AP Human Geography Ch. 5: Language Study Guide-Rubenstein 10th Ed.

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Due Dates: Key Issue 1 &2:_________Quiz:_______ Key Issue 3 & 4:_________ Quiz:__________

Vocabulary Cards Checked:__________Worksheet Turn In:_____________________

III. Cultural Patterns and ProcessesUnderstanding the components and regional variations of cultural patterns and processes is critical to human geography. In this section of the course, students begin with the concepts of culture and culture traits. They learn how geographers assess the spatial and place dimensions of cultural groups as defined by language, religion, ethnicity, and gender, in the present as well as the past. A central concern is to comprehend how cultural patterns are represented at a variety of geographic scales from local to global. Diffusion is a key concept in understanding how culture traits (e.g., agricultural practices, language, technology) move through time and space to new locations, where interactions between global and local forces result in new forms of cultural expression. Students learn that the concept of region is central to understanding the spatial distribution of cultural attributes. The course explores cultural interaction at various scales, along with the conflicts that may result. The geographies of language, religion, ethnicity, and gender are studied to illustrate patterns and processes of cultural differences. Students learn to distinguish between languages and dialects, ethnic and universalizing religions, ethnic political movements, and popular and folk cultures, and to understand why each has a different geographic pattern. Another important emphasis of the course is the way culture shapes relationships between humans and the environment. Students learn how culture is expressed in landscapes, and how land use in turn represents cultural identity. Built environments enable the geographer to interpret cultural values, tastes, symbolism, and sets of beliefs. For example, both folk and contemporary architecture are rich and readily available means of comprehending the cultural landscape and how different cultures view it in separate ways.

Chapter Outline Introduction. Language is an important element of culture that people value. The distribution of languages represents cultural diversity, with an estimated 7,000 languages spoken globally. Not all languages have a system of written communication, or literary tradition.

Case Study: French and Spanish in the U.S. and Canada. The case study presents French- and Spanish-speaking minority families in the English-speaking-majority countries of Canada and the United States. Both families encourage their children to speak the parent's language while still recognizing the value of English in each country.

Key Issue 1. Where are English-language speakers distributed?

Origin and diffusion of English. English is not the most commonly spoken language but is the most widely spoken. Its present distribution is largely the result of the British colonial empire. English originated in England as a mixture of languages spoken by Germanic-speaking invaders. Later invasions of Vikings and Normans further transformed the language.

Dialects of English. Mutually understandable yet different through variations in vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation, dialects often form when groups are separated from one another. Examples include dialects within England, American and British English, and dialects within the United States.

Key Issue 2. Why is English related to other languages?

Indo-European branches. A language belongs to a group of closely related languages, which belongs to a branch of more distantly related languages, which in turn belongs to a still more distantly related language family. English is part of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. The other important Germanic group is North Germanic.

Other important branches of Indo-European are Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic, and Romance. The Indo-Iranian branch includes the Indic group (distributed across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) and Iranian group (Iran and southwest Asia). The Balto-Slavic branch is further divided into the East Slavic and Baltic groups (former Soviet countries) and West and South Slavic groups (Eastern Europe from Poland to Macedonia).

The Romance branch is composed of the descendants of Latin and stretches from Portugal along the Mediterranean to Slovenia and a pocket in Romania and Moldova. Many Romance languages have multiple dialects, some of which may be variously considered languages in their own right. Other Romance languages have formed as a mixture of a Romance language and the native language of a colony. These languages are called creoles.

Origin and diffusion of Indo-European. Since all members of Indo-European are related, they must have come from a common origin. Two hypotheses of the language family's origin are the Nomadic Warrior Thesis, where the language originated with and was spread by the Kurgans, a people of central Asia, or alternatively that the language originated with agricultural people from Anatolia, in present-day Turkey.

Key Issue 3. Where are other language families distributed?

