Keller
What's in a name?
**Questions are related to the”GO TO” instructions noted ABOVE the question!
PICK ANY SEVEN TO ANSWER!
DUE ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH
Go to http://www.surnamedb.com/?gclid=CKuF0czg_Y8CFQ2nGgodOW3slQ
Enter your last name (surname) in the box in the top right corner of the page.
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Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/facts/-genealogy.ashx
1. Take a look at the distribution of your last name throughout the U.S. in 1920, 1880 and 1840. You can even look at the
distribution in the U.K. and Scotland. What can this pattern tell you about the migration of your family?
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Go to: http://www.mla.org/map_single
2. Look at different states in the U.S. and the number of language speakers by country, state, county or zip code. Think
about the connection between language speakers and the process of immigration over time. Take a look at ONE specific
language and discuss how it has diffused across the U.S. by looking at different states.
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Go to: http://www.mla.org/map_data
3. Do a query using U.S. Census data that looks at the actual numbers and percentages of speakers of over 300 different
languages. You can look at this data at different scales. All the way down to the scale of zip code! Pick a different
language than you did in question #3, go to the prompt box named Language and State and compare the diffusion of this
language in the years 200 and 2005. Briefly discuss your findings.
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Go to: http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp
4. Use this site to get a sense of how many languages are spoken in the world! (There are over 7,000!) Click on the
Country Index with Maps, click on one country that you are interested and briefly discuss how many languages are
spoken in that country and what that information can tell you about the population makeup of the country (immigration,
impact on traditional cultures etc…)
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Go to: http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blbritam.htm?once=true&terms=british-american
5. Come up with two sentences in American English and translate the words into British English.
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Go to:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/wackytowns.html
http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.hawaii.edu%2F%7Erpeterso
%2Ftoponym.htm
http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/placenames.htm
http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/placenames2.htm
Connecticut Place Names: http://www.cslib.org/placenames.htm
Canadian Place Names (unique & unusual): http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/places.html
6. In your opinion, what are FIVE of the most interesting place names you found and why? Please discuss the origins of
the name if given or what you think the origin of the place name relates to?
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Go to Virtual Bangladesh: http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bd_bhasha.html
7. Even though Bengali is an Indo-European language how do you perceive it to be different than other Indo-European
languages such as English?
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Go to www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html
8. Pick some examples of words you use every day and find their "aussie" companion. Try to create a sentence using
these words
(OVER)
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Keller
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Go to www.slanguage.com (DO NOT USE)
9. Take a look at some of the phrases used in different places throughout North America. Think about some that you or a
friend/relative might use every day and come up with two different examples/translations from some different places.
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Go to Pop vs. Soda: http://www.popvssoda.com/
10. Take a look at the survey results found on this page and discuss how a study such as this can reflect the cultural
preferences related to “drinking” beverages in two different regions of the U.S./Canada? Finally, take the survey yourself!
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Go to http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/BaseballTeams.htm
11. Pick three MLB team names and three other professional sports team names (look in left margin for links) and briefly
discuss their origins.