language 言語ユニット. why geographers study language provides the single most common variable...

Language

言語ユニット

Why geographers study language

• Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified

• Provides the main means by which learned customs and skills pass from one generation to the next

• Facilitates cultural diffusion of innovations• Because languages vary spatially, they reinforce

the sense of region and place• Study of language called linguistic geography

and geolinguistics by geographers

• Language – set of sounds, combination of sounds, and symbols used in communication

• Standard language – published, widely distributed, and purposely taught, ex.British Received Pronunciation (BRP)

• Official Language – the language adopted by the government for official business

• Isogloss – a geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs

• Mutual intelligibility – two people can understand each other when speaking

Terms used in the study of language

• Dialects — variant forms of a language that have not lost mutual comprehension– A speaker of English can understand the

various dialects of the language– A dialect is distinctive enough in vocabulary

and pronunciation to label its speaker– My Fair Lady, Cosby– Soda vs. Pop chart, map

• Some 6,000 languages and many more dialects are spoken today

http://popvssoda.com:2998/stats/ALL.html

How do you say?• Group of 2 or more; plural version of you?

How do you say?

• Sale of unwanted household items, maybe on a Sat. morning?

How do you say?• Flying insect w/a rear section that glows?

How do you say?• Big clumps of dust under furniture?

How do you say?• Small lobster-like crustacean found in

streams?

How do you say?• Raining while the sun is shining?

How do you say?• Gooey or dry matter in eyes b/c of sleep?

How do you say?• General term for big road you can drive

fast on?

How do you say?• Group of 2 or more? http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_50.html • Sale of unwanted household items?

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_58.html

• Flying insect w/a rear section that glows? http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_65.html

• Small lobster-like crustacean found in streams?http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_66.html

• Big clumps of dust under furniture?http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_72.html

• Raining while the sun is shining? http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_80.html

• Gooey or dry matter in eyes b/c of sleep? http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_82.html

• General term for big road you can drive fast on? http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_79.html

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

Aunt Ah Ant Caught Ain’t

Pecan PEE-can pee-Can PEE-kahn

Pick Ahn

Grocery Sock Shock

Caramel Car-ml Car-ra-mel

Both ways

English dialects in the United States

• Dialects reveal a vivid geography• American English is hardly uniform from region

to region• At least three major dialects, corresponding to

major culture regions, developed in the eastern United States by the time of the American Revolution – Northern– Midland– Southern

U.S. Folk House Forms• Fred Kniffen-3 major hearths of

folk house forms in the US:

1. NE-1.saltbox, two-chimney, cape cod, front

gable and wing

2. Mid-Atlantic: 1.“I” house

3. Lower Chesapeake (or Tidewater)1.one story w/steep roof and two

chimneys

Diffusion of folk housing forms


• The three subcultures expanded westward and their dialects spread and fragmented– Retained much of their basic character even

beyond the Mississippi River– Have distinctive vocabularies and

pronunciations – Drawing dialect boundaries is often tricky


• Today, many regional words are becoming old-fashioned, but new words display regional variations

• The following words are all used to describe a controlled-access divided highway– Freeway — a California word– Turnpike and parkway — mainly northeastern and

Midwestern words– Thruway, expressway, and interstate

Historical Linkages among

Languages• Indo-

European language family

• Proto-Indo-European language

• Nostratic Language

Renfrew

• http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/overview/indoeuropean/indoeuropean.html

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/overview/indoeuropean/indoeuropean.html

Gimbutas - Kurgan

Language Formation

• the origins of Sanskrit– Language of ancient Indian religious &

literary texts– Resembles Greek and Latin

• What accounts for similarities between different languages?– Milk in 4 different languages: lacte, latta,

leche, & lait– Latin, Italian, Spanish, and French

English Sanskrit

Greek Latin Armenian Old Irish Lithuanian

me mam eme me is - manefather pitar pater pater hayr athair -mother matar mater mater mayr mathair motinabrother bhratar - frater elbayr brathair brolis

daughter duhitar thugater- - dustr - duktercow gav- bous bos kov bo guovs(Latv)eoh (OE ) asvas hippos equus - ech asva, marehound svan kuon canis sun con sunfoot pad pod- ped- otn - -new navas ne(w)os novus nor nue naujasbears bharati pherei fert bere berid -two duva duo duo erku do duthree 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.

