chapter 5 language.ppt

Language

Key Issues

1. Where are English language speakers distributed?

2. Why is English related to other languages?

3. Where are other language families distributed?

Key Issue 1: Where are

English-language speakers distributed?

• Language- a system of communication through

speech, or other conventional methods, that

groups of people understand to have the same

meaning.

• Language (another definition)- Organized

system of spoken words by which people

communicate with one another with mutual

comprehension (Getis, 1985).

Roots of Language

Ideograms

Ideogram- “letters” that represent ideas or

concepts, not specific pronunciations.

-Chinese; Japanese

- Sumerian and

Egyptian have both ideographic and

phonetic components. •Literary tradition- a system of written communication.

How to Write Down a Language?

Phonetic

•Most languages,

including Romance

languages

•Symbols (letters)

generally represent

sounds, not ideas. A

Symbol Meaning English Sound

vulture short A, as in cat forearm long A, as in table

leg hard B, as in big

basket,hillsid e

hard C (K), as in call

hobble rope CH, as in children hand hard D, as in dog

two reed

Language as Element of

Cultural Diversity

• 6000+ Languages spoken today, not including dialects

•1500+ Spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa alone •400+ in New Guinea alone

•100+ in Europe

However, this diversity is diminishing:

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.

English

• English is spoken by one-half a billion people

across the globe.

– It is the official language of at least 42 countries; two billion people live in one of these countries.

• The widespread diffusion of English is thanks to

the colonial practices of the British.

– Through their colonization of the Earth, English was spread eventually to N. America, Ireland, S. Asia, S. Pacific, S. Africa, and numerous other remote

Germanic Branch - English

Diffused throughout the world by hundreds of years of British colonialism. Brought to New _World by British colonies in

Indo-European Language

Family - Germanic Branch

West Germanic

•English (514 million) •German (128)

•Dutch (21)

East Germanic

•Danish (5)

Germanic Branch - Icelandic

Iceland colonized by Norwegians in AD 874.

Largely unchanged because of isolation

combined with literary tradition.

Highly developed

literary tradition. Ancient sagas can be read by

Development of English

Development of English

• British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic.

Development of English

• British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic.

• Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years.

Development of English

• British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic.

• Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years.

• Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A.D.

• These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles.

Development of English

• British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic.

• Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years.

• Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A.D.

• These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles.

– King Richard spoke French as his primary language and the royal court spoke French for many years after the invasion

Development of English

• British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic.

• Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years.

• Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A.D.

• These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles.

– King Richard spoke French as his primary language and the royal court spoke French for many years after the invasion

• Once they were driven out, few people wished to speak the “enemy’s” language anymore, but the French influence on the language had already taken place.

• Today’s English can be seen as a hybrid of the original Germanic languages, with some Celtic and French mixed in. (along with varying degrees of influence from a large number of other languages.)

Development of English

Germanic Tribes (Germany/Denmark)

• Jutes • Angles • Saxons

Vikings (Norway)

• 9th - 11th Centuries

Normans (French)

• Battle of Hastings, 1066

Language Variation

• Dialect- a regional variation of a language

distinguished by a distinctive vocab, spelling,

and pronunciation.

– English has the largest # of dialects b/c of its wide diffusion.

– Due you have a dialect? How about Coach Serina?

• Standard language- a dialect well-established

and recognized for government use.

– Which way are we taught in school

• British Received Pronunciation- the official

dialect of English used by politicians,

American vs Queen’s English

• “My Fair Lady” was a musical in the 50’s that depicted social effects of dialect.

• Differences between British and American English are:

– Vocab- different mainly because settlers in America encountered new objects and experiences, many of which were assigned

Native American names.

– Grammar- distinctly different because Americans had a strong national feeling for an independent identity.

• The first American dictionary, published by Noah Webster was purposely altered from British spelling to differentiate the two languages.

• Dialects within the States are numerous and varied due to the

number of people in the U.S., the wide land area across which the language is spoken, the historical mobility of the American people as they ventured across the West, and the varied ethnicity of the English-speakers within this country.

• Three main dialects exist in England: -Northern

-Midland -Southern

• These are used to classify many of the dialects within the U.S. – What are some words that are different for each of these regions?

Key Issue 2: Why is English related

to other languages?

• Language family- a collection of languages

related through a common ancestor that existed

long before recorded history.

• Language branch- a collection of languages

within a family that are related through a

common ancestor that existed several thousand

years ago.

• Language group- collection of languages within

a branch that share a common origin in

relatively recent history.

Indo-European Language

Family (50% of World)

Main Branches:

• Germanic

- Dutch, German • Romance

- Spanish, French • Baltic-Slavic

- Russian • Indo-Iranian

Indo-European Language Branches

• Vulgar Latin- the Latin that people in the

provinces learned; substandard.

• Evidence exists that a “super family” language

once was used, known as Proto-Indo-European.

– little conclusive evidence has been found, and the

issue is hotly debated among linguists. Most

English Sanskrit

Greek Latin Armenian Old Irish Lithuanian

me mam eme me is - mane

father pitar pater pater hayr athair

-mother matar mater mater mayr mathair motina brother bhratar - frater elbayr brathair brolis

daughter duhitar thugater- - dustr - dukter

cow gav- bous bos kov bo guovs(Latv) eoh (OE ) asvas hippos equus - ech asva, mare hound svan kuon canis sun con sun

foot pad pod- ped- otn -

-new navas ne(w)os novus nor nue naujas bears bharati pherei fert bere berid

-two duva duo duo erku do du three trayas treis tres erek tri trys

Which languages share a common ancestor?

