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Geography of Language

Geography of Language. Where are English speakers distributed? Why is English related to other languages?. What’s language?. Language - speech communication- a collection of sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning Literary tradition- written communication.

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Geography of Language

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  1. Geography of Language Where are English speakers distributed? Why is English related to other languages?

  2. What’s language? • Language- speech communication- a collection of sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning • Literary tradition- written communication

  3. World Languages • 6,912 known living languages • Only 10 spoken by more than 100 million • 100 spoken by 5 million or more • 70 spoken by 2-5 million people • Rest spoken by less than 2 million

  4. Language Family- a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed before recorded history • Language Branch-a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago • Language group- collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in recent past and display few differences in grammar/vocab • Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation • Official language- used by gov’t for laws, public documents, road signs, $, etc • Standard language- a dialect that is well established and widely recognized as the most accepted

  5. Language Distribution • The distribution of language results primarily from migration- people carry it with them like folk cultural diffusion • Distribution of language results from interaction and isolation. Interaction keeps language similar, isolation creates differences and explains language regions • Language spreads through 2 things- migration and conquest

  6. Distribution of English • English is spoken fluently by ½ billion people, more than any other except Mandarin- wider distribution • English spread wherever the British established colonies: 1st Ireland, then N. America, S. Asia, S. Pacific, and S. Africa. • The US spread English to the Philippines • 2 billion live in countries where English is official

  7. Origins of English • By 2000 BC Celts invaded and settled British Isles • 450 AD- Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded and migrated pushing Celts to edge of islands • Name England comes from Angle-land, in Old English Engle-land, language called Englisc • Angles came from a corner, or angle, of Germany called Schleswig-Holstein

  8. Origins of English • 800’s AD Vikings invade, add words • 1066 AD- William the Conqueror invades from Normandy, France- French becomes official language for next 300 yrs. Parliament used French until 1489. • Germanic language used by commoners and French used by elites- blended to make English • FR- celestial, equestrian, masculine, feminine • DE- sky, horse, man, woman

  9. Standard British English • Called BRP, or British Received Pronunciation • Not established until the 18th century • Despite a standard, strong regional differences persist-northern, midland, southern • Path- M, N- /a/; S- /ah/ • Butter- M, N- /oo/ • Cat- SE- /e/ http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/

  10. Why is American English different from British English? • Years of Isolation- Atlantic Ocean • BRP not established until America declared independence • BRP based on upper class, when colonists lower class • Colonists encountered new animals, artifacts, places, and used Indian names • Noah Webster created American dictionary and grammar- nationalism

  11. How is American English different from British English? • Spelling/Vocab: • New animals- moose, chipmunk, raccoon • New artifacts- squash, canoe, moccasin • Places- Mississippi, Illinois, Miami • Webster- honor (honour), color (colour), defense (defence)

  12. How is American English different from British English? • Pronunciation: • Main difference is pronunciation of a and r • Fast, path, half (ah), not (a) • Brits eliminate r unless before vowel: Lord (laud) • Secretary (secret’ry), necessary (necess’ry) • Pronunciation has changed more in England than here

  13. Dialects in the US • 3 main branches: New England, Middle Atlantic, Southeastern • NE- from E. Anglia, SE England • MA- diverse- Germans, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, Scandinavian • SE- from SE England, socioeconomically diverse

  14. Dialects in the US • Any word not used nationally has a distinctive geographic space, like a functional region • The boundaries of word use are called an isogloss • Small stream is “brook” in NE, “run” in MA, and “branch” in SE • Mass media influence local speech: a frying pan was called a “spider” in NE and “skillet” in MA

  15. Pronunciation • http://alt-usage-english.org/audio_archive.shtml • In NE they drop the “r” in heart and lark, substitute “ah” for r ending in ear and care • SE- Tuesday, “Tyuesday”, mine “mi-yen” • MA- origin of standard American English, ‘cause most settlers to the west came from MA • NE had most contact w/ England, so they’re closest to British English

  16. English is part of the Indo-European language family • Language Family- a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed before recorded history (Indo-European) • Language Branch-a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago (Germanic) • Language group- collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in recent past and display few differences in grammar/vocab (West Germanic) • Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation

  17. Indo-European Branches • Indo-European languages are spoken by over 3 billion people • 8 total. 4 main ones- Romance, Germanic, Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic • 4 minor- Albanian, Greek, Celtic, Armenian

  18. Germanic Branch • W. Germanic is our group, divided into High and Low from the elevation of Germany. • High German became standard Deutsch, Low German is ancestor of English • North German is Scandinavian

  19. Indo-Iranian Branch • This branch has the most speakers worldwide- 1 billion • Indic (east) and Iranian (west) groups • Hindi spoken by 1/3 of Indians, script called Devanagari • Urdu main language in Pakistan, spoken like Hindi but Arabic script • Both belong to Hindustani, a lingua franca, or common tongue • India has 18 official languages

  20. Balto-Slavic Branch • 1 language until 600s AD when Slavs entered Europe and developed in isolation • Divided into East, West, South Slavic • E. Slavic- Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusan , • W. Slavic- Polish, Czech, Slovak • S. Slavic- spoken in Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia • Bosnians/Croats use Roman alphabet, others use Cyrillic alphabet

  21. Romance Branch • Evolved from Latin 2000 yrs ago- product of Roman Empire • 4 main- Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian- mountains separate the Romance languages • 5th- Romanian, separated by Slavs • Vulgar Latin is the form spoken by peoples of the Roman Empire, spread by soldiers. • Ex: Horse- Literary term equus, (equestrian, equine); Vulgar term caballus, (caballo, cavalo, cheval, cal) • Empire collapsed 5th century, by 8th century distinct languages

  22. Romance Branch Dialects • FR- langue d’oil in North and langue d’oc in South. Both shortened versions of Latin hoc illud est (It is so). • Sp- Castilian, Aragon, Leon, etc • Sp and Port. Worldwide importance because of colonialism • Creole- mixing of colonizer’s language with language of people being dominated

  23. Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European • The existence of proto-Indo-European cannot be proved. Evidence comes from root words. • Beech, oak, bear, deer, pheasant, bee all have common roots in Indo-European languages. • Elephant, camel, rice, bamboo have no common root- must have been added later • There are common root words for snow and winter, but not ocean. Probably cold climate, inland

  24. Where did Indo-European Originate? How did it spread? • Theory 1- (Gimbutas) a people called Kurgans, nomadic herders, domesticated cattle/horses on steppes of Russia/Kazakhstan. They migrated in 4300 BC searching for grassland and used horses to conquer Europe and S. Asia • Spread through Conquest!

  25. Where did Indo-European Originate? How did it spread? • Theory 2- (Renfrew) 6300 BC, believes originated in Anatolia (Asia Minor, Turkey) and diffused along with agricultural practices. Indo-European dominates because ag practices increase population- hunter/gatherers absorbed • Gray supports this theory but argues 6700BC

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