The Geography of Language

Cultural Geography C.J. Cox

Language Overview

• • • • • • Geographer’s Perspective of Language Language as the foundation of Culture Key Terms Language Divisions Spatial Distribution of Languages Why do people speak the same language differently in distinct regions?

The Geographer’s Perspective of Language

• What is the distribution of world languages – – – density concentration patterns • • How is culture influenced or limited by this language distribution?

How does the language reflect the culture?

Language Distribution indicates

• • • • • • •

History and conquest Isolation or integration of cultures Migration of peoples Economic Domination of certain cultures Influence of wealth and technology Political Divisions (country boundaries) Physical geography barriers (mts., deserts)

Cultural Aspects Language May Influence

• •

Character and sounds of a culture Visual landscapes of signs (script, letters, ideograms)

• • • • •

Cultural Values A Language May Indicate

class structure gender differences in vocabulary environmentally specific vocabulary formal and informal relationships technology of a culture

Language

•

Language:

–

a system of communication

• • •

that uses sounds writing (literary tradition and or gestures

–

meanings of symbols and sounds are learned

Hearth Area of the Indo-European Languages

Key Term

• 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.

Key Term

•

Lingua Franca:

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

– A language of commerce • • • • English Spanish Chinese Japanese

Language Divisions

• • • • • • Language Families Languages Branches Languages Groups Languages Dialects Accents

Language Families

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

Language Branches

• a group of languages that share a common origin but have evolved into different languages • example: Romance Branch - Indo-European Family – French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanch

Language Groups

• Several individual languages within a language branch – share a common origin in recent past – few differences in grammar and vocabulary

Language Groups in Northern Europe

Language

•

Language:

– a system of communication • • • that uses sounds writing (literary tradition and or gestures – meanings of symbols and sounds are learned

World’s Top 10 Languages

• • • • • • • • • •

Mandarin Chinese English Spanish Hindi Arabic Portuguese Bengali Russian Japanese German 726 Million 427 Million 266 Million 182 Million 181 Million 165 Million 162 Million 158 Million 124 Million 121 Million

English Speaking Countries

Interesting Facts about the English Language

• • • • English is spoken as a first language by 427 million English is spoken as a second language by another 350 million English is the most widely taught language in over 100 countries In 70 countries English has official status: – more than any other language

• Pronunciation of a language distinct to a certain region – New England Dialect – Southern Drawl – Australian Dialect

Dialect

Why Do People Living in Distinct Locations Speak English Differently?

• Isolation over long periods of time • Integration with other cultures • Interplay of migrants

•

Isogloss:

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

•

Accent:

Non standard pronunciation of language by a a non native speaker – First generation immigrant

Key Terms

Language Overview

• • • • • • Geographer’s Perspective of Language Language as the foundation of Culture Key Terms Language Divisions Spatial Distribution of Languages Why do people speak the same language differently in distinct regions?

The Geography of Language

Cultural Geography C.J. Cox

• •

Top 10 Languages by Population

The population figures in this table refers to first language speakers in all countries. Note that these figures are updated from the 13th Edition of the Ethnologue (1996).

Last updated: February 1999

Rank

• • • • • • • • • • 1 2 3 4.

5 6 7 8 9 10

Language Name

MANDARIN SPANISH ENGLISH BENGALI HINDI PORTUGUESE RUSSIAN JAPANESE GERMAN CHINESE, WU

Primary CountryPopulation

China Spain United Kingdom Bangladesh India Portugal Russia Japan Germany China 885,000,000 332,000,000 322,000,000 189,000,000 182,000,000 170,000,000 170,000,000 125,000,000 98,000,000 77,175,000