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Bell work: • What is language? • How do you use language? • Should English be the official language of the US? Why/Why not? Chapter 6 Language EQ 6.1 WHAT ARE LANGUAGES AND WHAT ROLE TO LANGUAGES PLAY IN CULTURES? Language • Language is a set of mutually intelligible sounds and symbols that are used for communication. • Language is an integral part of culture. Loss of language • Diversity of Language in Africa • Language loss because of power relationships – Colonization – Forced assimilation Language Families of Africa Fig. 5-14: The 1000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language families, including Austronesian languages in Madagascar. Languages of Nigeria Fig. 5-15: More than 200 languages are spoken in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa (by population). English, considered neutral, is the official language. Nigeria Language and National Identity Standard Language a language that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught. Percent of People 5 Years and Older Who Speak a Language other than English at Home Dialect variants of a standard language along regional or ethnic lines - vocabulary -syntax - pronunciation - cadence - pace of speech Isogloss A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs EQ 6.2 and EQ 6.3 WHY ARE LANGUAGES DISTRIBUTED THE WAY THEY ARE? HOW DO LANGUAGES DIFFUSE? Language Families of the World Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 50 million speakers are named. Origin, Diffusion, & Dialects of English • Origin and diffusion of English – English colonies – Origin of English in England • Dialects of English – – – – Dialects in England Differences between British & American English Dialects in the United States (see Dialects test on Weebly) The Indo-European Language Family • Branches of Indo-European – Germanic branch – Indo-Iranian branch – Balto-Slavic branch – Romance branch Major Language Families Percentage of World Population Fig. 5-11a: The percentage of world population speaking each of the main language families. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan together represent almost 75% of the world’s people. I-E Migrations Indo-European Language Family Fig. 5-5: The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian. Language Family Trees Fig. 5-12: Family trees and estimated numbers of speakers for the main world language families. English Speaking Countries Fig. 5-1: English is an official language in 50 countries, including some in which it is not the most widely spoken language. It is also used and understood in many others. Dialects in the Eastern U.S. Fig. 5-4: Hans Kurath divided the eastern U.S. into three dialect regions, whose distribution is similar to that of house types (Fig. 49). How are Languages Formed? • Language divergence – when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages. • Language convergence – when peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one. – pidgin language