AIM: to develop an understanding of the relationship between

geography and language.

Language

Vocabulary• Monolingual• Bilingual• Isogloss• Indo-European• Lingua Franca• Toponym• Pidgin• Creole

What are the dominant languages of planet Earth?

What are the most

commonly spoken

languages on the planet?

Native speakers?

Multi-lingual speakers?

Languages1. Mandarin (Chinese)2. Spanish3. English4. Hindi-Urdu5. Arabic6. Bengali7. Portuguese8. Russian9. Japanese10. Punjabi Source = Wikipedia

• 1. Chinese• 2. Spanish• 3. English• 4. Arabic• 5. Hindi-Urdu• 6. Bengali• 7. Portuguese• 8. Russian• 9. Japanese• 10.German• Source = Infoplease !!!!

Native Speakers

Language Family Native speakers Total speakers Other estimates Rank

Mandarin Sino-Tibetan,Chinese

848 million (2000) 1026 million

One of the six official languages of the United Nations.All varieties of Chinese: 1200 million (2000)

1

Spanish (Castilian)

Indo-European,Romance

406 million (1995–2011) 466 million 420 million native.[6] 500 million total (2009)[7] One of

the six official languages of the United Nations. 2

English Indo-European,Germanic

335 million (2003–2011) > 765 million

Approximately 375 million L1 speakers, 375 million L2 speakers, and 750 million EFL speakers. Totalling about 1.5 billion/1500 million speakers.[9] One of the six official languages of the United Nations.

3

Hindi Indo-European,Indo-Aryan

260 million (2001), including partial figures from many Hindi languages

380 million 490 million total speakers of Hindi/Urdu.[11] 4

Arabic Afro-Asiatic,Semitic

206 million (1999)

452 million (100 million are not proficient in Standard Arabic)

280 million native.[13] One of the six official languages of the United Nations. 5

Portuguese Indo-European,Romance

202 million (1998-2005) 217 million 220 million native, 240 million total.[15] 6

Bengali Indo-European,Indo-Aryan

193 million (2001) 250 million 7

Russian Indo-European,Slavic

162 million (2010) 272 million One of the six

official languages of the United Nations.[18] 8

Japanese Japonic122 million (1985) 123 million 9

More than 100 million native speakers Source: Ethnologue (2013, 17th edition)

Note: Sino - Tibetan = Chinese, Thai, Burmese, Tibetan

Niger – Congo = Bantu Afro - Asiatic = Semitic

Language family & Isogloss

Identify the various

language families.

Are any dialects

portrayed on the tree?

What promotes the development

of languages?

Geographic isolation (mountain valleys, jungle, islands, distance etc.)

leads to language diversity.

Advanced centralized nations, “nation states,” invariably exterminate additional / alternative languages if not

desired.

Population size is

secondary

ExamplesTHHS

Any geographic

locationGrowth of languages? Threats

to languages?

New Guinea is very mountainous and “jungly” = lots of isolated valleys (communities).

Example

The Caucasus region is also very rugged

and mountainous.

Population size plays a (limited) role in language formation but is secondary to

geographic factors.

Compare China to New Guinea. Note that in China and India language density is not

positively correlated with population density but rather with geographic isolation.

Language• +/- 6,500 - 6,700 languages• 2,500 currently at risk of

extinction• 53 languages have become extinct

in the USA (more than any other country)

• 3,000 – 3,500 languages expected disappear by 2,100CE

Simple memorization

Notice that online language use is not proportional to

total number of native speakers in the physical

world. Why?

What is the

world’s lingua

franca?

Hindi?

Arabic? Bengali?Etc.

2010CE

>2.4 billion online 2013CE

English

Now back to…

Arabic has made it onto the list. Still

vastly underrepresented though. Impact on the “Arab Spring”?

This chart appears to basically agree with the previous chart….

If you are the captain of a commercial airliner

flying between Beijing, PRC and Ulan Bator,

Mongolia what language do you use to communicate with the

air traffic control tower? It is mandated by international

agreement.

Japan is a monolingual country and yet? Why?

Why do so many pop groups from small non-English

speaking countries (E.g.: Sweden) use English in their

songs?

Why don’t pop groups sing in Chinese?

But they do frequently sing in Spanish?

2005

2011 figures will

differ. English is growing rapidly.

BTW = interesting

AIM: to what extent do languages reflect

the politics of any place?

Language and Politics

During the Rwandan Genocide armed gunman would ask public bus passengers to answer simple

questions. If you used the incorrect word or had an “accent” you were immediately executed.