Some Indo-European Shared Words

How do Languages Diffuse?

• human interaction

• print distribution/internet

• migration

• trade

• rise of nation-states

• colonialism

Austronesian diffusion

• Presumed hearth in the interior of Southeast Asia 5,000 years ago

• Initially spread southward into the Malay Peninsula

• Sailing and navigation was the key to Austronesian spread, not agriculture

Austronesian language family

• Speakers live mainly on tropical islands

• Ranges from Madagascar, through Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, to Hawaii and Easter Island

• Largest single language in this family is Indonesian —5O million speakers

• Most widespread language is Polynesian

Austronesian diffusion

• Geographers John Webb and Gerard Ward studied the prehistoric Polynesian diffusion– Their method involved the development of a computer

model building in data on:• Winds• Ocean currents• Vessel traits and capabilities• Island visibility• Duration of voyage, etc.• Both drift and navigated voyages were considered

Language Divisions

• Language Families

• Language Branches

• Language Groups

• Languages

• Dialects

• Accents

Language Divisions for English

• Language Families

• Language Branches

• Language Groups

• Languages

• Dialects

• Accents

-- Indo-European

-- Germanic

-- West Germanic

-- English

-- Northeastern

-- Boston (Pak da ka o-fa dere, pleese!)

• Language divergence –

when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages.– Examples

• American English vs. British English– Soccer/football, biscuit (cookie/scone), to table

(wait/open to discussion)

• Icelandic vs. Norwegian

How are Languages Formed?

Language convergence –

when peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one. – Examples

• Situation in Balkans – mix between Slavic, Albanian, and Greek (common when languages are geographically close and have a common structure)

• Borrowing from other languages• Creoles

How are Languages Formed?

Family

Group

Branch

Language

Language families

• The Indo-European language family– Largest most wide-spread family– Spoken on all continents– Subfamilies—Romance, Slavic, Germanic,

Indic, Celtic, and Iranic– Seven Indo-European tongues are among the

top 10 languages spoken in the world

Indo-European Language Family (50% of World)

Main Branches:

• Germanic - Dutch, German

• Romance - Spanish, French

• Baltic-Slavic - Russian

• Indo-Iranian - Hindu, Bengali

Germanic Branch - Icelandic

Iceland colonized by Norwegians in AD 874.

Largely unchanged because of isolation.

.

Indo-European Language Family - Germanic BranchWest Germanic

•English (514 million)

•German (128)

•Dutch (21)

East Germanic

•Danish (5)

•Norwegian (5)

•Swedish (9)

Germanic Branch - EnglishDiffused throughout the world by hundreds of years of British colonialism. Brought to New World by British colonies in 1600s. Has become an important global lingua franca.

Development of English

Germanic Tribes (Germany/Denmark)

• Jutes

• Angles

• Saxons

Vikings (Norway)

• 9th - 11th Centuries

Normans (French)

• Battle of Hastings, 1066

• French was official language for 150 years.

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

•How the English Language Developed

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)

major language families

• Altaic language family– Includes Turkic, Mongolic, and several other

subgroups– Homeland lies largely in deserts, tundras, and

coniferous forests of northern and central Asia

• Uralic family– Finnish and Hungarian are the two most

important tongues– Both have official status in their countries

Language families

• The Afro-Asiatic family

– Has two major divisions—Semitic and Hamitic– Semitic - Tigris-Euphrates valley westward;

most of the north half of Africa • Large area but mostly sparsely populated deserts• Arabic is the most widespread Semitic language• Hebrew was a “dead” language used only in

religious ceremonies

Language families

• The Afro-Asiatic family – Smaller number of people speak Hamitic

languages• Spoken by the Berbers of Morocco and Algeria• Spoken in East Africa• Originated in Asia but today only spoken in

Africa• Expansion of Arabic decreased the area and

number of speakers

Language Families of Africa

The 1,000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language families, including Austronesian languages in Madagascar.

