world geography oct. 24, 2014. today unit 5 – language (continued)
TRANSCRIPT
WORLD GEOGRAPHY
Oct. 24, 2014
Today
Unit 5 – Language (continued)
Unit 5 - Language
- Languages and the role they play in culture
- Language distribution
- Diffusion of language
- Language and places
Language and culture
- Language contains much of cultural identity:
“Visibility”
Place of origin
Names of people, places, and things
Arts (e.g. music, literature)
PERCEPTION (to a degree, at least)
Language and culture
Example: Place names in the U.S. vs. China
U.S. - often indicative of the ethnic groups that originally settled in the area
e.g. San Francisco (Spanish) Williamsburg (German)
China (Mandarin) – Often determined by geographic location
What constitutes a language?
- Mutual intelligibility
- Standardized languages
- Dialects
Mutual Intelligibility
Criterion for a language: Speakers can understand each other
Problems
- Measuring “mutual intelligibility”
- Standard languages and government impact on what is a “language” and what is a “dialect”
Mutual Intelligibility
Criterion for a language: Speakers can understand each other
Problems
- Measuring “mutual intelligibility”
e.g. Mandarin Chinese vs. Cantonese Chinese vs. Standard written Chinese
- more than 8 dialects of Chinese
Mutual Intelligibility
Criterion for a language: Speakers can understand each other
Problems
- Standard languages and government impact on what is a “language” and what is a “dialect”
DialectVariant of standard language by ethnicity or region:
- Vocabulary- Syntax- Cadence, pace- Pronunciation
Scottish dialect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5XyecKONu8
BRP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIv0_LVT6JQ&list=PL6F15F2789687007F
Dialect
Creates the question of what the “true” language is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGuCaApR7U
Dialect
Isogloss: A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs
Dialect
Dialect
Dialect
Dialect
Dialect
Standardized language
“One that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught.” (p. 172)
e.g. Beijing Mandarin
BRP (British Received Pronunciation)
Parisian French
Korean spoken in Seoul
- Essentially, decided through power
Language distribution- Language formation
- Historical languages (Proto-Indo European)
Languages of Europe and Africa (next class)
Language distribution
Language formationLinkages among languages marked by sound shifts, slight changes in a word across languages over time
“Milk” = lacte in Latin leche in Spanish lait in French latta in Italian
“I’m hungry” = J'ai faim (French) Ho fame (Italian) Tengo hambre (Spanish)
http://ielanguages.com/romance_phrases.html
Language formation
Language divergence: Breakup of a language into dialects and then new languages from lack of interaction among speakers
e.g. Latin Romance languages
- French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
Language formation
Language convergence: When peoples with different languages have consistent interaction and their languages blend into one
e.g. Old English + Norman French
= Middle English
(which eventually developed into modern English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYsD4DPg4ls
Study of historical languages
Backward reconstruction: Tracking sound shifts and the hardening of consonants backward to reveal an “original” language
• Can deduce the vocabulary of an extinct language• Can recreate ancient languages (deep reconstruction)
Proto-Indo European: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jlcV7DYL3o#t=532
Historical linkages among languages
• Indo-European language family
• Proto-Indo-European language
• Nostratic Language (ancient ancestor of Proto-Indo-European Language)
Origins of Proto-Indo European
Renfrew Hypothesis: Began in the Fertile Crescent, and then:
- Europe’s languages from Anatolia
- North Africa and Arabia’s languages from the Western Arc of Fertile Crescent
- Southwest Asia and South Asia’s languages from the Eastern Arc of Fertile Crescent
Agriculture Theory
With increased food supply and population, migration of speakers from the hearth of
Indo-European languages into Europe
Dispersal Hypothesis• From the hearth eastward into present-day Iran
• Around the Caspian• Into Europe
Proto-Indo European translator
http://indo-european.info/dictionary-translator/