Geolinguistics The Mosaic of Languages. Why do geographers study language ? Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified

Geolinguistics

The Mosaic of Languages

Why do geographers study language?

Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identifiedProvides the main means by which learned customs and skills pass from one generation to the nextFacilitates cultural diffusion of innovationsBecause languages vary spatially, they reinforce the sense of region and placeThe study of language is called linguistic geography and geolinguistics by geographers

Terms used in the study of language

Language — tongues that cannot be mutually understoodDialects — variant forms of a language that have not lost mutual comprehension

A speaker of English can understand the various dialect of the languageA dialect is distinctive enough in vocabulary and pronunciation to label its speakerSome 6,000 languages and many more dialects are spoken today


Pidgin language — results when different linguistic groups come into contact

Serves the purposes of commerceHas a small vocabulary derived from the various contact groupsOfficial language of Papua, New Guinea is a largely English-derived pidgin language, which includes Spanish, German, and Papuan words


Lingua franca — a language that spreads over a wide area where it is not the mother tongue

A language of communication and commerceSwahili language has this status in much of East Africa


Linguistic Culture RegionsLinguistic DiffusionLinguistic EcologyCulturo-Linguistic IntegrationLinguistic Landscapes

Language characteristics used to define linguistic culture regions

isoglosses — borders of individual word usages or pronunciations

No two words, phrases, or pronunciations have exactly the same spatial distributionSpatially isoglosses crisscross one another Typically cluster together in “bundles”Bundles serve as the most satisfactory dividing lines among dialects and languages

Hispanic Language usage zones in Texas

Language characteristics are used to define linguistic culture regions

Overlap of languages complicates drawing of linguistic bordersIn any given area more than one tongue may be spoken — Ecuador, Quebec, Belgium, SwitzerlandLanguage barriers are rarely sharp


Geographers encounter a core/periphery pattern rather than a dividing line

Dominance of language diminishes away from the center of the region

Outlying zone of bilingualism

Linguistic “islands” often further complicate the drawing of language borders


Dialect terms often overlap considerably, making it difficult to draw isoglossess

Linguistic geographers often disagree about how many dialects are presentDisagreement also occurs on where lines should be drawn

Boundaries are necessarily simplified and at best generalizations

Linguistic regions

Language families

The Indo-European language familyThe Afro-Asiatic language familyThe Niger-Congo language familyThe Austronesian language familyThe Sino-Tibetan language familyThe Japanese/Korean language familyThe Austro-Asiatic language familyThe Altaic language familyThe Uralic language family

The Indo-European language family

The Indo-European language familyLargest, most wide-spread familySpoken on all continentsDominant in Europe, Russia, North and South America, Australia, and parts of southwestern Asia and IndiaSubfamilies—Romance, Slavic, Germanic, Indic, Celtic, and IranicSubfamilies are divided into individual languagesSeven Indo-European tongues are among the top 10 languages spoken in the world By comparing vocabularies in various languages one can see the kinship

The Afro-Asiatic familyThe Afro-Asiatic family

Has two major divisions—Semitic and HamiticSemitic covers the area from Tigris-Euphrates valley westward through most of the north half of Africa to the Atlantic coast

Domain is large but consists of mostly sparsely populated desertsArabic is the most widespread Semitic languageArabic has the most number of native speakers—about 186 millionHebrew was a “dead” language used only in religious ceremoniesToday Hebrew is the official language of IsraelAmharic a third major Semitic tongues has 20 million speakers in the mountains of East Africa

The Afro-Asiatic family continued

The Afro-Asiatic family Has two major divisions—Semitic and HamiticSmaller number of people speak Hamitic languages

Share North and East Africa with Semitic speakersSpoken by the Berbers of Morocco and AlgeriaSpoken by the Tuaregs of the Sahara and Cushites of East AfricaOriginated in Asia but today only spoken in AfricaExpansion of Arabic decreased the area and number of speakers

Niger-Congo language family

Africa south of the Sahara Desert is dominated by the Niger-Congo family

Spoken by about 200 million peopleGreater part of the Niger-Congo culture region belongs to the Bantu subgroupIncludes Swahili—the lingua franca of East Africa

The Austronesian language family

Austronesian language familyMost remarkable language family in terms of distributionSpeakers live mainly on tropical islandsRanges from Madagascar, through Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, to Hawaii and Easter IslandLongitudinal span is more than half way around the worldLatitudinally, ranges from Hawaii and Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the southLargest single language in this family is Indonesian —5O million speakers Most widespread language is Polynesian

The Sino-Tibetan language family

The Sino-Tibetan language familyis one of the major language families of the worldextends throughout most of China and Southeast AsiaHan Chinese is spoken in a variety of dialects as a mother tongue by 836 million peopleHan serves as the official form of speech in China

