Transcript Introduction to Language

Language
Introduction to Language
Language Tidbits
• Most people in the United States know only
English
• English is the official language in over 50
countries
• A third of the world’s population live in
countries where English is the official
language
• English is the second most spoken language in
the world
What is language?
• Language: a system of communication
through speech, a collection of sounds that a
group of people understands to have the
same meaning
– Does Ebonics meet this criteria?
• Literary Tradition: a system of written
communication
Language Continued
• Many countries have an official language.
• This is used by governments for laws,
reports, and public objects
• If a country has more than one official
language, than they can require all public
documents to be in both languages
– As of 1988, Canada has two official languages,
English and French
Global Distribution of Language
• The distribution of language is a result of
interaction and isolation
– Interaction occurs when a group of people
migrates to another place and teaches their
language to the people they encounter (Ex:
British Colonization)
– Isolation occurs if the people have few
connections after the migration (Ex: Spanish in
Latin America)
Origin of English
• English is widely distributed through the
world as a result of British Imperialism
• English diffused to North America in the
1600’s with the settling of Jamestown
• English diffused to Ireland, India, Australia,
New Zealand, Southern Africa, etc. in the
form of British Colonialism
British Commonwealth
Origin of English in England
• The Celts came to Great Britain in 2000
B.C. (or B.C.E.) speaking Celtic
• In 450 A.D. (C.E.), tribes from Europe
invaded, pushing the Celts into modern-day
Scotland and Wales
• The invading tribes were the Angles, Jutes,
and Saxons
German Invasion
• All three were Germanic tribes, hence
English having Germanic roots
• All the tribes had a common language, but
after being isolated, the language took on a
form of its own
• This was also due to other European
influences that migrated to Great Britain
Norman Invasion
• One reason English and German are
different today is due to the Normans
• The Normans spoke French, and it was the
official language of England for 300 years
– The royal family spoke French, but the people
spoke English
• In 1489, English became the official
language of England
Dialects of English
• Dialect: a regional variation of a language
distinguished by distinctive vocabulary,
spelling, and pronunciation (Is Ebonics a
dialect?)
• Usually, a speaker of one dialect can
understand the speaker of another (Ex:
American English and Australian English)
What is this song about?
• Waltzing Matilda
• Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.
Dialects Continued
• Sometimes a dialect is recognized as being
a standard language
– Example: British Received Pronunciation
(BRP)
• This was the language used at universities
like Oxford and Cambridge
• Oh why can’t the English learn to speak?
British and American English
• The first colonists spoke a British form of
English
• With isolation from Great Britain, and the
arrival of immigrants, the form of English
shifted into what it is today
• American and British English differ in three
ways: vocabulary, spelling, and
pronunciation
Vocabulary
• New physical features had to be given
names
• New animal and plant species also had to be
named
• Native Americans also added to our
vocabulary: canoe and moccasin
• New inventions like the elevator (lift),
flashlight (torch), toilet (loo)
Spelling
• Webster was determined to make American
English unique, and published his
dictionary with that agenda
• He created new grammar and spelling rules
– Color vs. Colour,
– Analyze vs. analyse
– Center vs. Centre
Pronunciation
• One key difference between American and
British pronunciation are the sounds of the
letters a and r.
– Fast vs. faaaahhhst
– Lord vs Laaahhhd
– Secretary vs. Secratry
• See Hugh Laurie teach British slang!
Dialects in the United States
• There are many words in the United States
that are unique to that region
• An isogloss is a word-usage boundary
–
–
–
–
Cellar or Basement?
Coke, Pop, or Soda?
Water fountain or drinking fountain?
Are Mary, Merry, and Marry pronounced the
same?
– Wedgie anyone?
Indo-European Language Branch
Why is English related to Other
Languages?
• English is part of the Indo-European
language family
• A language family is a collection of
languages related through a common
ancestor that existed long before recorded
history.
• Indo-European is the language family with
the most speakers.
Indo-European Branches
• Within language families are language
branches
• A language branch is a collection of
languages related through a common ancestor
that existed thousands of years ago.
• Indo-European is divided into eight branches:
West Germanic, Romance, Baltic-Slavic, IndoIranian, Greek, and Armenian
Germanic Branch
• English is part of the Germanic Language
Group
• A language group is a collection of
languages within a branch that share a
common origin in the relatively recent past,
and display relatively few differences in
grammar and vocabulary
Western Germanic Branch
• Includes the languages of German, English,
Afrikaans, and Dutch
– German is spoken mainly in Germany, Austria,
and Switzerland
– English is spoken on every continent (key
places: Great Britain, United States, Canada,
India, Japan, and Australia)
– Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa
– Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands
West Germanic Branch
• There are over 669 million native speakers
• The Germanic branch also includes North
Germanic languages of Swedish,
Norwegian, Icelandic, and Danish]
Romance Branch
• The Romance Branch evolved from the
Latin language spoken by Romans 2,000
years ago
• It has 859 million native speakers.
