Intro to Culture *
• Concepts of
Culture
• Schools of
Thought
• Cultural
Hearths
• Cultural
Diffusion
• Acculturation
• Ethnocentrism
and Cultural
Relativism
• Cultural
Differences
Popular and Folk
Culture *
• Folk Culture
• Popular
Culture
• Cultural
Landscapes
and Identity
Language
• Intro to
Language
• Language
families,
Languages, and
dialects.
• Language
Barriers
• Toponymy
Religion *
• Intro to
Religion
• Universalizing
Religions
• Ethnic
Religions
• Spatial Impact
of Religions
* You can find part one of AP® Human Geography: Unit 3 at http://tinyurl.com/aphug3-2.
Part 3 will be available soon!
Intro to
Language
Unit 3:
Part 2
Outline
IndoEuropean
The
English
Language
Part 1: Intro to Language
Introduction
to Language
Language
Categorizing
Language
Linguistic
Geography
Section A: What is Language
Language is a system of
communication that uses
signs, gestures, marks, or
vocal sounds to communicate
thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
What is the purpose of language?
Gives us the ability to communicate.
Allows us to teach new skills.
Provides us tools to transmit culture.
Create a context-sentence using the
following words:
Language, Diffusion, Culture
Is this Language?
Is this Language?
Is this Language?
How do languages differ?
Writing
Direction
Grammar
Differences
In
Language
Allowable
Sounds
Alphabets
Section B: Linguistic Geography
What is Linguistic Geography?
Linguistic Geography is
the study of speech areas
and their local variations.
Interesting Facts about Language:
There are an estimated 7,100 languages
spoken in the world.
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and
Spanish are the mother tongue or second language
of about half of the world's population
Approximately 80% of languages are spoken by less
than 100,000 people.
Approximately 50 languages are only spoken by one
person.
How do we track the history of
language?
Language
Divergence
Spatial Interaction
between speakers
break down causing
new words to develop.
British/Americans
Language breaks into
dialects and then into
new tongues.
Language
Convergence
Two languages
become one because
of close spatial
interaction.
This can also cause
Language extinction
We track languages by looking at
language divergence and convergence.
Latin: Crux
•Albanian: kryq
•Aromanian: crutse
•Catalan: creu
•Dalmatian: crauc
•English: crux, crucial
•French: croix
•Galician: cruz
•German: Kreuz
•Italian: croce
•Occitan: crotz
•Old Portuguese: cruz
•Portuguese: cruz
•Romanian: cruce
•Romansch: crusch, crousch
•Sardinian: cruche, crugi, cruxi, gruche,
grughe, gruxi
•Serbo-Croatian: krȋž / кри̑ ж
•Spanish: cruz
•Venetian: cróxe
We can tell what languages played part
in the development of others.
Section C: Categorizing Language
How do we categorize languages?
Language
Families
• Languages with a shared, but fairly distant origin.
• Culturally Defined.
• Standard Languages are those recognized by people for
Languages use in schools, government, media, and general use.
• Regional Variants of a Standard Language.
Dialects
What does the map above reveal about the
diffusion of language?
Language families by speakers.
Language Family
1. Indo-European
2. Sino-Tibetan
3. Niger-Congo
4. Afro-Asiatic
5. Austronesian
6. Dravidian
7. Altaic
8. Japanese
9. Austro-Asiatic
10. Tai-Kadai
Approx. # of Speakers
2.562 billion
1.276 billion
358 million
340 million
312 million
222 million
145 million
123 million
101 million
78 million
% of Pop
44.78%
22.28%
6.26%
5.93%
5.45%
3.87%
2.53%
2.16%
1.77%
1.37%
List the following languages in order of greatest to
least based on number of native speakers:
Arabic, Bengali, English, Hindi, Japanese,
Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish,
Standard German
Commonly spoken languages by native
speakers.
Language
1. Mandarin Chinese
2. Spanish
3. English
4. Arabic
5. Hindi
6. Bengali
7. Portuguese
8. Russian
9. Japanese
10. Standard German
% of Pop
12.44%
4.85%
4.83%
3.25%
2.68%
2.66%
2.62%
2.12%
1.8%
1.33%
Part 2: Indo-European
What is
Indo
European
Indo
European
The
European
Branch
The IndoIranian
Branch
Section A: What is Indo European?
IndoEuropean is
the language
family
spoken by
46% of the
world’s
population.
Where did Indo-European
originate?
Sedentary
Farmer
Hypothesis
Developed by
Colin Renfew
Also called the
“Renfew
Hypothesis”
Indo-European
started in the
Fertile Crescent.
Language
diffused
peacefully
through
agricultural trade.
Sedentary Farmer
Hypothesis
Nomadic
Warrior Thesis
Developed by Marinja
Gimbutas
Also called the
“Conquest Theory”
Indo-European began
in the vicinity of
Russia.
Kurgan Warriors
brought the language
with them as they
conquered other
areas.