The Gods Must be Crazy

Languages of Subsaharan Africa

- extreme language

diversity

- effects of colonialism

Ethnicities of Africa


• Africa south of the Sahara Desert is dominated by the Niger-Congo family– Spoken by about 200 million people– Includes Swahili—the lingua franca of East

Africa

Nigeria

100 million people speak more than 400 different languages:

•Hausa – 35 mil

•Yoruba – 25 mil

•Ibo – 20 mil

•Rest spoken by less than 1 mil

School instruction in English

LanguageComplexity

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.

Kenya• Kenya has two official

languages: Swahili and English.

• These lingua franca facilitate communication among Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic language speakers.

• Swahili developed along the coast of East Africa where

Kenya

• Bantu came in contact with Arabic spoken by Arab sea traders.

• English became important during the British colonial period and is still associated with high status.

• Jambo means “hello” in Swahili.

Sino-Tibetan language family

– One of the major language families of the world

– most of China and Southeast Asia– Han Chinese is spoken in a variety of dialects

as a mother tongue by 836 million people• Han serves as the official form of speech in China

Chinese Spoken …

• Languages or dialects– Mandarin (about 850 million), – followed by Wu (90 million), – Min (70 million) and – Cantonese (70 million).

• Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible,

• Chinese is classified as a macrolanguage with 13 sub-languages in (Wikipedia)

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.


• Japanese/Korean language family– Another major Asian family with nearly 200

million speakers– Seems to have some kinship to both the Altaic

and Austronesian


• Austro-Asiatic language family– Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia,

Thailand, and spoken by some tribal people of Malaya and parts of India

– Has been encroached upon by Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, and Austronesian


• Lingua franca — a language that spreads over a wide area where it is not the mother tongue– A language of communication and commerce– Swahili language has this status in much of

East Africa


• Pidgin language — results when different linguistic groups come into contact– Serves the purposes of commerce– Has a small vocabulary derived from the

various contact groups– Official language of Papua New Guinea is a

largely English-derived pidgin language, which includes Spanish, German, and Papuan words

Key TermsPIDGIN - 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.”

Give us da food we need fo today an every day.Hemmo our shame, an let us goFo all da kine bad stuff we do to you,Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready,And we no stay huhu wit demFo 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

• Creole language –

a language that has developed a more complex structure and vocabulary and has become the native language of a group of people.

Key Terms CREOLE - a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with an indigenous language. Often they are pidgins.

a. mo pe aste sa bananb. de bin alde luk dat big tric. a waka go a wosud. olmaan i kas-im cheke. li pote sa bay mof. ja fruher wir bleibeng. dis smol swain i bin go fo maket

I am buying the bananathey always looked for a big treehe walked homethe old man is cashing a checkhe brought that for meYes at first we remainedthis little pig went to market

Can you guess which colonizing language is the base for each of the following creole examples? New Orleans’

French Quarter

Key Terms CREOLE - a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with an indigenous language. Often they are pidgins

a. mo pe aste sa bananb. de bin alde luk dat big tric. a waka go a wosud. olmaan i kas-im cheke. li pote sa bay mof. ja fruher wir bleibeng. dis smol swain i bin go fo maket

French based Seychelles Creole English based Roper River Creole English based SaranEnglish based Cape York Creole French based GuyanaisGerman based Papua New Guinea Pidgin German English based Cameroon Pidgin

Can you guess which colonizing language is the base for each of the following creole examples? New Orleans’

French Quarter

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.