• The four most common Romance languages
are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian
– French and Spanish are two of the six official
UN languages
Romance Branch
• Romanian is spoken in Romania and
Moldova.
• Other Romance Languages include
Romansh (one of Switzerland’s four official
languages), and Catalan (spoken in Spain,
and the official language of Andorra)
• Haitian Creole is a language spoken in Haiti
History
of
the
Romance
Languages
• Latin was spread by the soldiers of the Roman
Empire
• When they conquered a group of people, they
taught them Latin
• The people spoke a different form of Latin
called Vulgar Latin, or Latin of the People.
– Ex: The Latin word for horse is equus, but the
vulgar Latin word for horse was caballus. Italian:
cavallor, Spanish: caballo, Portuguese: cavalo,
and French: cheval
Spanish and Portuguese
• Both of these languages are important
around the world due to Spanish and
Portuguese imperialism
• Spanish is the official language in 18 Latin
American countries
• Portuguese is the official language of Brazil
– This is due to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1493
Haitian Creole
• When a language is a mix of a colonial
language and an indigenous language, it is
said to be a creole or creolized language
• A creolized language forms when a
colonized group adopts the language of the
dominant group, but makes some changes
Language
• A systematic means of communicating
ideas and feelings through the use of signs,
gestures, marks, or vocal sounds
• Linguistic Geography is the study of speech
areas and the local variations by mapping
word choices, pronunciations, or
grammatical constructions
Language Families
• A grouping of languages with a shared, but
fairly distinct origin
• The most common language family is the
Indo-European family
– English is the most widely used language
– Mandarin is spoken by the largest number of
native speakers
– Romance languages form a sub-family in the IndoEuropean family and include Spanish, French, and
Italian
Languages
• A standard language is a language
designated for use by the government,
schools, media, and other aspects of public
life
• An official language is one endorsed by the
government as the one everyone should
know and use
– A country may have more than one official
language
Dialects
• A regional variation of a standard language
• Isogloss is a word usage boundary
– Ex: Coke vs. Pop
Language Barriers
• Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two
languages
• Multilingualism is the ability to communicate in
more than two languages
• Pidgin is a combination of languages
– Ex: Spanglish
• It becomes a creole language if the Pidgin
language is the first language of the people that
speak it
Lingua Franca
• An established language that comes to be
spoken and understood over a large area
• English is lingua franca for most of the world
• Toponymy: the study of place names
• Extinct Language: languages that were once
used, but no longer spoken
• Revived Language: the reclamation of an
extinct language
– Ex: Hebrew
Balto-Slavic Branch
• The roots of the Slavic language are Asian
• Due to isolation of different groups when
they arrived in Eastern Europe, different
languages emerged
• Languages include: Ukrainian, Russian,
Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbo-Croatian,
Baltic, and Bulgarian
Baltic-Slavic Branch
• Russian is the most widely spoken
language, and is spoken by 80 percent of the
Russians
– Russian is one of the six official languages of
the UN
• Ukrainian is spoken in the Ukraine, and
Belorusian in Belarus.
• The Baltic languages include Estonian,
Latvian, and Lithuanian.
Baltic-Slavic Branch
• Other widely spoken languages are Polish
(Poland), Czech (Czech Republic), and
Slovak (Czech Republic)
– Speakers of Czech and Slovak can understand
each other
• Slovenian is in Slovenia, Macedonian in
Macedonia, and Serbia-Croatian is spoken
by Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs.
Indo-Iranian Branch
• The Indo-Iranian branch has the most
speakers.
• It has over 100 languages with over 1
billion native speakers
• The branch includes the languages of
Persian (Farsi), Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and
Punjabi
The Indic Group
• One-third of Indians use an Indic languages
called Hindi
– It is spoken many different ways, but there is a
common written form of the language called
Devanagari
• India’s constitution recognizes 18 official
languages
The Indic Group
• Pakistan’s principal language is called
Urdu, and the written form of the language
is Arabic
• Bangladesh’s official language is Bengali
The Iranian Group
• Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in Iran
and neighboring countries
• Persian or Farsi is the main language in
Iran.
• Other languages include Kurdish and
Pathan.
• All of these are written in Arabic.