Kurgan Migration
Section B: The Indo-Iranian Branch
15
Others
Hindi
Indic:
IndoIranian
Kurdish
Iranian
Pashto
Farsi
Green - Farsi
Purple – Pashto
Turquoise – Kurdish
Red – Lurish
Yellow - Baloch
The Iranian Languages
The Indian Languages
Hypothesize: Why would people in the same
country speak so many different languages?
What is Linguistic Fragmentation?
Linguistic Fragmentation
occurs when people in a
country speak many different
languages. This is often caused
by physical or cultural barriers.
Papua, New Guinea has over 850 languages
making it the most linguistically diverse place
on earth.
Predict: How would people in a linguistically
diverse country have a central government?
Many countries that experience linguistic
fragmentation also have an official language.
India’s official language is English.
What is an official language?
An official language is the
language used by the
government when making
laws, reports, public objects,
money, and stamps.
Why would India’s official language be English?
An official language is not always the
majority language of an area.
Example:
New Zealand’s Official Language is only
spoken by 5% of the Population
Some countries have more than one
official language.
Example:
Switzerland has Four: German,
French, Italian, and Romansch
Section B: The European Branch
Romance
Languages
Germanic
Languages
Slavic
Languages
French
English,
Russian
Spanish
German,
Polish
Czech
Italian
Danish,
Ukrainian
Romanian
Norwegian
Portuguese
Swedish
Slovenian
Serbo-Croatian
Basque is a
language isolate.
What is a language isolate?
A language isolate is a
language that is not related to
any other language around it.
They are like a language family
of only one language.
Part 3: The English Language
The
Origins of
English
Diffusion
of English
Toponymy
The
English
Language
English as
a Global
Lingua
Franca
American
English
Section A: The Origins of English
Review: What language family and
language branch is English a part of?
The Origins of the English Language
Germanic Tribes
Where did English come
from?
Latin
Old Norse
Norman French
Celtic Tribes
English
Old English
Middle English
Modern English
• 450CE-1100CE
• 1100CE – 1470-CE
• 1470CE – 1650CE
The Lord’s Prayer in Old English
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;
Si þin nama gehalgod
to becume þin rice
gewurþe ðin willa
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge
ac alys us of yfele soþlice
The Lord’s Prayer in Middle
English
Oure fadir that art in heuenes, halewid be thi
name; thi kyndoom come to; be thi wille don in
erthe as in heuene: gyue to us this dai oure
breed ouer othir substaunce; and forgyue to us
oure dettis, as we forgyuen to oure gettouris;
and lede us not in to temptacioun, but delyuere
us fro yuel.
Section B: The Diffusion of English
Map of Great Britain and its
Colonies
Connect: What types of diffusion may
explain the movement of English from place
to place. Explain.
Britain
The Diffusion of
English
British Colonies
United States
United States
Annexes
(Philippines)
Hypothesize: Does English sound the
same wherever it is spoken?
The English Language: Dialects
What is a dialect?
A dialect is a regional variation
of a language distinguished by
distinctive vocabulary,
spelling, and pronunciation.
Section C: American English
Differences between British and
American English
Vocabulary
• Different because settlers in America encountered new objects,
animals, etcetera.
• New animals, for example, were given Native American Names.
• As new inventions appeared they received different names.
Spelling
• Spelling diverged from a strong national American Identity.
• Webster, an American dictionary publisher had an American agenda
Pronunciation
• Largely explained by distance and time.
Engage: How does the English language
differ within the United States?
What is an isogloss?
An isogloss is a geographic
boundary line delimiting the
area in which a given linguistic
feature occurs.
Isoglosses in the United States
Northern
East
Coast
Isoglosses
Southern
Midlands
Predict: How has Mass Media and the
Internet affected the English language?
Section D: English as a Global Lingua
Franca
What is a Lingua Franca?
A Lingua Franca is a language
systematically used to make
communication possible
between people not sharing
an original language.
Predict: What systems of communication
are largely dominated by English?
The
Internet
Systems
that Use
English
Global
Commerce
ESL
Countries with English as their
official or dominant language.
Many areas do not learn full
English but a Pidgin.
What is a pidgin?
A Pidgin is a simplified version
of a language.
Debate: Would text-speak be considered
a Pidgin?
A pidgin that becomes the major
language of a people is called a
creole language.
Section D: Toponymy
What is toponymy?
Toponymy is the study of place
names. It can often show us
historical concepts long after
the event has happened or
person has died.
Toponyms can show us:
• The History of a Place
– Colonization
• Most Brazilian Toponyms are Portuguese
• French Toponyms in Louisiana
• The Culture of a People
– George Washington Bridge,
– Martin Luther King Blvd,
– Jacksonville, Florida
Descriptive Toponyms -
The Rocky Mountains
Associative Toponyms -
Pensacola Beach, Florida
Commemorative Toponyms -
New York City, New York
Manufactured Toponyms -
Truth and Consequences, New Mexico
Incident Toponyms -
Battle Creek, Michigan
Possessive Toponyms -
Johnson City, Texas