Chapter 5 Language AP Human Geography Boucher What

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 (Indo. European, 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?