Peru Geo
The Geography of Language (Rubenstein, Ch. 5)
Geolinguistics = branch of cultural geography that specifically studies the spatial patterns & meanings of language
Language is most often considered the core component of culture groups
Some key quotes from Jordan-Bychkov regarding the significance of language:
“Provides the single most common variable by which different culture groups are identified”
“Main means by which learned customs & skills are passed from generation to generation”
“Facilitates the cultural diffusion of innovations”
“Can reinforce the sense of region & place”
“Helps shape the way we think & how we perceive & name our environment”
In sum, it “contains the very essence of culture”
What is language?
Languages = “tongues” (or ways of communicating) that cannot be mutually understood
E.g., someone speaking Spanish cannot be understood by someone who only knows how to speak English
vs. Dialects = variant forms of a language that have not lost mutual comprehension
e.g., Language: English
Dialects: American, British, Australian, Scottish, etc.
Of course, dialects can even have sub-dialects
e.g., American English sub-dialects: Midwestern, New England, Ebonics (“Black English”), etc.
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This map shows the regions of some of the major American English sub-dialects
Notice the “apexes” (or upward extensions) of the Hill Southern dialect that extend into Missouri & Indiana. Usually dialects and sub-dialects are determined on the basis of the usage of particular terms, phrases, or pronunciations. For example, in the Midwestern sub-dialect, the name of the state of Missouri is most commonly pronounced like Missou-ree while in the Hill Southern sub-dialect it is pronounced Missou-rah.
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The world’s most commonly spoken languages…
Notice that the “top 10” most commonly spoken languages (based on native speakers) correspond closely with the “top 10” most populous countries. HOWEVER, also notice that this table also reveals the amount of linguistic diversity within countries that many people are often not aware of. For example, since you know that there are 1.3 billion people in China, this chart reveals that there must be at least 400 million people in China that speak some other language than Han Chinese (Mandarian) as their first language—since there are only roughly 900 million native speakers (and that includes those in Taiwan, Singapore, and elsewhere).
The geography of language is, of course, remarkably complex
Today, there are approx. 7000 languages spoken around the world (and obviously many more dialects)
Of course, some areas have people who speak more than one language (i.e., bilingual, trilingual, etc.)
Countries in which a majority of the population speaks more than one language are called polyglots (i.e., multilingual states)
At the same time, “linguistic islands” exist in some areas Small areas where a group of people speak a language that is different from the rest of the people around them
A Turkmenian “linguistic island” in
a “sea” of Russian language
And mapping the usage of individual words within dialects of languages illustrates just how complex the geography of language truly is
This map shows just some of the isoglosses (i.e., the boundaries of individual words, or pronunciations, used within a dialect or sub-dialect)
Notice that no two isoglosses are identical! When multiple isoglosses parallel each other, they can be used to identify dialect “boundaries.”
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Of course, what should be obvious by now is that language borders, like most cultural boundaries, are rarely (if ever) sharp, single “lines” on a map
Also, the scale at which one is studying the geography of language essentially determines whether a cultural geographer is going to study the patterns of individual languages, dialects, or even single words! (see next slide)
Therefore, at the global scale, geographers often focus on Language Families (i.e., languages that are related & share a common ancestor), in order to make sense of these linguistic patterns
What does this map tell you about language families at the global scale?
As the previous map should suggest to you, the largest and most widespread Language Family is the…
Indo-European
Includes 7 of top 10 most spoken languages
~50% of world pop. speaks one of them
Includes several sub-families of languages:
Romance (Spanish, French, Italian, etc.)
Germanic (German, English, Dutch, etc.)
Slavic (Russian, Polish, Serb-Croatian, etc.)
Indic (Hindi)
Iranic (Persian/Farsi)
Celtic
Greek
The Indo-European Language Family Tree
Is it not amazing that all of these language sub-families and the individual languages themselves are all derived from one common ancient language?
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Other Language Families to know… (and some of the major languages within each)
Afro-Asiatic – two major divisions: Semitic (which includes both Arabic & Hebrew) and Hamitic
Sino-Tibetan – dominated by Han Chinese (Mandarin) the most spoken lang. in the world (885+ mil.)
Japanese & Korean – Japanese is #9 on top 10
Austro-Asiatic – Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian
Austonesian – Malay, Polynesian
Altaic – Turkic, Mongolic
Uralic – Finnish, Hungarian (notice that these are two “European” languages that are not part of the Indo-European Language Family!)
Niger-Congo – Swahili
The Diffusion of some of the major Language Families
Sometimes the geography of language is simply determined by essentially “arbitrary” decisions…
The Pope (head of the Roman Catholic church) established the Treaty of Tordesillas in order to settle the growing dispute between Spain and Portugal
Toponyms (i.e., “place-names”), of course, are taken from a particular language. Therefore, they are an important part of the cultural landscape and can tell us a great deal about the languages (and by extension, cultures) that have occupied different areas
Did you realize that so many places on the Iberian Peninsula actually take their names from Arabic words?
This is a profound example of the geographical legacy of the expansion of the Muslim Empire.
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The Linguistic Paradox of Human Diffusion
As the previous slides suggest, as humans slowly but surely migrated around the world, the number of languages increased as migrating groups moved away from each other and modified the language they were speaking…eventually creating new languages
By as recently as 10,000 years ago, when the population of the planet was ~1 million, it is believed that there were as many as 15,000 languages being spoken
Of course, over the past few thousand years, humans have continued to migrate, essentially bringing groups that once split apart (and formed different languages) back together…
Thus, we have been undergoing a long period of new linguistic interaction
In some cases, this interaction has led to new forms of linguistic diversity
For example, the formation of pidgins = type of language formed when different linguistic groups come into contact
characterized by a very small vocab. derived from the languages of the groups in contact
primarily serve the purposes of trade & commerce
e.g., Tok Pisin (primarily English-derived, but includes Sp., Ger., & Papuan words; official lang. of Papua New Guinea)
At the same time, however, the increasing amount of interaction has also led to the expansion of some languages…
For example, some languages have been adopted as a “lingua franca” = a language that is spoken by several different groups of people usually for the purposes of conducting trade or commerce
E.g., Swahili is the lingua franca of East Africa
The paradox is this…
That the global trend of increasing interaction has led to a relatively small number of languages expanding at the expense of most others
Today, with a world population of nearly 7 billion, there are now less than 7000 languages in existence
Actually, the number of “living” languages is just over 6900
Of which < 100 have official national status (meaning they have some level of “protection”)
And only 1% (~60) languages are spoken by more than 500,000
Interestingly, one previously “unknown” language was recently discovered
So the question is…
Are the forces of globalization working to produce a single world language?
If so, what will that language be?
Languages used to access Google
Are the technologies of globalization working to increase or decrease linguistic diversity?
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Distribution of the world’s “nearly extinct” languages
What will the world’s linguistic diversity be like in 100 years?
Some Questions to Consider for Discussion…
Would the world be a better place if everyone spoke the same language?
What is the value of linguistic diversity?
Will globalization ultimately lead to the creation of one single common language?
U.S. states with some form of English-only laws – does this contribute to the loss of linguistic (i.e., cultural) diversity?
Perhaps on a more personal level… Should countries like the United States establish official national languages?
Language & Cultural Landscapes
Since language is often the key element of culture, it also can serve as a key element of any cultural landscape
Road signs, billboards, graffiti, other public signs
Reveal the locally dominant language (~culture), as well as the amount of bilingualism (~cultural diversity)
Messages can be friendly or hostile
Often reveal power relationships within a society
Perhaps which culture group has domination over another…
What does a sign like this one tell us about the culture of this place?
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The Geography of Language
(Rubenstein, Ch. 5)
n
Geolinguistics
= branch of cultural
geography that specifically studies the
spatial patterns & meanings of language