Chapter 4: Languages Communication, Aspects of Cultures

Chapter 4: Languages

Communication,

Aspects of

Cultures

What do you call someone who

• Speaks Two languages?

• Speaks three languages?

• Speaks four or more languages?

• Speaks one language?

Linguistic boundaries• Languages are definite separators of cultures.

– If you cannot communicate, you cannot understand.

Gallic Shrug Translations:

• It’s not my fault• I don’t know• I doubt it can

be done• I don’t really

agree

Source: Gesture 6: « Alors là / Bof »http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa020901g.htmDifferent Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/3889275125_5276695abf.jpg

Language

• Common oral communication of a group ...– Transmits

• Ideas• Beliefs• Histories• Codes, laws, rules• Stories• Agreements• Formal religions

Linguistic Families in

Africa• Linguistic

Families are often regionally separate.

• These families bisect countries.

– http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/courses/306/language.GIF– Text: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/courses/306/resources.html

Language and Acculturation• Acculturation often involves development or adoption of

new linguistic norms.• Examples:

– Immigrants ‘fitting in’ by learning a new language– German aggregation of various languages and dialects

• (Figure, next page)– French focus on 'pure French'

• No 'Franglais', no borrow words• State committee on language to 'make it so.'• Suppression of variations, dialects

Where is this?What countries are affected?

• http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/dialkart.jpg• Text: http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/dialects.htm

Language barriers: further separation of cultures

• Strongly differentiate 'us' from 'them.'• Provide barriers to communication.• Help maintain old suspicions and hatreds.• 'Ours' is better.

– Francophiles vs. Anglophiles• Help sustain cultural conflicts.

– There was usually an original trigger, and other acts that followed.

– Lack of communication effectively keeps groups apart.• Bilingual and monolingual efforts (local events)

– Arizona– California

Caucasus Mountain Language Groups

Image: http://www.unc.edu/~tgillan/chechenlanguate.jpgContext: http://www.unc.edu/~tgillan/language_map.html

Languages make it harder to keep countries together...

• Multi-lingual countries require extra effort to keep them together.

• This is particularly true of colonial countries, whose boundaries were arbitrarily drawn, not following linguistic or other cultural patterns.

Kenya: one country,

multiple languages

http://www.simbaeastafricansafari.com/Language%20Map%20Kenya.jpg

Accommodation: Switzerland,The oldest federation

Take-home message: It is not impossible to keep together. Our longest standing federal republic is multilingual.

http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/CH/chspra.jpg, Context: http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/CH/history.html

Language barriers

-------------within a country

(Cultural split reinforced by

language barriers.)

Source: http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/Publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/en/belgie.gifContext: http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/Publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/en/belgienkarte.htm

Language boundaries often formed at physical barriers, then cultures reinforce them)

• Romans found violent Celts (Scots) in hilly undesirable land .– The land was not worth the battles.– Romans built a wall along mountain ridge lines to

keep them out... – Scots survived in isolation as dialects.– The boundary between Scotland and England was

set between these walls, along other physical boundaries.

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/printpage/printpage.php?l=/webimage/countrys/europe/lgcolor/ukscolor.gifhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Hadrians_Wall_map.png/220px-Hadrians_Wall_map.png

Language boundaries often formed at physical barriers, then cultures reinforce them. (2)

• Normans found Scots to be difficult;– They built forts at the border to keep

them at bay...

• Normans built castles on the borders– This isolated the Welsh in their

highlands.– Welsh culture and language survive.

http://www.castlewales.com/wales_m.htmlhttp://www.castlewales.com/maps.html

Languages and

Boundaries

Context: http://linguarium.iling-ran.ru/maps.shtmlSource: http://linguarium.iling-ran.ru/maps/istria2-150.gif

Remnants of cultural dominance...

• The winners write the history, in their language.– The surviving losers often learn that language.

• After a collapse, regions become isolated.– Isolation allows linguistic variability.– Some regions return to their native tongues.

• Isolated languages then change over time.

