Chapter 10 Modern Language Mosaics

Language and Culture Language and Trade Multilingualism Official Languages

Language and Culture English is the primary medium of international

communication Case in Malaysia (Bahasa Malayu vs. English) -

promote the country’s international and domestic competitiveness, Culture ? Long-term effect.

Why Spanish should be treated differently? in United States...

The Esperanto Experiment - in early 20th century, a world language from Latin and modern European languages was created. It is not a global tongue but another Indo-European language. Europe is already a multilingual region.

Language and Trade - Lingua Franca Traders wanted to communicate for trading, before

the Esperanto, Lingua Franca was created from the Mediterranean Sea following Crusades.

Franks mixed with Italian, Greek, Spanish and Arabic

A product of linguistic convergence Good Example-Swahili-developed from Bantu,Arabic

and Persian-with complex vocabulary and structure. And Hausa.

Creolization English in Australia, India, and South Africa…difference

in cadence, rhythm and speed.- from relocation Through contact with other languages, a language

changed, modified to become “pidgin” - Caribbean region:English + African languages =pidgin English

Figure 10-1: Three African Linguae Francae, compared to map of language of Africa

Creolization -2 As years go by, the original language fade away (no

more African language), and was replaced by more complex pidgin. Such replacement called”creolization”, The original pidgin becomes a lingua franca and is referred to as a creole language

West Pacific-Melanesian a creole language based on English

West Africa - Wes Kos -a pidgin language, continuing to develop, but Swahili is a full-fledged Bantu language, not a creole or pidgin due to its complex structure and vocabulary.

Pidgin and Creole -tend to be simple and accessible. In Southeast Asia, Bazaar Malay becomes a lingua franca in that region

Creole and pidgin

Western Pacific-Melanesian a creole language based on English

West Africa - Wes Kos -a pidgin language, continuing to develop, but Swahili is a full-fledged Bantu language, not a creole or pidgin due to its complex structure and vocabulary.

Pidgin and Creole -tend to be simple and accessible. In Southeast Asia, Bazaar Malay becomes a lingua franca in that region

Multilingualism

They are only a few near-monolingual country - Japan, Uraguay, Venezuela, Ireland, Portugal, Poland and Lesotho. Actually, there is no true monolingual country.

Mexico and Guatemala (Native Americans)(figure 10-2)

Canada,Czechoslovakia and Belgium (languages divide regions). Switzerland -4 regions (figure 10-3)

South Africa - no regional separation due to different languages

Failed examples-Russia and Cyprus (figure 10-4)

BelgiumFlanders - Northwest European region, Flemish speaking, center of the cloth industry - Germanic

Wallonia:Walloons,granted limited autonomy in 1980, Romance

•1974 hostilities divided the island into two areas, •Greek area controlled by Cypriot Government (59% land area), separated by UN buffer zone (4% land) two UK sovereign areas•about 0.6 times the size of Connecticut•78% Greek, 18% Turkish

Figure 10-4, Cyprus’s Majorities before 1974

Canada British N.America Act of 1867-French

protected in Quebec, 85% of 7million speak French now. 1977 law passed required business in French. 1988 law prohibits any language other than French in commercial signs.

Huge language problems arose from such movement. English should be treated the same way as French in other regions?

Less than 700,000 French-speaking Canadians live outside Quebec.

Quebec Independence movement - 1995

Nigeria -With 3 major regional languages (Huasa, Yoruba and Ibo), more than a dozen spoken by 1 to 5 million and 230 lessor tonegues 100 million population, adopted English as official language which doesn’t make too much sense if the kids plunge into the society after the six year elementary school with English learning environment

Hausa

IboYoruba

Nigeria

Official Language (link)

Umbrella language as official languages-

Angola -Portugese, Nigeria and Ghana-

English, Cote d’Ivorie -French,

Table 10-1.

Classification of Place Namesby George Stewart

Descriptive-Rocky Mt. Associative-Mill Valley,California Incident-Battle Creek Possessive-Johnson City Commemorative-San Francisco Folk-Etymology-Georgia Manufactured-Truth,New Mexico Mistake-Lasker,North Carolina Shift-Alpine Mt.

•Study of place names•Place name provide the history and culture, route of diffusion and ways of life•Two-part names- Battle Creek, Amster/dam, Pitts/burgh, Cooke/Ville

Toponymy

Place Names Moscow -is “Moskva” in Russian. In Finnish, “kva” is

“water”- Finnish peoples lived there before. “Cape Horn” named from Dutch’s “Cape Hoorn” and

“Cabo Hornos” in Spanish (Cape of Ovens) - Mistake

Change Names After Independence, African countries changed the

names of places,even country’s name. Eg. Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, Gold Coast to Ghana

Collapse of the Soviet Union, Leningrad to St. Petersburg

Name change can evoke strong reactions, government is trying to move slowly to avoid arousing emotions in South Africa

Name change again?

Mobutu changed “Cogo” to “Zaire”-1997, Kabila changed name back to Democratic “Republic of the Congo”

1989, “Burma” changed to “Myanmar” from general again.