The Japanese/Korean language family

The Japanese/Korean language family

is another major Asian family with nearly 200 million speakersseems to have some kinship to both the Altaic and Austronesian

The Austro-Asiatic language family

The Austro-Asiatic language familyis found in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and spoken by some tribal people of Malaya and parts of Indiaoccupies a remnant peripheral domainhas been encroached upon by Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, and Austronesian

Other major language families

Altaic language familyIncludes Turkic, Mongolic, and several other subgroupsHomeland lies largely in deserts, tundras, and coniferous forests of northern and central Asia

Uralic family (Fenno-Ugric)Finnish and Hungarian are the two most important tonguesBoth have official status in their countries

Other language families

Occupy refuge areas after retreat before rival groups

Khoisan — found in the Kalahari Desert of southwestern Africa, characterized by clicking soundsDravidian — spoken by numerous darker-skinned people of southern India and northern Sri LankaOthers include — Papuan, Caucasic, Nilo-Saharan, Paleosiberian, Inukitut, and a variety of AmerindianBasque — spoken on the borderland between Spain and France is unrelated to any other language in the world


Linguistic Culture RegionsLinguistic DiffusionLinguistic EcologyCulturo-Linguistic IntegrationLinguistic Landscapes

Searching for the “mother” tongue

Using controversial techniques, paleo-linguists seek elusive prehistoric tonguesNostratic—ancestral speech of the Middle East 12,000 to 20,000 years ago

Ancestral to nine modern language families A 500-word dictionary has been compiled

Contemporary with Nostratic were other ancient tongues including Dene-Caucasian

Searching for the “mother” tongue

Dene-Caucasian reputedly gave rise to Sino-Tibetan, Basque, and one form of early Native-American called Na-DeneScholars are attempting to find the original linguistic hearth area from which all modern languages have derivedIt is believed the original language hearth arose in Africa perhaps 250,000 years ago and diffused from there

Indo-European diffusionEarliest speakers apparently lived in southern and southeastern Turkey (Anatolia) about eight or nine thousand years ago

Diffused west and north into Europe– Represented expansion of farming

people at expense of hunters and gatherers

– As people dispersed and lost contact, different variant forms of the language caused fragmentation of the family

Indo-European diffusion

• Later language diffusion occurred with the spread of great political empires, especially Latin, English, and Russian

• Relocation and expansion diffusion were not mutually exclusive– Relocation diffusion by conquering elite

implanted their language– Implanted language often gained wider

acceptance by expansion diffusion– Conqueror’s language spreads

hierarchically• Spread of Latin with Roman conquests• Spanish in Latin America

Austronesian diffusion

• Presumed hearth in the interior of Southeast Asia 5,000 years ago

• Initially spread southward into the Malay Peninsula

• In a process lasting several thousand years, people sailed in tiny boats across the. uncharted vast seas to New Zealand, Easter Island, Hawaii, and Madagascar

• Sailing and navigation was the key to Austronesian spread, not agriculture

Austronesian diffusion• The remarkable diffusion of the Polynesian

people– From the eastern part of the Austronesian culture

region– Occupy hundreds of Pacific islands in a

triangular-shaped realm– New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii form the

three apexes of the realm – Made a watery leap of 4000 km from the South

Pacific to Hawaii• Used outrigger canoes• Went against prevailing winds into a new

hemisphere with different navigational stars• No humans had previously found the isolated

Hawaiian Islands• Sailors had no way of knowing that land existed in

the area

Austronesian diffusion

• Geographers John Webb and Gerard Ward studied the prehistoric Polynesian diffusion– Their method involved the development of

a computer model building in data on:• Winds• Ocean currents• Vessel traits and capabilities• Island visibility• Duration of voyage, etc.• Both drift and navigated voyages were

considered

Austronesian diffusion• Over one hundred thousand voyage

simulations were run through the computer

• Their conclusions– Triangle was probably entered from the

west—direction of the ancient Austronesian hearth area

– “Island hopping”—migrated from one visible island to another

– Core of eastern Polynesia likely reached by navigated voyages

– Outer arc from Hawaii through Easter Island to New Zealand reached by intentionally navigated voyages


• Linguistic Culture Regions• Linguistic Diffusion• Linguistic Ecology• Culturo-Linguistic Integration• Linguistic Landscapes

The environment and vocabulary How the environment affects vocabulary• Spanish language derived from Castile