TermIs he fair dinkum? Why I declare!Down by the crickbludger mosquito hawknappies

MeaningIs he real or genuine? That’s remarkable!Down by the stream (creek)freeloader; welfare dragon flydiapers

LocationAustraliaDeep South (U.S.)Middle Atlantic StatesAustraliaSouth (U.S.)Britain; Brit. Colonies

Sounds Familiar - English Dialects Website

Common American Slang

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 Languageshould a multilingual state adopt an official language?

Language and Political Conflict

Belgium:

Flanders (Flemish language)

Wallonia (French language)

Toponyms

• Classification of toponyms– Descriptive – Rocky Mtns.– Associative – Mill Valley– Commemorative – San Francisco– Commendatory – Paradise Valley– Incidents – Battle Creek– Possession – Johnson City– Folk Culture – Plains, Georgia – Manufactured – Truth or Consequences– Mistakes – Lasker, NC (named after Alaska)– Shift Names – Lancaster (England relocated to Penn)

Significance of Toponym

• “when people change the toponym of a place, they have the power to ‘wipe out the past and call forth the new.’” (de Blij 172)

• Post-Colonial – Gold Coast to Ghana– Sea of Japan

• Post revolution – Belgian Congo to Zaire• Memorial – MLK, Jr. Drive• Commodification – FedEx Field

Language and Perception - Eskimo Words for Snow

'ice' sikko

'bare ice' tingenek

'snow (in general)' aput

'snow (like salt)’ pukak

'soft deep snow' mauja

'snowdrift' tipvigut

'soft snow' massak

'watery snow' mangokpok

'snow filled with water' massalerauvok

'soft snow' akkilokipok

West Greenlandic - 49 Words'sea-ice' siku (in plural = drift ice) 'pack-ice/large expanses of ice in motion' sikursuit, pl. (compacted drift ice/ice field = sikut iqimaniri) 'new ice' sikuliaq/sikurlaaq (solid ice cover = nutaaq.) 'thin ice' sikuaq (in plural = thin ice floes) 'rotten (melting) ice floe' sikurluk 'iceberg' iluliaq (ilulisap itsirnga = part of iceberg below waterline) '(piece of) fresh-water ice' nilak 'lumps of ice stranded on the beach' issinnirit, pl. 'glacier' (also ice forming on objects) sirmiq (sirmirsuaq = Inland Ice) 'snow blown in (e.g. doorway)' sullarniq 'rime/hoar-frost' qaqurnak/kanirniq/kaniq 'frost (on inner surface of e.g. window)' iluq 'icy mist' pujurak/pujuq kanirnartuq 'hail' nataqqurnat 'snow (on ground)' aput (aput sisurtuq = avalanche) 'slush (on ground)' aput masannartuq 'snow in air/falling' qaniit (qanik = snowflake) 'air thick with snow' nittaalaq (nittaallat, pl. = snowflakes; nittaalaq nalliuttiqattaartuq = flurries) 'hard grains of snow' nittaalaaqqat, pl. 'feathery clumps of falling snow' qanipalaat 'new fallen snow' apirlaat 'snow crust' pukak 'snowy weather' qannirsuq/nittaatsuq 'snowstorm' pirsuq/pirsirsursuaq 'large ice floe' iluitsuq 'snowdrift' apusiniq 'ice floe' puttaaq 'hummocked ice/pressure ridges in pack ice' maniillat/ingunirit, pl. 'drifting lump of ice' kassuq (dirty lump of glacier-calved ice = anarluk) 'ice-foot (left adhering to shore)' qaannuq 'icicle' kusugaq 'opening in sea ice imarnirsaq/ammaniq (open water amidst ice = imaviaq) 'lead (navigable fissure) in sea ice' quppaq 'rotten snow/slush on sea' qinuq 'wet snow falling' imalik 'rotten ice with streams forming' aakkarniq 'snow patch (on mountain, etc.)' aputitaq 'wet snow on top of ice' putsinniq/puvvinniq 'smooth stretch of ice' manirak (stretch of snow-free ice = quasaliaq) 'lump of old ice frozen into new ice' tuaq 'new ice formed in crack in old ice' nutarniq 'bits of floating' naggutit, pl. 'hard snow' mangiggal/mangikaajaaq 'small ice floe (not large enough to stand on)' masaaraq 'ice swelling over partially frozen river, etc. from water seeping up to the surface' siirsinniq 'piled-up ice-floes frozen together' tiggunnirit 'mountain peak sticking up through inland ice' nunataq 'calved ice (from end of glacier)' uukkarnit 'edge of the (sea) ice' sinaaq

Eskimo Words for Snow

• Wasted, plastered, smashed, *&^%faced, f’d up, inebriated, gone, drunk as *&^%, wearing beer goggles, intoxicated, under the influence, hammered, slammed, tipsy, buzzed, schwasted, out, sloshed, pounded, ossified, spifflicated, white boy wasted, white girl wasted, sloppy, warped, jersey wasted, slizzard, schmacked, trashed, trippin’,

The environment provides refuge

• Inhospitable environments offer protection and isolation

• Provide outnumbered linguistic groups refuge from aggressive neighbors

• Linguistic refuge areas– Rugged bill and mountain areas– Excessively cold or dry climates– Impenetrable forests and remote islands– Extensive marshes and swamps

• Unpleasant environments rarely attract conquerors

• Mountains tend to isolate inhabitants of one valley from another

Examples of linguistic refuge areas

• Alps, Himalayas, and highlands of Mexico are linguistic shatter belts — areas where diverse languages are spoken

• American Indian tongue Quechua clings to a refuge in the Andes Mountains of South America

• In the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, an archaic form of Spanish survives due to isolation that ended in the early 1900s

Caucasus Mountains and nearby ranges in central Eurasia are populated by a large variety of peoples

Examples of linguistic refuge areas

• The Dhofar, a mountain tribe in Oman, preserve Hamitic speech that otherwise has vanished from Asia

• Tundra climates of the far north have sheltered certain Uralic, Altaic, and Inukitut (Eskimo) speakers

• On Sea Islands, off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, some remnant of an African language, Gullah, still are spoken

Switzerland• Switzerland has four recognized

national languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansch.

• Romansch, a language of Latin origin, is spoken by only 1.1% of the population.

• Nevertheless, it has survived in the alpine linguistic refuge of the upper Rhine and Inn Rivers and was given official recognition in 1938.

• four official languages, a history of peace and tolerance, and a political system that puts power in the hands of local leaders ensure peace.

Key TermsISOLATED LANGUAGE - a language that is not related to any other languages and thus not connected to any language families. Examples include Basque, Korean, Japanese

Basque Spain

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:

• 2000+ Threatened or Endangered Languages

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. – Think Wade Davis - Ethnocide & Disappearing Languages

Extinct or Endangered Languages - Cameroon (11)

BIKYA BISHUOBUNG

BUSUU

DULIGEY

LUO

NAGUMI

NDAI

NGONG

YENI

ZUMAYA

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 WAPPO WASCO-WISHRAM WINTU WIYOT WYANDOT YANA YOKUTS YUKI YUROK

Endangered Languages

Why are they disappearing?

Globalization

Migration (Urbanization)

Economic Development

- Lingua FrancasMedia

Internet (Requires Arabic Character Set)

Lingua Franca - a language used for trade by two people who speak different native tongues.

Arabic

Chinese

Farsi Korean

Japanese

Greek

Language & Identity

• Quebecois – Power of Place: Montreal

• Belgium -

• Israel – Hebrew

• Wales

Language and

National Identity

Standard Language

a language that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught.

Government usually plays a big role in standardizing a language.

EuskeraThe Basque speak the Euskera language, which is in no way related to any other language family in Europe.

How did Euskera survive?

After WWII, Spain granted the Basque area some autonomy.

Know – family of the circled languages

language 言語ユニット. why geographers study language provides the single most common variable...

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