AP Human Geography – Coach Clendenin
Name_____________________________________________
Unit Three: Language
Chapter 5: Language (page 146)
1. Compare language and literary tradition?_language is a system of communication through speech__
and a literary tradition is system of written communication_____________________________________
2. Define official language_The language used for government for laws, reports, and public objects such
as road signs, money, and stamps__________________________________________________________
3. What three topics are covered in this chapter?
3.a. _Where different languages are used___________________________________________________
3.b._How languages can logically be grouped in space________________________________________
3.c._Why languages have distinctive distributions____________________________________________
4. Why are some languages (e.g. English) distributed throughout the world?_Interaction through_____
migration and isolation of Germans and Normans 1000 to 1500 years ago, and colonization and_______
globalization more recently_______________________________________________________________
Key Issue 1: Where Are English-Language Speakers
Distributed? (page 147)
5. Contrast the distribution of Mandarin with the distribution of English.:_Mandarin is spoken by more
people than any other language in the world, but English is spoken in more countries than any other in_
the world_____________________________________________________________________________
6. List three regions of the world where English is an official language or is widely spoken (see map on
page 138):
6.a._United Kingdom_____________________ 6.b._United States______________________________
6.c._Canada____________________________
Australia
7. How did English become the language of England?_Invasion of Angles, Jutes, and Saxons (German),_
and later invasion of the Normans (France) The mingling of the two languages and relative isolation of__
England led to a new language called English_________________________________________________
8. Define the following:
8.a._ dialect_Regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and_____
pronunciation_________________________________________________________________________
8.b._ standard language_A dialect that is well-established and widely recognized as the most acceptable
for government, business, education, and mass communication_________________________________
8.c._ British Received Pronunciation_Dialect of English spoken by upper-class Londoners, and British
politicians, broadcasters, and actors. Recognized as the standard form of British speech by most of the
world________________________________________________________________________________
9. What are the three main differences, according to your text, between British and American English?
Give an example for each one:
9.a._Vocabulary:_words borrowed from Native-Americans such as moose, raccoon, chipmunk, canoe,__
moccasin, and squash___________________________________________________________________
9.b._Spelling: Noah Webster created a uniquely American dictionary of words spelled differently than__
British words to help establish a national language different than Englands (ex; elimination of the “U”__
from words like honour and colour and substitution of “S” for “C” in words like defence)_____________
9.c._Pronunciation: of letters like “a” and “r”. Words like fast, path, and half are pronounced like the___
/ah/ in father rathe than the /a/ in man_____________________________________________________
10. Define isogloss and give an example:_A boundary that separates regions in which different_______
language usages predominate (ex; Northern, Midlands, and Southern United States)________________
11. What is an example of a pronunciation difference in the U.S.?_In the South half and mine is divided
into two syllables (“mi-yen” and “ha-af”)____________________________________________________
Key Issue 2: Why is English Related to Other Languages?
(page 153)
12. Define each of the following and use English as an example for each one:
12.a._ Language Family_Collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long__
before recorded history (ex; Indo-European)_________________________________________________
12.b._ Language Branch_A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed____
several thousand years ago (ex; English is part of the Germanic Branch)___________________________
12.c._ Language Group_a collection of languages within a Branch that share a common origin in the____
relatively recent past (ex: West Germanic is the group within the Germanic Branch of the Indo-European
language that English belongs to)__________________________________________________________
13. What are the two most widely spoken languages of the Indo-Iranian Branch of the Indo-European
Language Family? Where are they spoken?
13.a._Hindi: India_______________________________________________________________________
13.b._Urdu: Pakistan____________________________________________________________________
14. What are three other widely spoken languages of the Indo-Iranian language branch and where are
they spoken?
14.a._Persian (Farsi): Iran________________________________________________________________
14.b._Pathan: eastern Afghanistsn and western Pakistan_______________________________________
14.c._Kurdish: western Iran, northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey__________________________________
15. What is the most widely spoken language of the Balto-Slavic Branch? Where is it spoken?
_Russian: Russia_______________________________________________________________________
16. What are three languages of the East Slavic language branch and where are they spoken?
16.a. _Russian: Russia (second language in many countries of eastern Europe)______________________
16.b. _Ukranian: Ukraine________________________________________________________________
16.c. _Belorusian: Belorus_______________________________________________________________
17. What are three languages of the West Slavic language branch and where are they spoken?
17.a. _Polish: Poland____________________________________________________________________
17.b. _Czech: Czech Republic_____________________________________________________________
17.c. _Slovak: Slovakia__________________________________________________________________
18. What are two languages of the South Slavic language branch and where are they spoken?
18.a. _Serbo-Croatian: Serbia and Croatia__________________________________________________
18.b. _Bulgarian: Bulgaria________________________________________________________________
19. What are the four most widely used languages of the Romance Branch of the Indo-European
Language Family?
