Chapter 5 – Language
AP Human Geography
Boucher
What Are Languages, and What Role
Do They Play in Culture?
• Language – A set
of sounds,
combinations of
sounds, and
symbols that are
used for
communication
• Standard
Language – One
that is
published,
widely
distributed, and
purposefully
taught.
Language Key Terms
• Dialects – Variants of a
standard language along
regional or ethnic lines
• Isogloss – Geographic
boundary where a
particular linguistic
feature occurs (Pop v.
Soda)
• Mutual Intelligibility –
When two people can
understand each other
when speaking
– Problems?
World Language Families
A Boring, Yet Important, Language
Slide
• Distribution of World Languages
– Families – Shared, but fairly distant, origin (IndoEuropean, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, etc.)
– Subfamilies – Commonalities are more definite
and the origin is more recent (Romance,
Germanic, Slavic, etc.)
• How Are Languages Formed?
– Can find linkages among languages by examining
sound shifts (eg. Milk = lacte (Latin), latta (Italian),
leche (Spanish), lait (French)
Proto-Indo-European Hypothesis
Languages began at one hearth and
moved westward.
The Renfrew Hypothesis
Proposes that three sources of agriculture
each gave rise to a major language family.
Dispersal Hypothesis
Theory argues that the Indo-European language
family began in the Caucasus Mountain region and
dispersed eastward before diffusing westward.
The Languages of Europe
• Romance (French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian,
and Portuguese)
• Germanic (English, German, Danish,
Norwegian, Swedish)
• Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.)
• Euskera – Isolated Language
– Spoken by Basques in the Andorra Mtn. region
between Spain and France
– Maintain strong identity tied to language
Languages of Subsaharan Africa
• Extreme Language
Diversity
• Effects of Colonialism
• Profile: Nigeria
– More than 500
different languages
– English taught first in
school, however many
do not use English
once they enter daily
Nigerian society
How Do Languages Diffuse?
• That Would Make a Good FRQ!
– Answers: Human interaction, print distribution, migration,
trade, rise of nation-states, colonialism
• Spatial Interaction Helps to 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
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Example of a lingua franca – The message on the back of
the bench is written in the lingua franca known to
virtually all Indian migrants to the Arabian Peninsula
• Monolingual State
– A country in which only
one language is spoken
(Japan, Uruguay, Iceland,
etc.)
• Multilingual State
– A country in which more
than one language is in
use (most countries)
• Official Languages
– Often adopted to unite
the country’s people
• Global Language
– Common language for
trade and commerce
What Role Does Language Play in
Making Places?
• Place – the uniqueness of a location, what
people do in a location, what they create, how
they impart a certain character, a certain
imprint on the location by making it unique
• Toponym – Place name
– Imparts a certain character on a place
– Reflects the social processes in a place
– Can give us a glimpse of the history of a place
Changing Toponyms
• Major reasons people
change toponyms:
– After decolonization
– After a political revolution
– To memorialize people or
events
– To commodify or brand a
place ($$$)
• When people change a
toponym, they have the
power to “wipe out the
past and call forth the
new.”
U.S. Cities with Martin Luther King Streets
Do a quick 4 Level Analysis in your mind with this map!
What can it tell us about our cultural landscape?