Language Linguistics Language heart of culture

Language

Linguistics Language @ heart of culture W/o lang. , culture cannot be passed on Literary tradition cultural continuity Ideograms v. alphabets Mandarin = oldest surviving writing system Printing press! Between 4 -8, 000 different lang. (depends on definition) (ethnologue. com lists 7, 413) 600+ in India most are 1000+ in Africa preliterate (writing)

Examples of the African Click Languages Vocalization is the crucial part of the def. of lang! Xhosa language – South Africa http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=KZlp-cro. VYw Khoisan – Namibia – http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Nz 44 Wi. TVJww

I. Language Classification A. Language Family = collection of related langs. with a “prehistoric” ancestor Indo-European is largest 50%; Sino-Tibetan (20%) is 2 nd Afro-Asiatic (Northern Africa/Middle East) Austronesian (Southeast Asia) Niger-Congo (Sub-Saharan Africa) Dravidian (India)

Diffusion of Indo-European languages The origin of words we use all the time http: //www. businessinsider. com/european-maps-showing-origins-of-common-words-2013 11? utm_content=bufferb 7 d 3 a&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Buffer

Hungarian surrounded by Indo-European languages! Why?

B. Language Branch Collection of related langs. w/ a more recent ancestor More recent language divergence Indo-European has 8 branches: 4 major: Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian 4 minor: Hellenic, Albanian, Celtic, Armenian

C. Language Group Common modern ancestor w/ similar vocab. and grammar Ex: West Germanic v. North Germanic English is West Germanic D. Language i. e. English, Hindi, Arabic, etc.

D. Dialects: Standard vs. vulgar Standard language (standard “dialect”) 1. 2. 3. Sets quality of a lang. , (part of cultural ID & national concern) May be sustained by gov’t policies (ex: tests for teachers or officials) Powerful people decide the standard language Ex of standard lang. : Chinese = “Mandarin” British English = “British Received Pronunciation” American Sign Language

Why is British Received Pronunciation and American English so different? What cohorts left Britain for the USA? Mostly lower/middle class immigrants (not speakers of BRP) Webster “national” American English dialect B/c of time and isolation vocab. & pronunciation considerably different Different words for new inventions Examples? ? ? American vs. British English. . http: //esl. about. com/library/vocabulary/blbritam. htm? once=tr ue&terms=british-american

English Dialects http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=3 Ugpf. Sp 2 t 6 k Amy Walker 21 Accents (2: 36) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=4 Nri. DTxseog Amy Walker, How to do an American accent? (6: 40) Some other great video clips to introduce you to dialects and variations in language. The cockney pronunciation segment from My Fair Lady (the Rain in Spain) and the clip of Lucy and Ricky discussing how they (Ricky) will teach their child proper English pronunciation http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=MJr 9 SSJKk. II (4: 47) https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=MAL 9 VD 6 Lz 9 Y&t=8 s (3: 05)

Vulgar Dialects Variants of the standard lang. Regional accents reveal origin Dialects marked by difference in vocab. = “isogloss” Isogloss = line separating 2 diff. words 4 same concept Ex. “Coke” vs. “soda” vs. “pop” http: //www. reelseo. com/best-vimeo-videos-november-2013/ Regional Variations More common dialects differ in pronunciation IF 2 dialects become “mutually unintelligible” two separate languages emerge “language divergence”

Language Divergence The basic process: time and isolation 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Separation Time & isolation branch into dialects Dialects remain isolated Pronunciations change, new words created for new discoveries More time & isolation dialects become discrete languages “mutually unintelligible” Ex. Vulgar Latin Romance Languages How does this relate to time-distance decay?

II. Languages of the World AP Goal … Know what language/ language branch/ language family is spoken in almost every place on Earth!! 1. Mandarin = most common primary lang. Chinglish. Can it be translated to English? http: //www. nytimes. com/slideshow/2010/05/03/world/asia/20100503_CHINGLISH. html? _r=0 2. English official lang. 40+ countries 2 billion+ in a country w/ English official language Who is #2 in English speakers b/h U. S. ? (India =“ 398 scheduled languages, 11 extinct”; 22 official languages) Many not mutually understood. Each state has an official language! 3. Could English be spoken in some places JUST for business and not casually? Why and where? Six Official languages of U. N. ? _________

The six official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. They are the mother tongue or second language of 2. 8 billion people, nearly half the world population, and are official languages in more than half the States in the world.