E.g.:

What promotes the development of

languages? Conversely, what endangers the

existence of languages?

FranceFrance looks

like an overwhelmingly

monolingual society

E.g.:

300 – 400 years ago a language map of

France would have looked like this but.. What happened in France during the

1500’s and then into the 1700’s? 1598CE,

Edict of 1626CE, 1685CE, 1750CE Carte

de France

However…

The (intentional creation of the)

Nation State

How is this map a reflection each region’s geography and political development?

Try to answer this question in

a paragraph.

Higher order

thinking

Very important

concept

However, even in France you have the recent reemergence of regional

(national) identities

Everybody has rights nowadays and so…

Ethnic Cleansing Anyone?

Most Nation States have engaged in

“ethnic cleansing” to one degree or

another at some time in their history.

Time “heals all wounds” or at

least allows memories to fade.

The death of generations and

ignorance of history helps too.

E.g.: The British IslesFour traditional lands

(England, Wales, Scotland, & Ireland)

United Kingdom (UK) = England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern

Ireland)

Ireland (Eire) = independent Ireland

Ancient Briton was a Celtic language. What type of

language did Anglo – Saxons use?

Scandinavian = Viking / Norse / NormanWhat

language did the

Norman’s speak?

After expulsion and extermination by the Anglo –

Saxons and later by the Normans, Celtic language and

cultural hearths have maintained a presence in the same geographic locales for

about a 1000 years.

Did the English (and the French) attempt

to completely exterminate Celtic

culture?

Yes… of

course they did!

Modern Ethnic Cleansing

Pre-Columbian Distribution of Native American Languages in what is now the USA

Languages Spoken in the USA• English – 215 million• Spanish – 28 million• Chinese languages – 2.0 million + (mostly Cantonese speakers, with a growing group of Mandarin

speakers)• French – 1.6 million• German – 1.4 million (High German) + German dialects like Hutterite German, Texas German,

Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch• Italian – 1.3 million• Tagalog – 1.2 million + (Most Filipinos may also know other Philippine languages, e.g. Ilokano,

Pangasinan, Bikol languages, and Visayan languages)• Vietnamese – 1.01 million• Korean – 890,000• Russian – 710,000• Polish – 670,000• Arabic – 610,000• Portuguese – 560,000• Azerbaijan – 503,941• Japanese – 480,000• French Creole – 450,000 (mostly Louisiana Creole French – 334,500)• Greek – 370,000• Hindi – 320,000• Persian – 310,000• Urdu – 260,000• Gujarati – 240,000• Armenian – 200,000

2000CE US

Census

Top 22 languages

What is missing?

Practically no Native American

However, sometimes the traces of the earlier language remain…

despite… whatever had happened…

Etc!

No Arabs…

but Arabic

What does the density of

toponym dots tell you about the presence

of Arabs?

Aboriginal people = < 2.5% of the population of Australia. In Victoria they = < 1% of the population yet Aboriginal

(influenced) names abound.

AIM: to what extent is language (accents, dialects, and pidgin etc.) a reflection of

geography?

Change in Language (Traces of Language Origin)

Change Over Time

Geographic Variation

Subculture Variations

E.g.:

ClassE.g.:

ImmigrantsAccents, Dialects,

Pidgin, and ….

Accents and dialects are common to

all languages.

Accents

Listen to the following English accents and try to determine where

they are from.

AIM: to what extent have languages been used to

revive nationalist movements?

Revival and Preservation of Languages

Hebrew

Welsh

Irish GaelicScottish

Gaelic

Cornish

Can you think of

other similar

languages?

Why has Welsh made a

“comeback” in Wales (Cymru)? The same is true for Irish Gaelic in Ireland (Eire)and Scottish Gaelic in Scotland (Alba).

Nationalism

Jones, Davis, Holmes, Jenkins, Davies, Hopkins, Evans, Owen…

Listen to some Welsh and Gaelic.

What’s one potential political

danger to itself of a

multilingual state?

Think Canada, Belgium,

Spain, Honduras,

etc.

Quebec “Je me souviens”

Why?

BTW, take note of where Canadians live.

Multilingual CountriesThis can only be?

11 Official Languages

Why?

Basque

AIM: what role do new languages play within

the relationship between geography

and culture and politics?

“New Languages”Pidgin Creole

New Languages E.g.: Afrikaans and Swahili…

E.g.: Guyana (?) and New Guinea

New dialects…

and

This of course

depends on your

opinion.

“Made Up” Languages

Esperanto

KlingonListen to ‘em.

Fin