Greek and Armenian
• Greek and Armenian are in the IndoEuropean family, but are not language
branches
• Greek is spoken in Greece, and has 12
million native speakers.
• Armenian is spoken in Armenia, and has 6
million native speakers.
Language Families
• A grouping of languages with a shared, but
fairly distinct origin
• The most common language family is the
Indo-European family
– English is the most widely used language
– Mandarin is spoken by the largest number of
native speakers
– Romance languages form a sub-family in the IndoEuropean family and include Spanish, French, and
Italian
Languages
• A standard language is a language
designated for use by the government,
schools, media, and other aspects of public
life
• An official language is one endorsed by the
government as the one everyone should
know and use
– A country may have more than one official
language
Language Barriers
• Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two
languages
• Multilingualism is the ability to communicate in
more than two languages
• Pidgin is a combination of languages
– Ex: Spanglish
• It becomes a creole language if the Pidgin
language is the first language of the people that
speak it
Lingua Franca
• An established language that comes to be
spoken and understood over a large area
• English is lingua franca for most of the world
• Toponymy: the study of place names
• Extinct Language: languages that were once
used, but no longer spoken
• Revived Language: the reclamation of an
extinct language
– Ex: Hebrew
•
Origin and Diffusion of IndoEuropean
The existence of a single ancestor
cannot be proved with certainty,
because it would have existed
thousands of years before the
invention of writing or recorded
history.
• Individual Indo-European languages
share common root words for winter
and snow but not for ocean.
• Therefore, linguists conclude that
original Proto-Indo-European
speakers probably lived in a cold
climate, or one that had a winter
season, but did not come in contact
with oceans.
Kurgan Theory of Indo-European Origin
Fig. 5-9: In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan
hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7,000 years ago.
Nomadic Warrior
Theory
Sedentary Farmer
Theory
Anatolian Hearth Theory of IndoEuropean Origin
Fig. 5-10: In the Anatolian hearth theory, Indo-European originated in Turkey
before the Kurgans and diffused through agricultural expansion.
Language Families of the World
Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than
100 million speakers are named.
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.
Indo-European Languages
Continued
Balto-Slavic Branch
• The roots of the Slavic language are Asian
• Due to isolation of different groups when
they arrived in Eastern Europe, different
languages emerged
• Languages include: Ukrainian, Russian,
Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbo-Croatian,
Baltic, and Bulgarian
Baltic-Slavic Branch
• Russian is the most widely spoken
language, and is spoken by 80 percent of
the Russians
– Russian is one of the six official languages of
the UN
• Ukrainian is spoken in the Ukraine, and
Belorusian in Belarus.
• The Baltic languages include Estonian,
Latvian, and Lithuanian.
Baltic-Slavic Branch
• Other widely spoken languages are Polish
(Poland), Czech (Czech Republic), and
Slovak (Czech Republic)
– Speakers of Czech and Slovak can understand
each other
• Slovenian is in Slovenia, Macedonian in
Macedonia, and Serbia-Croatian is spoken
by Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs.
Indo-Iranian Branch
• The Indo-Iranian branch has the most
speakers.
• It has over 100 languages with over 1
billion native speakers
• The branch includes the languages of
Persian (Farsi)-Iran, Bengali-Bangladesh,
Hindi-India, Urdu-Pakistan, and PunjabiIndia
The Indic Group
• One-third of Indians use an Indic languages
called Hindi
– It is spoken many different ways, but there is a
common written form of the language called
Devanagari
• India’s constitution recognizes 18 official
languages
The Indic Group
• Pakistan’s principal language is called
Urdu, and the written form of the language
is Arabic
• Bangladesh’s official language is Bengali
The Iranian Group
• Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in Iran
and neighboring countries
• Persian or Farsi is the main language in
Iran.
• Other languages include Kurdish and
Pathan.
• All of these are written in Arabic.
Greek and Armenian
• Greek and Armenian are in the IndoEuropean family, but are not language
branches
• Greek is spoken in Greece, and has 12
million native speakers.
• Armenian is spoken in Armenia, and has 6
million native speakers.
Sino-Tibetan Family
• The Sino-Tibetan
family
encompasses
languages spoken
in the People’s
Republic of China
as well as several
smaller countries in
Southeast Asia.
•
Sinitic Branch –
Chinese
Languages
There is no single Chinese
language.
• Spoken by approximately threefourths of the Chinese people,
Mandarin is by a wide margin the
most used language in the world.
• Other Sinitic branch languages are
spoken by tens of millions of
people in China.
• The Chinese government is
imposing Mandarin countrywide.
Structure of Chinese Language
• The structure of Chinese languages is
quite different (from Indo-European).