Language 1 Approx. number of speakers 1. Chinese 1, 197, 000 2. Spanish 414, 000 3. English 335, 000 4. Hindi 260, 000 5. Arabic 237, 000 6. Portuguese 203, 000 7. Bengali 193, 000 8. Russian 167, 000 9. Japanese 122, 000 10. Javanese 84, 300, 000

Languages of Europe Indo-Euro. lang. dominates 2. Language map & pol. boundaries usually overlap 1. SW Europe is ___Romance___ NW Europe is __Germanic______ E. Europe is ____Slavic___ (Keep in mind Estonia, Hungary and Finland – Uralic language family)

European Languages cont. Romance languages dominate in 5 States (Countries) E. boundary of Germ. = East of Germanic Balto-Slavic tongues Believed Uralic lang. spread 7000 -10, 000 years ago Basque language = mystery in history = “isolated lang. ”

Languages of India http: //www. mapsofindia. com/culture/indian-languages. html 4 lang. families Indo-Euro. most speakers Dravidian 2 nd Less known Austroasiatic and Indo-Pacific 15 major lang. ; all but four are Indo-European (Bengali and Hindi most common) Dravidian languages clustered in SE (Tamil/Telugu) Pol. divisions reflect regional languages Hindi is the main Indo-Euro lang. (Indo-Iranian branch) w/ 300+ million speakers

Languages of Africa 1. Most preliterate 2. Largest fam. = Niger-Congo 3. Oldest are the Khoisan languages (clicks) 4. View map to see 4 major (Families) as well as Austronesian

Mandarin: One lang. or many? (Sino-Tibetan family) 1. World's oldest written lang. 2. Spoken by the greatest contiguous pop. cluster on Earth 3. Divided by dialects that are mutually unintelligible Mandarin dominates with about 900 million speakers Written lang. ALWAYS same unifying force Several efforts have been made to create a truly national language… today’s pinyin (standard romanization system) Pinyin, or Hanyu Pinyin, is the official phonetic system for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet in the People's Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore.

South America Impact of Colonialism Treaty of Tordesillas divided New World into 2 spheres: Western “half” = Spain Eastern “half” = Portugal

Proto-Indo-European Language Hearth and Diffusion

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language? Indo-European language = world's most common Proto-Indo-European (common ancestor of Indo-European) Use reverse lang. divergence to guess all I-E languages came from ONE lang. Similar words Hypothesize about origin?

Diffusion of Proto-Indo-European language? A. Conquest theory 1. Originated N of Black Sea (steppes of Ukraine/Russia) 2. Lang. diffused west thru conquest! Superior tech. (wheel) Domesticated horses

Historical Spread of the Chariot (Years are BC)

B. Agriculture Theory 1. Diffusion by SHARING agriculture techniques = spread of farming 2. Origin: Anatolia in Turkey (hilly words) 3. Supporting evidence: Few words for plains but many for relief landforms Few words for trees/animals that live on the plains Leading hearth of ag. innovation nearby (Mesopotamia) Some genetic evidence

III. Globalization vs. Local Diversity Globalization of lang. Lingua franca? Any common language spoken by peoples w/ diff. native tongues. (business purposes) Exs: Swahili, Indonesian, Russian, Arabic English (most important) Technology, Navigation, Education, Pop Culture, Tourism, Finance Negative correlation between lingua franca & local language.

Swahili has become the lingua franca of East Africa Lingua Franca - a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. http: //www. glcom. com/hassan/lessons/useful_swahili_words. html Developed from African Bantu languages, Arabic, and Persian Has a complex vocabulary and structure

Hausa In West Africa Hausa is a regional lingua franca

Language Replacement Stronger culture forces lang. on less advanced people Colonialism’s linguistic legacy: Acculturation or assimilation? Latin America – Treaty of Tordesillas Africa USSR U. S. and UK today Globalization of L. F. may = language extinction (Sanskrit, Cornish, Native American lang. , etc. )

Pidgin Mixture of 2 or more langs; allows comm. b/t speakers of different tongues. Simple grammar easier to learn Few synonyms Learned as second languages. aka “Contact Language” Ex: Spanglish, Chinglish, Franglais, African pidgins

Creole and Creolization 1. Pidgins mother tongue a) Process = “Creolization” b) 2 languages blend together = one native language Ex. Swahili, Afrikaans, French Creole 2. Stable over time, complex grammar & vocab 3. Difficult to distinguish b/t dialect/pidgin/creole 4. Rubenstein = “lang. resulting from mixing of colonizer’s lang w/ indigenous lang. ”

Forces Centripital Force an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state Centrifugal Force a force that divides people and countries

Preservation of Local Diversity Minority lang. revival because… Maintenance of a unique culture Amer. Indians Quebec in Canada Spanish-speakers in the U. S. Force for devolution (transfer of power away from central gov’t. ) Basques in Spain Maori in New Zealand (local autonomy) Gov’t attempting to promote unity = “centripetal force” 22 official lang. in India 11 official lang. of South Africa 2 official lang. in Belgium 2 official lang. in Canada

Preservation cont. Promote nationalism with a group of people = “centripetal force” Hebrew in Israel Gaelic in Ireland/Scotland Quebec banning non-French signs & ads Use of technology Maintaining and reinforce language Welsh TV programs/radio stations Spanish speakers w/ Spanish TV stations To attract tourists Unique experiences! Signs & topynyms changed to reflect native culture

Multilingualism VERY few monolingual states Ex: Japan, Portugal, Poland, Venezuela, Lesotho Most even have some people w/ minority lang. Japan: 500, 000+ Koreans Venezuela indigenous langs Linguistic fragmentation = cultural pluralism? Multilingual states = centrifugal force?