19.a._Spanish__________________________________________________________________________
19.b._French__________________________________________________________________________
19.c._Italian___________________________________________________________________________
19.d._Portugeuse______________________________________________________________________
20. From where did the Romance languages originate?_From the Latin language spoken by the Romans
over 2000 years ago_____________________________________________________________________
21. How and to where did these languages diffuse?_With the rise of Rome and spread of the Roman__
empire_______________________________________________________________________________
22. Define creole (creolized language):_Results from the mixing of a colonizers language with an______
indigenous language (ex; French Creole in Haiti)______________________________________________
23. Where did the Indo-European language family originate?_The existence of a single ancestor called_
Proto-Indo-European which cannot be provenbecause it would have existed before recorded history,___
but seems evident from similarities in the physical attributes of words (common root meanings) among_
the various Indo-European languages_______________________________________________________
24. Explain the two theories on how the Indo-European language diffused:
24.a. _Kurgan theory:_Military conquest from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea___________
24.b. _Anatolian theory:_Diffused with Agricultural innovations from the Anatolian Hearth in present__
day Turkey____________________________________________________________________________
Key Issue 3: Where Are Other Language Families Distributed ?
(page 161) *Note: The entire reading is about the language tree on
pages 164 & 165.
25. Below is a list of the six major language Families. What percentage of the world speaks a language
of this family and where are these speakers primarily located?
25.a._ Indo European Family_50%_North and South America, Europe, Russia, Australia, and parts of the
Middle East___________________________________________________________________________
25.b.__ Sino-Tibetan Family_20%_East Asia (mostly China)_____________________________________
25.c._ Afro Asiatic_5%_Middle East________________________________________________________
25.d.__ Austonesian_5%_Southeast Asia___________________________________________________
25.e._ Niger-Congo_5%_Africa____________________________________________________________
25.f.__ Dravidian_5%_India______________________________________________________________
26. Give an example language and where it is spoken for each of the following branches of the SinoTibetan Family.
26.a. _Sinitic_Mandarin: China___________________________________________________________
26.b. _Austro-Thai_Thai and Lao: Thailand, Laos, and parts of Vietnam____________________________
26.c. _Tibeto Burman_Burmese: Myanmar (Burma)__________________________________________
27. Define ideogram and point out two languages that use them:_characters that represent sounds,__
ideas, and concepts_____________________________________________________________________
27.a. _China___________________________________________________________________________
27.b. _Japan___________________________________________________________________________
28. Give an example language and where it is spoken for the following branch of the Afro-Siatic
Family:
28.a._ Semetic_Arabic: Southwestern Asia and North Africa____________________________________
29. Give an example language and where it is spoken for each of the following branches of the Uralic
Family:
29.a._ Finnic_Finnish: Finland_____________________________________________________________
29.b._ Ugric_Magyar: Hungary____________________________________________________________
30. Give an example language and where it is spoken for the following branch of the Niger Congo
Family:
30.a._ Benue-Congo_Swahili: Tanzania and eastern Africa_____________________________________
31. Give an example language and where it is spoken for the Austronesian language family:_Malay_Indonesian: Indonesia (World’s fourth most populous country)_________________________________
32. Explain how language has served as a divisive force in Nigeria:_None of its 200+ languages has____
widespread use leading to problems understanding each other, fighting, and calls from some cultural__
groups to secede. English is the official language of government and business for the convenience of___
conducting foreign affairs and trade________________________________________________________
Key Issue 4: Why Do People Preserve Local Languages? (page
167)
33. Give two examples of extinct languages:
33.a._Gothic__________________________________________________________________________
33.b._Hebrew (being revived)_____________________________________________________________
34. Give two reasons why languages decline:
34.a._political dominance________________________________________________________________
34.b._cultural preference________________________________________________________________
35. Explain two ways the problems faced by Belgium and Switzerland, two multilanguage states, are
similar:
35.a._multiple languages are spoken in the countries_________________________________________
35.b._Both have a very decentralized government and local authorities hold most power_____________
36. Define isolated languages. A language unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any___
language family________________________________________________________________________
Give one examples of an isolated language and where it is spoken:
36.a._Basque_Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France__________________________________
37. Define the following:
37.a. _lingua franca_A language of International communication like English. Mixing the elements of___
two languages into a common simple language to facilitate trade________________________________
37.b. _pidgin languages_mixing a few words of their language with a lingua franca . It has no native____
speakers and is always spoken in addition to one’s own language. A simplified lingua franca__________
37.c. _franglais_A combination of French and English or the introduction of English words like cowboy,_
hamburger, jeans, and T-shirt into the French language________________________________________
38. Why are some people in France upset by the widespread use of English?_See it as a threat to the__
French language, pride, and identity________________________________________________________
39. Define spanglish__The diffusion of English into the Spanish language_(ex; "Parquear" for "to park"),
not just borrowing English words like is normally the case in franglais