• They are based on 420 one-syllable
words.
• This number far exceeds the possible
one-syllable sounds that humans can
make, so Chinese languages use each
sound to denote more than one thing.
• The listener must infer the meaning
from the context in the sentence and
the tone of voice the speaker uses.
• In addition, two one-syllable words
can be combined.
Chinese Ideograms
Fig. 5-13: Chinese language ideograms mostly represent concepts rather than sounds.
The two basic characters at the top can be built into more complex words.
Austro-Thai and Tibeto-Burman
 In addition to the
Chinese languages
included in the Sinitic
branch, the SinoTibetan family includes
two smaller branches,
Austro-Thai and TibetoBurman.
Distinctive Language Families Japanese
• Chinese cultural traits have
diffused into Japanese
society, including the
original form of writing the
Japanese language.
• Japanese is written in part
with Chinese ideograms, but
it also uses two systems of
phonetic symbols.
Distinctive Language Families Korean
• Korean is usually classified as a separate language family.
• Korean is written not with ideograms but in a system known as
hankul (phonetic).
• In this system, each letter represents a sound.
•
Distinctive Language Families Vietnamese
Austro-Asiatic, spoken by
about 1 percent of the
world’s population, is based
in Southeast Asia.
• Vietnamese (is) the most
spoken tongue of the
language family.
• The Vietnamese alphabet
was devised in the seventh
century by Roman Catholic
missionaries.
Afro-Asiatic Language Family
• The Afro-Asiatic-—once referred
to as the Semito-Hamitic—
language family includes Arabic
and Hebrew, as well as a number
of languages spoken primarily in
northern Africa and southwestern
Asia.
• Arabic is the major Afro-Asiatic
language, an official language in
two dozen countries of North
Africa and southwestern Asia,
from Morocco to the Arabian
Peninsula.
Altaic and Uralic language families
• The Altaic and Uralic
language families were once
thought to be linked as one
family because the two
display similar word
formation, grammatical
endings, and other structural
elements.
• Recent studies, however,
point to geographically
distinct origins.
Altaic Languages
Uralic Languages
• Every European country is
dominated by IndoEuropean speakers, except
for three: Estonia, Finland,
and Hungary.
• The Estonians, Finns, and
Hungarians speak languages
that belong to the Uralic
family, first used 7,000
years ago by people living
in the Ural Mountains north
of the Kurgan homeland.
Language Families of Africa
Fig. 5-14: The 1,000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language
families, including Austronesian languages in Madagascar.
Niger-Congo Language Family
• More than 95 percent of the
people in sub-Saharan
Africa speak languages of
the Niger-Congo family,
which includes six branches
with many hard to classify
languages.
• The remaining 5 percent
speak languages of the
Khoisan or Nilo-Saharan
families.
• The largest branch of
the Niger- Congo
family is the BenueCongo branch, and its
most important
language is Swahili.
• Its vocabulary has
strong Arabic
influences.
• Swahili is one of the
few African languages
with an extensive
literature.
Swahili
Nilo-Saharan
Language Family
• Nilo-Saharan languages are
spoken by a few million
people in north-central
Africa, immediately north of
the Niger-Congo language
region.
• The best known of these
languages is Maasai, spoken
by the tall warrior-herdsmen
of east Africa.
Khoisan
Language Family
• The third important
language family of subSaharan Africa—
Khoisan—is
concentrated in the
southwest.
• Khoisan language use
clicking sounds.
Austronesian Language Family
 About 6 percent of the world’s people speak an Austronesian language, once
known as the Malay-Polynesian family.
 The most frequently used Austronesian language is Malay-Indonesian.
 The people of Madagascar speak Malagasy, which belongs to the
Austronesian family, even though the island is separated by 3,000 kilometers
(1,900 miles) from any other Austronesian-speaking country.
Languages of
Nigeria
• Africa’s most populous country,
Nigeria, displays problems that
can arise from the presence of
many speakers of many
languages.
• Groups living in different regions
of Nigeria have often battled.
• Nigeria reflects the problems that
can arise when great cultural
diversity—and therefore language
diversity—is packed into a
relatively small region.
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.
Preserving Language Diversity
• Thousands of languages are extinct
languages
• The eastern Amazon region of Peru in
the sixteenth century (had) more than
500 languages.
– Only 57 survive today, half of which face
extinction.
• Gothic was widely spoken in Eastern
and Northern Europe in the third
century A.D.
• The last speakers of Gothic lived in
the Crimea in Russia in the sixteenth
century.
• Many Gothic people switched to
speaking the Latin language after their
conversion to Christianity.