The Geography
of Languages and Religions
Language & Religion
Two most important forces that bond and
define human cultures
Each originated in a distinct hearth
Two most important of all types of cultural
regions
Defining Language
Language - Pronunciation and combination of
words used to communicate within a group of
people
Important cultural index – each language has a
unique way of dealing with facts, ideas, and
concepts.
Structures individual perception of world
Language Regions
Dialects
Minor variations within a language
Standard language
Following formal rule of diction and grammar
Official language
Particular language for any given country
Lingua franca - Current language of international
discourse (English)
Linguistic Geography
The study of different dialects across space
Speech community – sounds are localized only among a
group of people who speak together
Isoglosses – boundary lines around places where speakers
use linguistic features in the same way
Parallel physical landscape features
Geographical dialect continuum – chain of dialects or
languages spoken across an area
World’s Major Languages
7,299 distinct languages (ethnologue)
50% of world population speak one of 12 major
languages listed
Mandarin Chinese is largest with 885 million
English is the primary language of 350 million and
is the official language of about 50 countries
Language Development
Protolanguage
Common ancestor to any group of today’s languages
Language family
Languages related by descent from a common
protolanguage
Cognate – a word that clearly looks like or sounds
like another word which it is related to
Etymology- the study of word origins and history
Indo-European Language Family
Identified by Sir William Jones, 1786
Proto-Indo-European
• Common ancestor of many modern languages
Grimm’s Law – rules to describe regular shifts in
sounds that occurred when various Indo-European
languages diverged
Set forth by Jacob Grimm of the Brothers
Grimm
Geography of Writing
Orthography - system of writing
Independent inventions of writing
• Sumerians – Mesopotamia before (3000 B.C.)
• Olmec – Central America (650 B.C.)
Alphabets – system of letters which represent sounds
Roman – modern western European languages Kazakhstan
Cyrillic – Greek alphabet augmented by “Saint Cyril”
Arabic – language of the Koran (uniting force)
Non-alphabetic – each character represents a word or
concept
Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Toponymy- The study of place names
Consists of:
Natural features (Oak Bay)
Origins/values of inhabitants (British
Colombia)
Belief structures, religions (Islamabad – place
of Islam)
Current or past heroes (St. Petersburg)
Linguistic Differentiation
National languages
Iceland and Japan – exclusive to the country
Nation building
Philological nationalism – mother tongues have given
rise to nationalism
Postcolonial societies
Imposed official languages by colonial ruler
Not spoken by locals
Multiple Language States
Polyglot states
Having multiple official languages
United States
English always lingua franca
Three major dialects in 13 colonies
Non-English languages – creole, french,
spanish
Language Vocab.
British Received Pronunciation (BRP) – standard form of
British speech used by upper class Britons
Creole – 159 – mix of colonizers language and indigenous
language of people being colonized
Ebonics – African American dialect heavily influenced by
Western African languages
Extinct language 168 – once in use, even in the recent past
Franglais – combination of French and English
Ideograms – written character that usually represents a
concept rather than a pronunciation
Isolated language – a language that is not related to any
other
Language Vocab. Cont…
Language Branch – a collection of language related to a
common ancestral language that existed several thousands
of years ago
Language group – a collection of languages within a
branch that share a common origin, i.e. West Germanic
Literary Tradition 146
Pidgin Language – includes grammar rules of lingua franca
and some elements of a native language
Spanglish – combination of Spanish and English
(Cubonics) bacuncliner
Vulgar Latin – non standard literary Latin spread by
Roman Soldiers
World’s Major Religions
Systems of beliefs guiding behavior
Orthopraxy
• Ethic and pscyhological based belief systems
• (Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism)