Source: http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/people/faculty/dryer/dryer/map.euro.ie.GIFOther links, etc: http://www.ling.su.se/staff/ljuba/maps.html

Romance Dialects: Cultures and Countries

• http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/63.gif• http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/

Languages vs. DialectsLanguage:

1. A system of communication through speech. 2. A collection of sounds that a group understands to have

the same meaning.Dialect: A regional variation of a language distinguished by

distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.• When no longer understood, the dialect becomes a

language. This would require isolation over time.

http://robertspage.com/diausa.gif

Isolation Allows dialects to form.• Continued isolation allows them to remain.

– Appalachian: Olde English– Ozarks: Similar effect– Swamps: Creole, etc.– Oceans: Hawaiian, other Austronesian tongues, Icelandic…

• What happened to Hawaiian?– Political boundaries along physical boundaries reinforce this

effect. (multiple contributions)• If re-joined, dialects remain, not new languages.

– Trade and communication (the exchange of ideas)– Government actions– Education systems, etc.

Language, Cultures, Politics, & landforms

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/maps/15citaly.jpgContext: http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/lect/med26.html

Compare dialects and kingdoms

• Context: http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/lect/med26.html• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/maps/15citaly.jpg• http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/63.gif• http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/

Without strong barriers, the dominant language spreads.

• This often takes time.• Slowly, old tongues are subsumed.• Some borrow words survive.• Note the loss of languages in

– England – United States: Pacific Coast (Indian Schools, etc.)– Amazonia

The (almost?) loss of a language: Cornish

http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/cornish-language/cornish-language-map.gifContext: http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/cornish-language/original-language.htm(300 proficient speakers…)

Dying Languages(?)

Tribes of the Pacific Northwest: Washington

http://www.lanecc.edu/library/don/don/map1.gifhttp://www.lanecc.edu/library/don/orelang.htm

South America Languages

http://www.maps-eureka.com/images/samerlang.jpgSource: http://www.maps-eureka.com/language-regions.html

One view of world language migration

• http://www.orangeyeti.com/wp-content/img/language-map-old-world.jpg

• (Get a better reference, and a better map…)

Minority Languages: Minority Cultural Remnants

http://tork.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/language%20map-733767.jpg

Major Languages of the World

• http://www.theodora.com/maps/world/world_language_map_transparent.gif• Context: http://www.allcountries.org/maps/world_language_maps.html

European Linguistic Patterns:

Indo-European Sub-Families

Source: http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/people/faculty/dryer/dryer/map.euro.ie.GIFOther links, etc: http://www.ling.su.se/staff/ljuba/maps.html

China: One Language?

• http://eagle1.american.edu/~ks0867a/images4/China%20population%20language%20map%20revised.png• http://eagle1.american.edu/~ks0867a/xinjiang.htm

Language changes over time.

• Words are added and others forgotten. – Consider archaic and slang terms.– How long is four score and 20 years?– Cool ==> Hot ==> Rad ==> The Bomb ==> Sly?– We can hear our language change,

• if we listen for it, and remember the changes over time.• Language: wider range• Dialects: Yall, Dude, etc.• Dialect words ==> main language

– Nucular may be 'wrong', but they use it dude.– Dude?

Proto-Indo-European

Note: major parents, not migrations... http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/language.gif

Language trees• Show the dominant parent language.

– Newer changes are more certain.• There is much borrowing from other languages.

– Some trees show this. Others don't.– What languages contribute to modern English?

• Thor's day, lunar, croissant, kirk, sushi, Shiva, etc.• (Tie borrow-words to languages.)• (Look for 10 or so...)

• Some branches survive, others wither and die.– Witness Finno-urgic and German branches.

Uralic Language Family

• http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~tojan/rlang/uralic.gif• Context: http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~tojan/rlang/finn1.htm

Pidgin Languages• Combination of parts of two languages• Used for communication between people• Limited vocabulary, often combined rules• Example:

– Spanglish• Some Spanish words, phrases• Some English words, phrases• Mixture of structure rules from both.

– Different from bilingual. Speak 1 & 1/nth language.– If not fluent in both languages there is less benefit.