Multilingualism Case Studies A. Nigeria Unimaginable linguistic diversity – legacy of colonialism (some sources suggest 500+ languages 4 major regional lang. (Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Fulani) ~12 major local languages spoken by 1 to 5 million people Adopted English as its "official language” Has precluded (prevented) major cultural conflict based on language Caused problems for children first entering school knowing only traditional languages Only spoken by small, urban minority

Multilingualism Case Studies B. Canada Large French-speaking territory w/ even larger English-speaking area French law and language sustained in Quebec French language was protected in parliament and in the courts Language divides the country 60 Minutes – War of Words - Quebec Language Wars http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=q. KOGg. Yaqwhg (7: 44) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Iki-pwr. Cp. E 8 (5: 24)

Will Quebec succeed and secede?

Multilingualism Case Studies C. Belgium Dutch-speaking region in the north (Flemish) & Frenchspeaking region in the south Brussels (capital) officially bilingual, French-speaking majority Language region that separates Romance and Germanic branches of Indo-European language family

Multilingualism Case Studies Belgium Conflict has been largely nonviolent Languages/ethnic issues dominate politics

Multilingualism Case Studies D. The failure of Cyprus to unify

Multilingualism Case Studies E. Switzerland German speaking (63. 7%), French speaking (20. 4%), Italian speaking (6. 5%), Romansch (0. 5%) http: //www. omniglot. com/writing/romansh. htm

Official languages Serve different purposes Used to enhance communication & unity among peoples who speak diverse traditional languages Former African colonies sometimes adopt European languages Creating an official language has caused problems for some countries Ex: When Hindi was given official status in India, riots and disorder broke out in non-Hindi areas Some former colonies chose two or more official languages

30 states have declared English their official language

The European Union 20 official languages its annual translation cost is 1. 3 billion They include: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish. http: //news. nationalgeographic. com/news/2005/02 /0222_050222_translation. html

Other thoughts about language

Toponymy The systematic study of place names Place names can reveal much about the contents of a culture area Place names will change/can cause controversy Post Cold War Soviet Union cities went back to pre. Communism names South Africa with new gov’t, change old names or not? ? Post-Colonial African/Asian countries/cities

Toponymy Historian George Stewart classified place names into ten categories a) Descriptive—Rocky Mountains b) Associative—Mill Valley, California c) Incident—Battle Creek, Michigan d) Possessive—Johnson City, Texas e) Commendatory—Paradise Valley, Arizona f) Commemorative—San Francisco g) Folk-etymology—Plains, Georgia, or Academia, Pennsylvania h) Manufactured—Truth or Consequences, New Mexico i) Mistake—–names involving historic errors in identification or translation

Francophone World (light blue)

Literary Traditions + Technology Printing press and rise of national states a) b) c) Invented in 1440, in Germany Allowed for unprecedented production of texts Luther Bible for German and King James Bible for English Knowledge is no longer hierarchically diffused

Nostratic Russian scholars have long been in the forefront of research on ancient languages Vladislav Illich-Svitych and Aharon Dolgopolsky (1)Studied independently of each other (2)Came to similar conclusions pre-Proto-Indo-European language named Nostratic derives from Latin for fellow countrymen

Nostratic No names for domestic plants or animals so the people were hunters and gatherers, not farmers May date back 14, 000 years Believed to be the ancestral language for many other languages Nostratic links widely separated languages

What was vulgar Latin? Vulgar Latin in Roman Empire (roads) Collapse by Germanic tribes led to Vulgar Latin’s evolution to 5 Romance lang. What if two dialects reach a point of mutual unintelligibility?

The Greenberg hypothesis Proposed the migration to the Western Hem must have occurred much earlier than 12 -13, 000 years ago Why? There are 200 lang. families there and only 40 in the Old World

The Greenberg hypothesis Supporting evidence: a) Archaeological dating in Pennsylvania (16, 000 B. P. ), and Chile (tentatively 33, 000 B. P. ) b) May lend credibility to Greenberg's hypothesis, if proved beyond a doubt c) May mean the first wave came across the Bering Strait more than 40, 000 years ago d) Dental data gathered by Christy Turner conclude that three waves of immigration took place over a longer period that 12, 000 years

LANGUAGE REPLACEMENT 15 -18 th centuries Latin America Treaty of Tordesilla’s Line of Demarcation 1490 s Creolization occurred in many places 18 -20 th centuries Africa and Asia Africa and Berlin Conference 19 th Century Primarily France and Britain (BRP) 20 th century USSR and ELLBUMGAATUTKK 14 and Russia-ELLBUMGAATUTKK (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) Today: 3 rd generation rule

Origins of Pop and Folk Pop originates (usually) in MDCs Where do most movies people watch worldwide come from? Bollywood vs. Hollywood vs. Nollywood Slumdog Millionaire Folk originates often anonymously or in one or multiple hearths (we often know very little about the origin of folk cultural traits) Who was the first hula dancer in Hawaii? How do these concepts connect to language?

The Esperanto experiment 1. An effort to create a world language during the early twentieth century 2. Europeans were becoming more multilingual 3. Few wanted to learn another language that did not have practical utility http: //www. esperanto. ca/kurso/alphabet. htm