca?

26. Spanish in the USA
Increasingly important language because of large-scale immigration from Latin America.
Some communities now issue public notices, government documents, and advertisements in Spanish.
Radio stations and TV now broadcast in Spanish in places where most of the 35 million Spanish speakers live.
In reaction, 30 states and number of localities have laws making English the official language.

27. Unavision
Univision's roots can be traced back to 1955, when Raul Cortez started KCOR- TV, a Spanish language independent station in San Antonio, Texas.

29. French in Canada
Québec government has made the use of French mandatory in many daily activities.
Québec faces challenges integrating a large number of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Latin America who don’t speak French.
Immigrants prefer to use English as the lingua franca because of its greater global usage.

30. Role of the Internet
Has strengthened the dominance of English as a lingua franca even though other languages are now more common than at beginning of the “internet revolution.”
US still has great influence
www
Assigning domain names
Search engines