Many Indo-European languages have common words for snow, winter, spring; for dog, horse, cow, sheep bear but not camel, lion, elephant, or tiger; for beech, oak, pine, willow, but not palm or banyan tree.

Indo-European Language Family -

Romance Branch

been spread by Colonialism. • Spanish (₄₂₅ million)

• Portuguese (194) - most in Brazil

• French (129) • Italian (62)

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.

Key Issue 3: Where are other

language families distributed?

• The main language families of the world, other than Indo-European (spoken by 50% of world population) are:

-Sino-Tibetan spoken by 20% of pop; in China and S.E. Asia

-Afro-Asiatic spoken by 5% of pop; N. Africa and S.W. Asia and Mid East -Austronesian spoken by 5% of pop; S.E. Asia

-Niger-Congo spoken by 5% of pop; sub-Saharan Africa -Dravidian spoken by 5% of pop; in India

World Languages

• 6000+ Languages spoken today, not including dialects • 1500+ Spoken in

Sub-Saharan Africa alone

• 400+ in New Guinea alone • 100+ in Europe

However, this diversity is diminishing:

Sino-Tibetan Language Family (20%)

Branches:

• _Sinitic

- Mandarin (1075), Cantonese (71),

• _{Austro-Thai (77)} - Thai, Hmong • _{Tibeto-Burman} - Burmese (32)

Language Families of Africa

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

Niger-Congo

Difffusion

• They spread throughout southern Africa AD 1 - 1000

• 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

Polyglot

States

In Switzerland, four official languages, a history of peace and tolerance, and a political system that puts power in the hands of local leaders help

Polyglot

States

Nigeria has more than 200 individual languages!

English is the official language. Even though only 20% speak standard English, 80% speak pidgin English.

In Nigeria ethnic conflict between

Polyglot

States

India has 16 official languages. Hindi is

spoken in the north by about 400 million, but the majority in the south speak Dravidian

languages (Tamil) and resist Hindi. English functions as a lingua franca for government, education, and big

The U.S. Constitution specifies no official language. The

Supreme Court has consistently ruled that governments must

assist in the learning of English, especially in the schools.

However, many states and local jurisdictions provide ballots and information in

Key Issue 4: Why do people

preserve local languages?

• Extinct language- language no longer spoken or

used in daily activities by anyone in the world.

• Isolated language- a language unrelated to any

other and not attached to any specific branch.

– Ex. Basque, spoken by over 1 million people in the Pyrenees Mts. of Spain.

– Icelandic, spoken by the Norwegians who originally emigrated to Iceland and remained isolated for

Other Variations

• Lingua franca- a universal language understood globally.

• Pidgin language- a simplified version of a lingua franca, used to communicate typically in areas where contact is just beginning.

• Ebonics- the dialect spoken by many blacks who

migrated from the South to the large cities in the North who wished to preserve their distinctive accents.

• Franglais- the hybrid English-French language resulting from a combination of the two.

PIDGIN -

simplified grammar and limited vocabulary from a lingua franca, used for communication between speakers of two different languages.

Examples include Hawaiian Pidgin, Haitian Patois, and the creoles of West Africa that resulted from the slave

trade.

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”

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.

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 freeloader; welfare dragon fly

diapers

Location

Australia

Deep South (U.S.)

Middle Atlantic States

Australia South (U.S.)

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

Extinct or Endangered

Languages - Cameroon (11)

BISHUO BUNG BUSUU DULI GEY LUO

NAGUMI NDAI

NGONG YENI

Extinct Languages - USA (93)

ABNAKI-PENOBSCOT ACHUMAWI AHTENA

APACHE, KIOWA APACHE, LIPAN ATAKAPA ATSUGEWI

BILOXI CADDO CAHUILLA CATAWBA CHEHALIS, LOWER

CHEROKEE CHETCO CHINOOK CHINOOK WAWA

CHITIMACHA CHUMASH CLALLAM COEUR D'ALENE

COOS COQUILLE COWLITZ CUPEÑO EYAK

FLATHEAD-KALISPEL GALICE GROS VENTRE HAN

HAWAI'I PIDGIN SIGN LANGUAGE HOLIKACHUK HUPA

IOWA-OTO KALAPUYA KANSA KASHAYA KATO

KAWAIISU KITSAI KOYUKON LUMBEE LUSHOOTSEED

MAIDU, NORTHEAST MAIDU, NORTHWEST MAIDU, VALLEY

MANDAN MARTHA'S VINEYARD SIGN MATTOLE MENOMINI

MIAMI MIWOK MOBILIAN MOHEGAN MONO

NANTICOKE NATCHEZ NISENAN NOOKSACK OFO

OSAGE POMO POWHATAN QUAPAW QUILEUTE

QUINAULT SALINAN SALISH SERRANO SHASTA

SIUSLAW SNOHOMISH TANAINA TILLAMOOK TOLOWA

TONKAWA TÜBATULABAL TUNICA TUSCARORA TUTELO TUTUTNI TWANA UNAMI WAILAKI WAMPANOAG

Endangered Languages

Why are they disappearing?

Globalization and Economic Change

Migration (Urbanization)

Deforestation

Economic Development

- Lingua Francas

Media

• The most obvious, and the main, reason

for preserving a language is to preserve

language diversity and to promote a

self-identity.

• Many groups have revived their

languages recently in order to help

preserve an integral part of their culture