Orthodoxy
• Philosophical and theological based belief system
Fundamentalism – strict adherence to traditional beliefs
Secularism – lifestyle or policy that purposely ignores or
excludes religious considerations
Judaism
14 million adherents
Monotheistic
Pentateuch
First five books of the Old Testament
Sects
Orthodox - fundamentalist
Conservative, Reform
Israel
Homeland for Jewish people
Created 1948
Conflict between Israel and Palestine
Christianity
Emerged from Judaism
Coptic Church
Founded in Alexandria in A.D. 41
Official religion of Roman Empire
Facilitated geographical spread
Dark Ages – church was the focal point for
medieval people
Protestant Reformation – Martin Luther
Significant growth in Africa, Asia and Latin
America
Islam
Muhammad (570 -632)
Allah –one god
Cognate of “eloh”
Five Pillars of Islam
Belief in one God
Five daily prayers
Charity – generous alums
Fasting during Ramadan
Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
Sects
Sunni – leader is chosen (85%)
Shiite – leader is descendant of Muhammad (15%)
Hinduism & Sikhism
Hinduism - Most ancient religious tradition in Asia
Vedas – Hindu sacred texts
Reincarnation, Karma
Castes
•
•
•
•
Brahman, priestly
Kshatriya, warrior
Vaisya, tradesman and farmer
Sudra, servant and laborer
Untouchables
Sikhism
Offshoot of Hinduism
Guru Nanak – combined teaching of Hinduism and Islam
Buddhism
Buddha – Enlightened One (Siddhartha- Hindu
prince)
Four Noble Truths
Life involves suffering
Cause of suffering is desire
Elimination of desire ends suffering
Right thinking and behavior eliminate desire
8 Fold Path can = Nirvana
Diffused from India – East/SE Asia, Tibet, &
Nepal
Other Religions
Eastern Religions
Confucianism – based on The Analects (governed China’s political
and moral culture for 2,000 years)
Taoism – 3rd Century, Tao-te Ching (Live in harmony w/ nature)
Shinto – native to Japan, recognized emperor as divine
Animism and Shamanism
Animism
• Belief in ubiquity of spirits or spiritual forces, hierachies of divinities
Shamanism
• Shaman – is a medium who goes into hupnotic trances – communes
with the sprit world
Religion & Politics
Freedom of religion – most countries guarantee
this and observe a form of secularism (political
boundaries stabalize religious affiliations) (see
map pg 305)
Theocracy
Church rules directly (Iran)
Separation of church and state
Islamic is inherently political
United States – several states established as theocracies
• Treaty between US and Tripoli 1797 “U.S. gov is not based on
Christian religion”
Terrorism – Fundamentalism (failure of education
Social Impact of Religion
Gender roles
Women’s rights
Diet
Vegetarians
Pork, beef cultural taboos, cows, pigs wars and witches
Alcohol
Ethics and morals
Schools and institutions
Economic Impact
Burial practices
Protestantism and capitalism
Catholic Church and capitalism
Confucianism verses individualism
Religion and Environment
Burial practices
Origin of the world
Relationship with nature
Exploitive approach
Adaptive approach
Religion Vocab. Cont…
Animism – Believe that inanimate objects have spirits
Autonomous Religion – self sufficient and interaction among
communities is confined to little more than loose cooperation
Branch – a large and fundamental division within a religion
Caste – The class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is
assigned according to religious law
Cosmogony – Set of beliefs concerning the origin of the universe
Denomination – is a division of a branch that unites a number of local
congregations in a single legal and administrative body
Ethnic Religion – Relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose
characteristics of the physical characteristics of the particular location
Religion Vocab. Cont…
Fundamentalism - strict adherence to basic principles of a religion
Ghetto – city neighborhood where Jews were forced to live
Hierarchical Religion – well defined geographic structure that
organizes territory into local administrative units
Missionary – individuals who help to transmit a universalizing religion
Pagan – follower of a polytheistic religion “countryside”
Sect – small group that has broken away from a denomination
Universalizing Religion – attempt to be global and appeal to all people
wherever they live
Liberation Theology – the idea that the Catholic church should work to
liberate oppressed people through political activistm