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CHAPTER 6: L ANGUAGE

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1. W HAT ARE L ANGUAGES , AND W HAT R OLE DO L ANGUAGES P LAY IN C ULTURE ?

What Is a Language?Languages are often differentiated between based onmutual intelligibilityMutual intelligibility : the ability of two people tounderstand each other when speaking

Controversy in using this differentiation exists: there is noaccurate way to measure it, and there are a few exceptions toit (e.g. Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese are thesame but not mutually intelligible; Danish and Norwegian differ

but are mutually intelligible).There is a range of 3,000 to 6,000 estimated languages.

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Standardized LanguageStandardized language : a language that is published,widely distributed, and purposefully taught. New words are added to describe new innovationsPower and influence affect the standardized language

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DialectsDialects : variants of a standard language alongregional or ethnic lines

Affected by differences in vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation,

cadence, and speech paceDialect chains : a set of contiguous dialects in whichthe dialects nearest to each other at any place in thechain are most closely related

Distribute across space: the farther the distance from an

original point, the stranger a dialect isIsogloss : a geographic boundary within which aparticular linguistic feature occurs

Determine vocabulary differences (e.g. in the US the nameused for soft drink changes from region to region)

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2. W HY ARE L ANGUAGES D ISTRIBUTED LIKE THEY ARE ?

Language FormationLanguage families : classifications of languagesSound shift : a slight change in a word across languageswithin a subfamily or through a language family from thepresent backward to its origin

William Jones saw a connection between Sanskrit and ancientLatin and Greece (1700s), noting that they all probably arose fromthe same source19 th century Jakob Grimm suggested that sound shifts showthat hard consonants in languages turned softer over the years ofthe languages activity

E.g. vater (German) vader (Dutch) father (English)Proto-Indo-European : an ancestral Indo-European language(first major linguistic hypothesis)

To find the existence of such a language: (1) vocabulary had tobe reconstructed, (2) languages hearth had to be located, (3)routes of diffusion needed to be traced.

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Indo-European Languages

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Language Formation (continued)1. Reconstructing vocabulary of Proto-Indo-European

Backward reconstruction : tracking sound shifts and thehardening of consonants backward toward the original

languageExtinct language : a language without any native speakersDeep reconstruction : recreation of the language before anextinct languageVladislav Illich-Svitych and Aharon Dolgopolsky two Russianlinguists who met up after much individual deep reconstructionand found many similaritiesNostratic : ancient ancestor of the Proto-Indo-European

Used 14,000 years ago before the 1 st AgriculturalRevolution

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Language Formation (continued)2. Locating the Proto-Indo-European hearth

Language divergence : spatial interaction among speakers of alanguage breaks down and the language fragments first intodialects and then into discrete tongues

Language convergence : collapsing two languages into oneBy analyzing the Proto-Indo- Europeans vocabulary, linguists andgeographers know the environment of its hearth and aspects ofthe users culture and economy One possible hearth Black Sea, east-central EuropeRenfrew hypothesis : three sources of agriculture each gave rise

to a major language familyStephen Oppenheimer argued against it, saying peopleoriginated in Central Africa, followed the eastern coast, theSouthern Arabian Peninsula, and finally ended up in India80,000 years ago (another possible hearth for the Proto-Indo-European)

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The Renfrew hypothesis, otherwise known as the Anatolian hypothesis

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Language Formation (continued)3. Tracing Proto-Indo-European routes of diffusion

Diffusion theories commonly focus on Europe because:1. The language diffused into Europe over time2. There is a significant body of research focused on the early

peopling of EuropeConquest theory : early speakers of Proto-Indo-Europeanspread from east to west on horseback (for every 25 years,the agricultural frontier moved 11 miles)Dispersal hypothesis : Indo-European languages that arosefrom Proto-Indo-European were first carried eastward intosouthwest Asia, then to the Caspian Sea, then acrossRussian-Ukrainian plains, then to Balkans 1991 genes taken from many different Europeans providedevidence in favor of the agriculture theory showed farmersmoved westward and northward and their genes changed asa result of distance decay

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The Languages of EuropeHalf the world speaks Indo-European languagesCeltic people brought Indo-European languages to Europe3,000 years ago migrations and empire building led to thealteration of Celtic into the three characterizations of aEuropean linguistic pattern

Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian,Portuguese): lie in areas once controlled but not subsequentlyoverwhelmed by the Roman EmpireGermanic languages (English, German, Danish, Norwegian,Swedish): reflect the expansion of peoples out of northern Europeto the west and south Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian,Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian): developed as Slavicpeople migrated from a base in present-day Ukraine close to 2000years ago

There is a correlation between languages spoken and politicalorganization of space, with a few exceptions

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Language Families of Africa

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Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa (continued)Three major languages of Nigeria

Housa (in the north)Yoruba (in the southwest)

Ibu (in the southeast)Nigeria is very linguistically diverse 500 languages arespokenBritish colonialism contributed to the creation of Nigeriaand many of the arbitrary borders in Africa thatcompletely ignore cultural divisionEnglish is the official language of Nigeria to avoid thepolitical charge attached to the other three languagesbut it serves little purpose to Nigerians

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3. H OW DO L ANGUAGES D IFFUSE ?

