What is the distribution of world languagesdensityconcentrationpatterns

How is culture influenced or limited by this language distribution?

How does the language reflect the culture?

History and conquestIsolation or integration of culturesMigration of peoplesEconomic Domination of certain culturesInfluence of wealth and technology Political Divisions (country boundaries)Physical geography barriers (mts., deserts)

Character and sounds of a cultureVisual landscapes of signs

(script, letters, ideograms)

class structuregender differences in vocabularyenvironmentally specific vocabularyformal and informal relationships technology of a culture

Language: a system of communication that uses sounds writing

(literary tradition and or gesturesmeanings of symbols and sounds are learned

Hearth Area of the Indo-European Languages

Ideograms: The system of writing used in China and other East Asian Countries in which each symbol represents an idea or a concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English.

Lingua Franca: a language mutually under-stood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

A language of commerceEnglishSpanishChineseJapanese

Language FamiliesLanguages BranchesLanguages GroupsLanguagesDialectsAccents

a collection of individual languages with a common ancestora family may be divided into several divisions or branches

a group of languages in a family that share a common origin but have evolved into different languages

example: Romance Branch - Indo-European FamilyFrench, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanch

Several individual languages within a language branchshare a common origin in

recent pastfew differences in

grammar and vocabulary

Here's a listing of the ten most popular languages spoken worldwide, along with the approximate number of primary or first language speakers for that language.

1. Mandarin Chinese - 882 million2. Spanish - 325 million3. English - 312-380 million4. Arabic - 206-422 million5. Hindi - 181 million6. Portuguese - 178 million7. Bengali - 173 million8. Russian - 146 million9. Japanese - 128 million10. German - 96 million

English is spoken as a first language by 427 millionEnglish is spoken as a second language by another 350 millionEnglish is the most widely taught language in over 100 countriesIn 70 countries English has official status:

more than any other language

Pronunciation of a

language distinct to

a certain region

New England DialectSouthern DrawlAustralian Dialect

Isogloss: An area of distinct word usage or pronunciation that can be defined as a distinct region with boundaries.

Isolation over long periods of timeIntegration with other culturesInterplay of migrants

Accent: Non standard pronunciation of language by a a non native speakerFirst generation immigrant

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.