Chapter 6
Language
Language
Language – a set of sounds, combinations of sounds, and
symbols that are used for communication.
World Language Families
Major Language Families
Percentage of World Population
Fig. 5-11a: The percentage of world population speaking each of the main language
families. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan together represent almost
75% of the world’s people.
Major World Languages
Major World Languages
Language Terms
• Standard language-an official language sustained by
the state in the form of state examination for teachers,
civil servants and others.
• Dialect-regional variation of a standard language.
• Language family-a group of languages descended
from a single, earlier tongue.
• Language subfamily-a further division of language
groups. E.g. Romance language is a subfamily of
Indo-European.
• Regional differences in a
standard language;
– Syntax-the way words are
put together
– Vocabulary
– Pronunciation
– Cadence or rhythm
– Accents can reveal the
regional home of a person.
• Isogloss-a geographic
boundary within which a
particular linguistic
feature is found.
Dialect-variants of a standard language along regional or
ethnic lines- vocabulary-syntax- pronunciation- cadence-pace
of speech
Isogloss -A geographic boundary within which a
particular linguistic feature occurs
Origin & Diffusion of Languages
• Mother Tongue-the first language spoken by Homo sapiens
about 200,000 years ago.
• Deep reconstruction-by studying sound shifts, linguists try
to re-create an extinct language.
• Language divergence-the differentiation that takes place
over time and distance.
• Language convergence-when long isolated languages
make contact through diffusion.
• Language replacement-traditional languages of small
groups of less advanced people were replaced or greatly
modified by an invading tongue.
• Linguists can find linkages among languages by examining
sound shifts – a slight change in a word across languages
over time.
• An example of sound shift:
–
–
–
–
Latin for milk is lacte
Italian is latta
Spanish is leche
French is lait
• Another example of
sound shift is:
– German vater
– Dutch vader
– English father
• Still another example is
– Latin for eight is octo
– Spanish is ocho
– French is huit
How are Languages Formed?
Language divergence –
when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a
language breaks the language into dialects and then new
languages.
Language convergence –
when peoples with different languages have consistent
spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one.
Mutual Intelligibility- means two people can understand each
other when speaking.
Problems:
• Cannot measure mutual intelligibility
• Many “languages” fail the test of mutual intelligibility
• Standard languages and governments impact what is a
“language” and what is a “dialect”
How do Languages Diffuse?
• human interaction-2,000 years ago-Han China, Roman
Empire-spread languages over vast empires
• print distribution-Gutenberg’s movable type printing
press (1452-first Gutenberg Bible) helped to diffuse,
standardize & stabilize European languages
• Migration-ancient & more recent migration from 16th
century to now diffused languages e.g. Spanish,
Portuguese, English & French
• Trade-encouraged the spread of goods & languages
• Rise of nation-states-stabilized & standardized
languages
• Colonialism-mercantilism & colonies spread European
languages in the Americas, Africa & Asia
Spatial Interaction helps create:
• Lingua franca –
A language used among speakers of different languages for
the purposes of 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.
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
should a multilingual
state adopt an official
language?
• The vocabulary of a
ancient language can
reveal its cultural
hearth.
• The Indo-European
branches of the
language tree at right
illustrates the concept
of language divergence.
• August Schleicher was
the first to compare the
world’s language
families to the branches
of a tree.
Language Family Trees
Proto-Indo-European
• Russian scholars have led the
way on research of ancient
languages
• Nostratic-the ancient
ancestor of Indo-European
languages-were huntergatherers of 14,000 yrs. ago
• Nostratic is the ancestor of
Indo-European, Kartvelian,
Uralic-Altaic , Afro-Asiatic
& Dravidian
• Hearth of Indo-European was
Black Sea or east-central
Europe some 5,000 to 9000
years ago
• Postulated diffusion of an Indo-European protolanguage
• The approximate timing of the westward dispersal of the
Indo-European languages.
Renfrew Hypothesis
• British scholar Colin Renfrew proposed 3 hearth
areas near the Fertile Crescent.
• Renfrew hypothesis claims that Anatolia was the
source of Europe’s Indo-European languages, from
the western Fertile Crescent North African &
Arabic languages, from the eastern Fertile Crescent
the languages of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan &
India
• Michael Oppenheimer claims that Indo-European
languages originated in India over 50,000 years
ago
Indo-European Language Family
The main branches of the Indo-European language family include
Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.
• Indo-European is the largest and most widespread
language family.
Languages of Europe
• Dominated by IndoEuropean.
• Subfamilies include:
• Germanic
• Romance
• Slavic
• Celtic
• There is a high correlation
between languages and
political organization.
• Pockets of Ural-Altaic
Romance Branch of Indo-European
Fig. 5-8: The Romance branch includes three of the world’s 12 most widely spoken
languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese), as well as a number of
smaller languages and dialects.
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.
Germanic Branch
of Indo-European
Fig. 5-6: The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic
groups. English is in the West Germanic group.
Euskera
The Basque speak the Euskera language, which is in no
way related to any other language family in Europe.
How did Euskera survive?