Classification and distribution of language families. Nearly half the world speaks an Indo-European language. A great diversity of language families make up the remainder. Sino-Tibetan is the second-largest language family in the world as it includes Mandarin, the world's single most-spoken language. Other sizable language families include Niger-Congo (Africa), Afro-Asiatic (North Africa and Southwest Asia), Austronesian (Australia and Indonesia), and Dravidian (India and Sri Lanka).

Key Issue 4. Why do people preserve local languages?

Preserving language diversity. Numerous languages have gone or are going extinct as their speakers adopt other languages or die out. Some languages, like Hebrew, have been revived; others, like many branches of Celtic, have seen recent interest by their speakers in preservation.

Multilingual states can present problems when speakers of different language compete for control of resources in a state, as is the case for Belgium. Switzerland represents a country with several official languages with few problems between speakers through a high degree of local control.

Isolated languages are those without a language family or with less in common with other members of the family. In Europe, Basque represents the former and Icelandic the latter.

Global dominance of English. English is a language of international communication, also known as a lingua franca. Some speakers of other languages may learn a basic form of a lingua franca, called a pidgin language, in order to communicate. Lingua francas like English were once spread by

migration and conquest, but now English is changing through expansion diffusion. First, English is constantly changing from different cultural influences, including other languages. Second, English is diffusing into other languages, as is the case for "franglais," a mixture of French and English, and "Spanglish," a mixture of Spanish and English. The mix of German and English words is called Denglish.

Global forces, local impacts. Language policy in Australia and New Zealand. Both Australia and New Zealand have English as a dominant language and have taken measures to encourage new migrants to speak or learn English. New Zealand has more policies than Australia to preserve aboriginal languages pre-dating British colonization. Contemporary geographic tools: English on the Internet. English has been the most important language of the Internet. As more users from more countries gain Internet access, the balance is shifting so that English is no longer as important.

Review/Reflection Questions Answer any three on a separate sheet of paper

A. Why do so few Americans speak another language other than English? Answer the question from a personal perspective and a national perspective.

B. How do you think Americans who travel abroad but don’t speak other languages are perceived by residents of the places they visit? Compare this to the way recent immigrants to the United States are perceived by English-only speakers in the U.S. Can a direct comparison be made? What is the difference between these situations?

C. Debate continues over whether English should be the official language of the United States and whether schools should teach in languages other than English. Give an argument for school being taught only in English, and one supporting teaching with other languages in our schools. Which argument do you support, and why? Cite any references you use.

D. Give several inoffensive examples of words you use that your parents wouldn’t understand. What does this reveal about the nature of languages?

E. Apply the book’s comparison of language in multilingual states to this country. Which approach do you believe would work better, and why? Given current immigration trends, will this be a concern?

F- Should the use of English be encouraged in the United States to foster cultural integration, or should bilingualism be encouraged to foster cultural diversity? Why?

G- Does the province of Quebec possess the resources, economy, political institutions, and social structures to be a viable, healthy country? What would be the impact of Quebec’s independence on the remainder of Canada, on the United States, and on France?

G- How is American English different from British English as a result of contributions by African Americans and immigrants who speak languages other than English?

H- How do differences in language exacerbate Belgium’s regional economic differences?_______________________________________________________________________________________

2007 FRQ:

Vocabulary Terms: Sharma- Language

Creole Dialect Indo-European languages Isogloss Language Language family Language group Language subfamily Lingua franca Linguistic diversity Monolingual/multilingual Official language Pidgin Toponymy Trade language

Creole - a language derived from a pidgin that has acquired a fuller vocabulary and become the native language of its speakers.

Dialect - a distinctive local or regional variant of a language that remains mutually intelligible to speakers of other dialects of that language; a subtype of a language.

Isogloss - the border of usage of an individual word or pronunciation.

Language - a mutually agreed-upon system of symbolic communication that has a spoken and usually a written expression.

Language family - a group of related languages derived from a common ancestor.

Lingua franca - an existing, well-established language of communication and commerce used widely where it is not a mother tongue.

Linguistic refuge area - an area protected by isolation or inhospitable environmental conditions in which a language or dialect has survived.

