Language

What is Language and Why is it important?

• Language is a system of communication through a collection of sounds and symbols that a group of people understand to have the same meaning

• Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified

• Because languages vary spatially, they reinforce the sense of region and place

• Language is the integral Part of CULTURE

• During colonization it is common for the colonizer to force the colonized people to speak the language of the colonizer.

• United States forced American Indians to learn and speak English.

• Clare Swan of the Dena’ina Indians of Alaska:

“No one was allowed to speak the language. The American government didn’t allow it in schools, and a lot of women had married non-native men, and they said ‘your American now so you cant speak the language.’ So, we became invisible in the community, invisible to each other. And, then, because we couldn’t speak the language- What happens when you cant speak your own language is you have to think with someone else’s words and that’s a dreadful kind of Isolation.”

How many languages?

• There were 7299 languages in 2007 now about 6912 different languages on the planet earth…

• 10 Languages spoken by at least 100 million people

• 100 languages spoken by at least 5 million people (this includes first 10)

• Over 6000 Languages spoken by fewer than 2 million people

• 133 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people

Distinction between language and Literary Tradition

• Language deals with the spoken communication

• Literary Tradition is a system of written communication

Judea-Christian vs Scientific Explanation

• In Genesis 11:1-9 - All men spoke the same language after flood, built a tower to heaven and God felt it was not a tribute to him and “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth”

Judea-Christian vs Scientific Explanation

• Many linguistics and Geographers believe in an early language or languages from the beginning of human’s ability to communicate called NOSTRATIC language.

• Through Human movements and then through Isolation and Interaction the Language changes. At First into a Dialect and then over time into its own language.

• Dialect = regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation– Typically, speakers of one dialect can understand

speakers of another– Geographers interested because they reflect distinctive

features of the environments in which groups live• Ex. United States, Britain, Australia, India, and Pakistan all

speak English – just different dialects• There may be different dialects within the same country

– Ex. United States = northerners and southerners

Dialects of English

• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3488258724045437780&hl=en#

English dialects in the United States

• Dialects reveal a vivid geography• American English is hardly uniform from region to

region• At least three major dialects, corresponding to major

culture regions, developed in the eastern United States by the time of the American Revolution – Northern– Midland– Southern

• New England and southern accents sound odd because most of western migration came from the Middle Atlantic states

• Different dialects are seen throughout the Midwest and West because of specific migration areas

• Mobility of Americans has been a major reason for the relatively uniform language that exists throughout much of the west

Dialects in the United States

Dialects

• Frequently dialects are marked by actual differences in vocabulary

• Vocabulary differences are caused by isolation and different experiences.

• Isogloss = a geographic boundary of a particular word or words. – Pronunciations, vocabularies, colloquial phrases,

and syntax all part of isogloss

• colloquial phrases – informal form of speech – Some examples of informal colloquialisms can

include words (such as "y'all" or "gonna" or "wanna"), phrases (such as “ain't nothin‘”), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat").

• Syntax - rules for constructing sentences

What do you call these?

What do you call this?

Depending on Dialect• Wreck• Grinder• Subway• Sub• Hero• Hoagie• Italian sandwich— Maine and

other parts of New England. • po' boy• Wedge• Blimpie • Bomber • Cosmo (cosmopolitan) — North

Central Pennsylvania near Williamsport

• Poor boy — Saint Louis

• Po-boy — Southern Louisiana • Rocket • Spuckie — Boston, Massachusetts• Torpedo — New York, New Jersey,

other areas. • Tunnel — Various New England

areas. • Wedge - Yonkers, New York and

other parts of Westchester County, New York, The Bronx, lower Fairfield County, Connecticut, and portions of Upstate New York

• Zeppelin or Zep

Official Language

• Country designate at least one language which is used by the government for laws, reports, and street signs, money, and stamps

• The United States Official language is English– Not by law but by fact

• English is the official language in 50 countries– Two Billion people live in a country where English

is the official language

Fig. 5-1: English is an official language in 50 countries, including some in which it is not the most widely spoken language. It is also used and understood in many others.

English Speaking Countries

• Distribution of English speakers around the world exists because people of England migrated to colonies over past four centuries– North America in 17th century– Ireland in 17th century– South Asia in mid 18th century– Southern Africa in late 19th century

• English became official language even if only officials and elite could speak

Origin and Diffusion of English

• Three Germanic tribes – the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons – invaded British Isles around 450 A.D.– Came from present day Denmark and Germany

• All Germanic people spoke a common language, but this was prior to written records

• Language differences occurred when Germanic groups migrated to separate territories and lived in isolation – allowing their languages to continue evolving independently

• Other groups (Vikings) invaded and added their languages to the basic English

German Invasion

Invasions of England: 5th – 11th Centuries

Fig. 5-2: The groups that brought what became English to England included Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings. The Normans later brought French vocabulary to English.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4999110936947337680&hl=en#

Old English

• Combination of languages, Celts + Three Germanic tribes + Vikings = Old English

• Beowulf oldest record of English literature …Orally passed on from 700’s to about the year 1000

• Normans (French) invaded England in 1066 and made French the official language for 300 years –Majority of people still spoke English

• Constant conflict between English and French led to mingled form of a new language

• Numerous words have Germanic roots, while others have French roots

• 28.3% of all English words have French roots• http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin

Norman Invasion

The Timeline of the English language