• Day labourer language vs. corporate communication– One needs more linguistic facility to earn more

money, etc.– Works for trade, basic instructions.

Lingua Franca• Language of international communication• Globally: English now.• Regionally: English, French, etc.

– Depends on the region.• History

– Latin: Priests with a common tongue: interpreters– Frankish: Lingua Franca– French: politics, dominated the courts of kings.– English: after England dominated the seas– English: America as a dominant commercial power– Next: Chinese? (Don't know. It depends...)

More Permanent Traditions: Printing

• http://www.writers-edge.info/uploaded_images/printing-747487.jpg

Technological advances

• Oral• Written• Manuscript• Print• Photocopy• Fax• Computer

http://www.nla.gov.au/worldtreasures/pictures/gut_bible/big_gut_vol1det_uk.jpgSee also: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenberg/

How do Languages Spread?

•

•

•

•

•

Spread of Languages• Migration

– People take their language with them. (People take culture with them.)– Isolation dialects, eventually distinct languages– Example: Paleo-indians and Eskimos (Inuits) cross Bearing Land Bridge

• War (People take friends with weapons with them, too.)– Who writes history? The winners.– What language do they use? Theirs.– Who adapts? The losers, (if they survive).

• Trade– Communication is crucial to trade (Lingua Franca = English for trade)– Dominant trade language wins. (French --> English as Lingua Franca)

• Religion– Spread of Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, map. p. 165

• Knowledge– Internet supports English speakers, dominant internet communication.

– Much of American higher education is taught in English.

• Technological Advances– Facilitate cultural growth and diffusion. This benefits these cultures and their

languages.

Language Dissemination• Languages, like stories, change over time.• When written, one version can spread out.• When printed, the spread is enhanced.

– Diffusion• Heirarchical

– Core to periphery» Consolidation of language and other cultural

attributes.» Such as...

• Religion

Koran

http://www.movinghere.org.uk/gallery/childhood/images/koran.jpg

Context: http://www.movinghere.org.uk/default.htm

Torah

• http://www.chavurah.org/Torah%20Studys.JPG

Language Diffusion• Languages travel with cultures, to regions cultures are adapted

to.• Isolation over time produces dialects, then new languages.• Cultural discovery and dominance (economic or military)

enhance diffusion.– Agricultural revolution (first two: seeds and cuttings)– Food storage counting numbers

• later, written sounds…– Clay, then papyrus, then paper (writing media)– Horseback, shipping, air mail (transportation)– Printing, then copying (duplication)– E- distribution: fax, web, wireless (more a-spatial distribution)

• Cultures that dominate these processes have linguistic and economic advantages.

Diffusion: How languages spread• Migration• War• Trade• Religion• Knowledge

Diffusion: One language?• Support:

– Interactions favor one language over another. – Dominant languages spread.

• Contradiction:– English dialects differentiate.– Some become languages

• Ex: Singlish in Singapore (Jordan et. Al. p. 102)

Cultural Ecology• Isolation over time produces new languages

– (Cultural drift)• New environments produce new words.

– Need to describe the places you use…• Spanish: dry landscapes (ranching, etc.)• High latitudes: many words for snow (survival)• Seafaring Polynesians: describe sea swells, etc.

• Traditional societies rely upon the land.– This makes describing it critical to success.

• Adapt or die be sufficiently clear and precise.– Describe what you have adapted to, for future generations.

Cultural Ecology and Migration• Cultures often migrate to similar environments.

– Their skill base and languages are more suited to the land.

http://www.longwood.edu/staff/hardinds/Maps/USethnic.jpg

Culture and Language Interaction

• Religion• Technology• Empires• Cultural survival

Culture and Language Interaction

• Religion– Religion supports languages.

• Survival of Latin, Hebrew• Expansion of Arabic, English,

– Languages help spread religions.• Use the original language (Arabic)• Use the dominant language (Latin)• Use the language of your country (English)• Select one language of the region. (One in Fiji)

– (Synergy)

Culture and Language Interaction

• Technology– Agricultural revolution(s)– Writing, printing, internet, phone– Transportation systems and routes

• These increase diffusion.– Diffusion paths are preferential.