– Rich in words describing rough terrain– Distinguishes subtle differences in shape

and configuration of mountains• Scottish Gaelic

– Describes types of rough terrain– Common attribute spoken by hill people

• Romanian tongue– Also from a region of rugged terrain– Words tend to be keyed to use of terrain

for livestock herding

The environment and vocabulary

• English– Developed in wet coastal plains– Very poor in words describing

mountainous terrain– Abounds with words describing

flowing streams– Rural American South—river,

creek, branch, fork, prong, run, bayou, and slough

The environment and vocabulary

• Vocabularies develop for features of the environment that involve livelihood

• Detailed vocabularies are necessary to communicate sophisticated information relevant to the adaptive strategy

Linguistic regions reflect environmental factors• Environmental barriers and natural

routeways “guided” linguistic groups along certain paths

• Indo-Europeans traveled through low mountain passes to the Indian subcontinent, avoiding the Himalayas and barren Deccan Plateau

• In India today, the Indo-European/Dravidian language boundary seems to approximate an ecological boundary

Linguistic regions reflect environmental factors• Mountain barriers frequently

serve as linguistic borders– In part of the Alps, speakers of

German and Italian live on opposite sides of a major ridge

– Portions of mountain rim along the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent form the border between Semitic and Indo-European tongues

Linguistic regions reflect environmental factors

• Linguistic borders that follow such physical features tend to be stable and endure for thousands of years

• Language borders that cross plains and major routes of communication are frequently unstable — Germanic-Slavic boundary on the North European Plain

Linguistic Ecology

• Today environmental isolation is no longer the linguistic force it once was

• Inhospitable lands and islands are reachable by airplanes

• Marshes and forests are being drained and cleared by farmers

• The world is interactive



English dialects in the United States

• Dialects reveal a vivid linguistic geography

• American English is hardly uniform from region to region

• At least three major dialects, corresponding to major culture regions, developed in the eastern United States by the time of the American Revolution – Northern– Midland– Southern


• The three subcultures expanded westward and their dialects spread and fragmented– Retained much of their basic

character even beyond the Mississippi River

– Have distinctive vocabularies and pronunciations

– Drawing dialect boundaries is often tricky


• Today, many regional words are becoming old-fashioned, but new words display regional variations

• The following words are all used to describe a controlled-access divided highway– Freeway — a California word– Turnpike and parkway — mainly

northeastern and Midwestern words– Thruway, expressway, and interstate

English dialects in the United States• Many African-Americans speak their

own form of English — Black English– Once dismissed as inferior substandard

English– Grew out of a pidgin that developed on

early slave plantations– Today, spoken by about 80 percent of

African-Americans– Used by ghetto dwellers who have not

made their compromises with mainstream American culture

– Many features separate it from standard speech, for example:

• Lack of pronoun differentiation between genders

• Use of undifferentiated pronouns

Black English• Black English is

– not recognized as part of the proper grammar of a separate linguistic group

– related to social and economic status; considered by some as evidence of verbal inability or impoverishment

– spread by popular mass media e.g. MTV

• In the Southern dialect, African-Americans have made substantial contributions to speech patterns and language use

• The Southern dialect is becoming increasingly identified with African-Americans

• Caucasians in the Southern region are shifting to Midland speech


• American dialects suggest the US is not becoming a more national culture by overwhelming regional cultures– Linguistic divergence is still under way– Dialects continue to mutate on a regional

level– Local variations in grammar and

pronunciation proliferate– The homogenizing influence of radio,

television, and other mass media is being defied



London, England

London, England• While English is

spoken in many parts of the world, all English words are not mutually intelligible.

• This London tube (subway) sign say that anyone performing there (eg singing or playing for money) is subject to a fine of subsection.

• Are tube, subway, and busking dialect words?

Switzerland • Switzerland has four recognized national languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansch.

• Romansch, a language of Latin origin, is spoken by only 1.1% of the population. It has survived in the alpine linguistic refuge of the upper Rhine and Inn Rivers and was given official recognition in 1938.

Kenya

Kenya

• Kenya has two official languages: Swahili and English. These lingua franca facilitate communication among Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic language speakers.

• Swahili developed along the coast of East Africa where Bantu came in contact with Arabic spoken by Arab sea traders.

Kenya

• English became important during the British colonial period and is still associated with high status.

Kenya

• This shopping centre caters to Maasai herders who speak a Nilotic language and Kikuyu farmers who speak a Bantu language.

• Jambo means “hello” in Swahili.

London, England

• This display of newspapers illustrates the fact that London is an international city as well as a major migration destination.

• In South Kensington, a sizable foreign population contributes to the complexity of the linguistic landscape.

London, England

• Both Indo-European (e.g. French, Spanish and Swedish) and Afro-Asiatic (Arab) language families are represented here.

Documents

Geolinguistics The Mosaic of Languages. Why do geographers study language ? Provides the single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified