Transcript 5.4 Bellwork - Cornerstone Charter Academy

5.4 Language Diversity and Uniformity
A. Preserving language diversity
Hebrew: reviving extinct languages
Celtic: preserving endangered languages
Multilingual states
Isolated languages
B. Global dominance of English
English as a lingua franca
Diffusion to other languages
Preserving Language Diversity
Extinct languages are viable languages that no
longer exist.
Possibly 516 near extinct languages presently.
Gothic was spoken in Northern and Eastern Europe
in the 3rd century A.D. People converted to
Christianity and began speaking Latin instead.
Languages die through integration, when other
stronger cultures take over through politics or
cultural preference.
Extinct Languages - USA (93)
ABNAKI-PENOBSCOT ACHUMAWI AHTENA APACHE, KIOWA
APACHE, LIPAN ATAKAPA ATSUGEWI BILOXI CADDO
CAHUILLA CATAWBA CHEHALIS, LOWER CHEROKEE CHETCO
CHINOOK CHINOOK WAWA CHITIMACHA CHUMASH CLALLAM
COEUR D'ALENE COOS COQUILLE COWLITZ CUPEÑO EYAK
FLATHEAD-KALISPEL GALICE GROS VENTRE HAN HAWAI'I
PIDGIN SIGN LANGUAGE HOLIKACHUK HUPA IOWA-OTO
KALAPUYA KANSA KASHAYA KATO KAWAIISU KITSAI
KOYUKON LUMBEE LUSHOOTSEED MAIDU, NORTHEAST
MAIDU, NORTHWEST MAIDU, VALLEY MANDAN MARTHA'S
VINEYARD SIGN MATTOLE MENOMINI MIAMI MIWOK
MOBILIAN MOHEGAN MONO NANTICOKE NATCHEZ
NISENAN NOOKSACK OFO OSAGE POMO POWHATAN
QUAPAW QUILEUTE QUINAULT SALINAN SALISH SERRANO
SHASTA SIUSLAW SNOHOMISH TANAINA TILLAMOOK
TOLOWA TONKAWA TÜBATULABAL TUNICA TUSCARORA
TUTELO TUTUTNI TWANA UNAMI WAILAKI WAMPANOAG
WAPPO WASCO-WISHRAM WINTU WIYOT WYANDOT YANA
YOKUTS YUKI YUROK
Hebrew: Reviving Extinct Languages
Hebrew is a rare case where it went basically
extinct then it was revived.
Bible was mostly written in Hebrew and Aramaic.
Hebrew lost popularity in the 4th century BC and
only Jews remained using it for religious use.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is one person who led the way
to revive Hebrew after Israel became independent.
He wrote the first Hebrew dictionary, and created
over 4,000 new Hebrew words for modern things
that did not exist.
Revival of Celtic Language
Celtic language in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
Welsh has made a comeback because of the efforts
of the Welsh Language Society and Welsh being
taught in schools.
Irish Gaelic also has grown with the help of the
younger Irish. It is also taught, and it is being used
in popular culture more and more. Even an Irish
Gaelic T.V. station started broadcasting in 1996.
A couple hundred people have even revived
Cornish (a Brythonic language) but they fight over
how to spell things.
Multi Lingual States
Language Divisions in Belgium
Belgium is divided between the French
speaking Walloons in the South and the Flemish
(Dutch) in the north.
(French & Flemish are from different language
branches)
Historically the French speakers were wealthier
and ran politics. Conflict caused them to divide
the country into two regions. Each ran
independently.
Language Divisions in Belgium
Mayor of Voeren (a “Flemish” town in
Flanders but on the border of Wallonia) refused
to speak Dutch. He was removed from office
and jailed. The French-speaking members
protested.
Today many amendments have been added to
the constitution to give each region more
autonomy (self rule).
The boundary lines are not fixed so there are
still problems.
Language Areas in Switzerland
Fig. 5-17:
Switzerland
remains
peaceful with
four official
languages
and a
decentralized
government
structure.
Language
Complexity
In Nigeria ethnic conflict between
southern Ibos and western Yoruba led the
government to move the capital to a more
neutral central location (Abuja). Many
other ethnic battles rage continuously.
Nigeria has more than 200
individual languages!
In Switzerland, four official languages, a
history of peace and tolerance, and a
political system that puts power in the
hands of local leaders ensure peace.
Isolated Languages
Isolated Languages are unrelated to any other and
not attached to any language family and occur
because of lack of interaction with other
languages.
Basque is the only language spoken in Europe
that was there before the Indo-Europeans came.
It is spoken in the Pyrenees mountains of N.
Spain and S. France.
Icelandic IS related to North Germanic languages
although it has changed less in the last 1,000
years than any other Germanic language because
of isolation.
Basque is the only language
spoken in Europe that was there
before the Indo-Europeans came.
It is spoken in the Pyrenees
mountains of N. Spain and S.
France.
Basque Spain
Germanic Branch - Icelandic
Iceland colonized by
Norwegians in AD 874.
Largely unchanged
because of isolation
combined with literary
tradition.
Highly developed
literary tradition.
Ancient sagas can be
read by modern
speakers of Icelandic.
B. Global Dominance of English
A language of international communication is
known as a Lingua Franca (often for business
and/or politics).
A group that learns English or another lingua
franca often learns a simplified form called a
Pidgin language
Pidgin languages have no native speakers and are
always second languages (unlike creoles).
PIDGIN - a form of speech that adopts simplified
grammar and limited vocabulary from a lingua franca,
used for communication between speakers of two
different languages.
Examples include Hawaiian Pidgin and
the creoles of West Africa that
resulted from the slave trade.
“No eat da candy, Bruddah, it's pilau. Da
thing wen fall on da ground.”
Matthew 6:9-13 “The Lord’s Prayer”
- Taken from Da Jesus Book, a twelve year effort
by 6 linguists to translate the New Testament into
Hawaiian Pidgin, published 2001
Give us da food we need fo today an every day.
Hemmo our shame, an let us go
Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you,
Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready,
And we no stay huhu wit dem
Fo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us.
No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff,
But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us.
Cuz you our King.
You get da real power,
An you stay awesome foeva.
Dass it!”
Expansion Diffusion of English
English is taught to 83 percent of High school
students in EU countries, and more than 90% in
some.
200 million speak English fluently as a second
language and millions more have a working
knowledge of it.
Japan has even considered making it a second
official language.
English
Diffused throughout the world by hundreds of years of British
colonialism. Brought to New World by British colonies in
1600s. Has become an important global lingua franca.
Diffusion of Other Languages
Franglais – French + English (Quebecois are
fanatic about preserving their French language)
Spanglish – convert English words into Spanish
forms (for example: “e-sticker”)
Denglish – English and German
French-English Boundary in Canada
Fig. 5-18: Although Canada is bilingual, French speakers are
concentrated in the province of Québec, where 80% of the
population speaks French.
English on the Internet
English dominated the Internet during the 1990s.
But, the percentage of English uses has declined
from 71% in 1998 to 27% in 2005 (as compared
to the rest of the world).
Mandarin is set to pass English as the leading
language of internet users in 2010.
Internet Hosts
Fig. 5-1-1: A large proportion of the world’s internet users and hosts are in the
developed countries of North America and western Europe.
Internet Hosts, by Language
Fig 5-1-1a: The large majority of internet hosts in 1999 used English, Chinese,
Japanese, or European languages.
Key Points
•Language is a fundamental
element of cultural identity.
•Languages diverge via
migration and isolation.
•Small languages are
disappearing as a result of
globalization.
•Languages that share a
common ancestor belong to
the same family.
•Language diversity is a
source of political conflict in
the world.
McDonald’s, Israel
Ch 5.4 Review Questions