• These bring core languages to the periphery.• These often increase peripheral language loss.

Culture and Language Interaction

• Cultural survival– Languages transmit cultures– Loss loss of history, information, skills, etc.

• Die with the older generations…• Younger generations have different languages.

– Communication breaks down even more than normal.– Even worse if newer generations take to popular culture

– (The culture does not die, but parts of it are lost.) • Some counter this by using some technologies to

support the impacted languages.

Culture and Language Interaction

• Religion– Religion supports languages.– Languages help spread religions.

• (synergy)

• Technology– Agricultural revolution(s)– Writing, printing, internet, phone– Transportation

• Empires– Internal stability literacy, literature, technologies– Expansion diffusion, lingua franca– Routes faster diffusion, faster change

Linguistic Landscapes• Signs

– Show languages of commerce• Inclusion for those who read the language• Exclusion for all others

– Deny language use• Deny broadcasting, use • Part of ethnic cleansing

– Claim areas• Gang graffiti

– Also messages of exclusion, threats– Historical place names (toponyms)

• Northern vs. Southern US (book)• Australia (book), • Moorish influence in Spain (book)• California (Your reality: Spanish toponyms)

Linguistic Cultural Ecology• Isolation over time produces new languages

– (Cultural drift)• New environments produce new words.

– Need to describe the places you use…• Spanish: dry landscapes (ranching, etc.)• High latitudes: many words for snow (survival)• Seafaring Polynesians: describe sea swells, etc.

• Traditional societies rely upon the land.– This makes describing it critical to success.

• Adapt or die be sufficiently clear and precise.– Describe what you have adapted to, for future generations.

Don’t forget the text!

• Scan quickly for content overview.• Read and outline for comprehension.• Review outlines.• Review your class notes.• Review powerpoints.

Next Chapter: Ethnicity and Race

(Questions?)

((Stop.))

Yes, written: 100 down, 3900 to go… for High School?

http://webjapanese.com/kanji/wall/kanji01.gifNote: This is Japanese... They copied the patterns.

Unused slides follow.

Try link first…

http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/karten/indi/indiefa.jpg

Context: http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/karten/indi/indicm.htm

Check Link…

• http://www.akatsukinishisu.net/itazuragaki/kanji-de-genso_utf-8.png

• Context: http://www.akatsukinishisu.net/itazuragaki/2001_10.html

Language Groups

• Go to: http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/

The big picture:

World languages today:(Link to history, development, trade, etc.)

It’s All Greek to me!

• http://www.1728.com/greek.gif• Context: http://www.1728.com/greek.htm

'Borrowed words': Written Greek

• Romans borrowed much from Greek culture• They then changed it.

– (Like the Japanese. Patterns repeat. This is useful.)• They borrowed

– Gods– Ideas– Stories– Written language,

• And changed them. Hera ==> Juno, etc.

It’s not even Greek to me! Cyrillic: Orthodox Catholicism ‘Natives’

• http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/img/cyrillic-alphabet.gif• Reference: http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/cyrillic.html

(Language is a part of cultural identity.)

http://www.unc.edu/~rdgreenb/dialectmap_small.gif

Alphabet and Cultural Identity: Korean

• http://silentnight.web.za/translate/korean.gif• Context: http://silentnight.web.za/translate/korean.htm

Languages as a tool for cultural identity: Korean

• After the last invasion by Japan– Yes, there were others, Japanese and Chinese– and the Koreans have NOT forgotten them.

• The Koreans expressed a resurgent cultural identity – In part by re-shaping the character strokes.

Germanic Tree

• Trimmed branches• Branches not commonly known• Dispersion over space, over time.• Then, change, combination.

– Germanic and English Afrikaans

Proto-Germanic

• http://www.steve.gb.com/images/science/germanic.png• http://www.steve.gb.com/science/learn.html

Arabic: (Allah)

• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/islam/literature/pictures/allah.gif• Context: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/islam/literature/pictures/allah.gif

Vernacular English: Soda-pop

• http://quittingsoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/popvssodamap-300x180.gif