Lingua FrancaTrade encouraged people speaking different languages tofind ways of communicating with each other (led to thedevelopment of a lingua franca)

Lingua franca : a tongue spoken in ancient Mediterranean parts

comprised of a mixture of Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, and Arabic; a common language for purposes of trade and commerceFranks were in the Mediterranean for purposes of seabornecommerce in the 1200s and ended up mixing French, Italian,Greek, Spanish, and ArabicEnglish is a lingua franca, as is Swahili in East Africa

Pidgin language : when parts of two or more languages arecombined in a simplified structure and vocabulary Creole language : a language that began as a Pidginlanguage but was later adopted as the mother tongue by apeople in place of the mother tongue

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MultilingualismMonolingual states : countries in which only one language isspoken

Few monolingual states exist (Japan, Uruguay, Venezuela,Iceland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Lesotho)

Multilingual states : countries in which more than onelanguage is spoken

In some multilingual states, linguistic fragmentation reflectsdivisive forces as well as strong cultural pluralism

Official LanguagesOfficial language : the language selected to promote internalcohesion

Countries with linguistic fragmentation tie people together byadopting an official language

Some citizens object to the official language chosenSome countries have two or more official languages

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Global LanguagesGlobal language : a common language of trade andcommerce used around the world

English is having increased usage

Will not become the kind of global language where everyperson uses it in day-to-day activities because:

1. Population rates are lower in English-speaking places2. People in non-English speaking places are unwilling to

abandon their language (they dont want to abandon theirculture by switching to English)

Used as an international language of commerce inincreasing frequency.

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4. W HAT R OLE DOES L ANGUAGE P LAY IN M AKING P LACES ?

Changing ToponymsToponyms : place names

When people change the names of places, they have thepower to change the places history

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochtown changed its name because it feared the loss of theWelsh language

Changes in place names give us an idea about the layers ofhistory and cultural landscape

Kenai Peninsula in AK Natives called it Nanwalek in theearly 1800s. Changed it to Alexandorf when the Russianstook it over. Americans changed it to English Bay whenthey mapped it. Natives changed it back to Nanwalek.

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Changing Toponyms (continued)Types of Toponyms

Post-Colonial ToponymsPeople choose new toponyms to escape the colonial pastas soon as power changes hands

Name changes in Africa: Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, GoldCoast to Ghana, Nyasaland to Malawi, and Northern andSouthern Rhodesia to Zambia and ZimbabweName changes in Asia: East Pakistan to Bangladesh, theNetherlands East Indies to Indonesia

New independent countries changed names to reflect

independence but did not wipe all names awayChange: Leopoldville became Kinshasa, capital of the Congo;Salisbury, Zimbabwe, became Harare; Loureno Marques,Mozambique, to MaputoSame: Etoile (the Congo), Colleen Bawn (Zimbabwe), CaboDelgado (Mozambique)

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Changing Toponyms (continued)Types of Toponyms (continued)

Post-Revolution ToponymsIndependence and changes in power through coups and

revolutions both prompt name changesGeneral Mobutu Sese Seko changed the Belgian Congo toZare, which was adopted willingly by other governments.1997 Laurent Kabila ousted Mobutu and changed it again toDemocratic Republic of the Congo, which everybody adopted.

Name changes can make people react strongly

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Memorial ToponymsPeople choose to change toponyms to memorialize an

important person or eventChange to Memorial Park in the US for hundreds of people andevents

Events like decolonization or a political revolution spurchanges as well

African Americans in the US change street names tocommemorate Martin Luther King Jr.

Revolutions in the thought and behaviorChange to reflect the surrounding community (MLK Jr. Dr.)

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Commodification of ToponymsInternational media corporations that have global reach

bring known names to new placesDisney Corporation opened Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 andDisneyland Paris in 1990 capitalize on the success ofDisneyland in the USStadiumsOpening of tunnels in NY named after sponsors

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