Monolingual - speaking only one language.

Multilingual - speaking more than one language.

Official language - in multilingual countries the language selected, often by the educated and politically powerful elite, to promote internal cohesion; usually the language of the courts and government.

Pidgin - a composite language consisting of a small vocabulary borrowed from the linguistic groups involved in international commerce.

Toponymy - place name.

Mutual intelligibility - the ability of two people to understand each other when speaking.

Rubenstein Vocabulary

A.1 Compare language and literary tradition?_______________________________________________

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A.2. Define official language____________________________________________________________

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A.3. Why are some languages (e.g. English) distributed throughout the world?____________________

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1.1 Contrast the distribution of Mandarin with the distribution of English.:_______________________

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1.2. List three regions of the world where English is an official language or is widely spoken (see map on page 138):

1.3._______________________________ 1.4._____________________________________

1.5.____________________________________

Define the following:

1.6._ dialect_________________________________________________________________________

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1.7._ standard language_________________________________________________________________

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1.8._ British Received Pronunciation_______________________________________________________

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Chapter 5: Language (page 137)

Key Issue 1: Where Are English-Language Speakers Distributed? (page 137)

1.9 _isogloss _________________________________________________________________________

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Define each of the following and use English as an example for each one:

2.1._ Language Family___________________________________________________________________

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2.2._ Language Branch__________________________________________________________________

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2.3._ Language Group___________________________________________________________________

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2.4. What are the two most widely spoken languages of the Indo-Iranian Branch of the Indo-European Language Family? Where are they spoken?

2.4a._________________________________________________________________________________

2.4b._________________________________________________________________________________

2.5. What is the most widely spoken language of the Balto-Slavic Branch? Where is it spoken?

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2.6. What are the four most widely used languages of the Romance Branch of the Indo-European Language Family?

2.6a._________________________________________________________________________________

2.6b._________________________________________________________________________________

2.6c._________________________________________________________________________________

2.6d._________________________________________________________________________________

2.7 From where did the Romance languages originate?________________________________________

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Key Issue 2: Why is English Related to Other Languages? (page 144)

2.8. How and to where did these languages diffuse?__________________________________________

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2.9. Define creole (creolized language):____________________________________________________

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2.10. Where did the Indo-European language family originate?_________________________________

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2.11. Explain the two theories on how the Indo-European language diffused:

2.11.a. _Kurgan theory:_________________________________________________________________

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2.11.b. _Anatolian theory:_______________________________________________________________

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3.1. Below is the world’s two major language Families. What percentage of the world speaks a language of this family and where are these speakers primarily located?

3.1.a._ Indo European Family_____________________________________________________________

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3.1.b.__ Sino-Tibetan Family_____________________________________________________________

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3.2. Give an example language and where it is spoken for each of the following branches of the Sino-Tibetan Family.

3.2.a. _Sinitic__________________________________________________________________________

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3.2.b. _Austro-Thai_____________________________________________________________________

Key Issue 3: Where Are Other Language Families Distributed ? (page 152) *Note: The entire reading is about the language tree on pages 154 & 155.

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3.2.c. _Tibeto Burman___________________________________________________________________

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3.3. Define ideogram and point out two languages that use them.______________________________

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3.3.a. ________________________________________________________________________________

3.3.b. ________________________________________________________________________________

4.1. Give two examples of extinct languages:

4.1.a.________________________________________________________________________________

4.1.b.________________________________________________________________________________

4.2. Define isolated languages:___________________________________________________________

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4.3. Give one example of an isolated language and where it is spoken:

4.3.a.________________________________________________________________________________

4.4. Define the following:

4.4.a. _lingua franca____________________________________________________________________

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4.4.b. _pidgin languages_________________________________________________________________

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4.4.c. _franglais________________________________________________________________________

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4.5. Why are some people in France upset by the widespread use of English? _____________________________________________________________________________________

4.6. Define spanglish_____________________________________________________________________________

Key Issue 4: Why Do People Preserve Local Languages? (page 159)