Reading Guide: Chapter 5 Language

Language and Migration

1. Why does the study of language flow logically from migration?

2. What happens after a long period of time when two groups who share a language have few connections (little interaction) with each other?

3. What do geographers attempt to understand from looking at the similarities among languages?

4. Approximately how many languages are there in the world?

Note: the APHG course outline uses the term “Standard Language” for what this text is referring to as “Institutional Language.” Write the definition here:

5. What is an official language?

6. Do all spoken languages have a literary tradition?

Organizing Language Families

7. Write out the descriptions/definitions & record an example for each:

Language Family

Language Branch

Language Group

8. Trace English back from leaf, to branch to family:

9. From what dead (ancient language) are all Romance languages derived?

10. Which two language families are the largest in terms of #’s of speakers? List the percentages from figure 5-5.

Two Largest Language Families

11. Is the Indo-European language family present on every continent besides Antarctica? (use figure 5-6 above) Spend some time studying the distribution of Indo-European.

12. Describe the importance of Mandarin using numbers of speakers and political importance.

Other Large Language Families

13. Compare/Contrast Japanese and Korean:

14. Where are Dravidian languages? Look at their distribution on the map (figure 5-6)

15. The Altaic languages are “Turkish” languages. Describe their distribution using f 5-6.

African Language Families

Describe each of the following and explain the why of where for each (you may need to do additional research):

Africaans:

Arabic:

English:

Write something about these two:

Khoisan:

Xhosa:

Distribution of Indo-European Branches

16. How did Hindi become an important national language for India?

17. Which two language families dominate the India subcontinent?

18. What is the secondary official language of India & why?

19. How is Urdu both similar and different from Hindi?

Origin and Diffusion of Romance Languages

20. What form of Latin was spoken by the people who lived under the domination of the Roman Empire?

21. How have Romance branch languages achieved global importance? Which are most important?

22. Describe the two theories for the origin and diffusion of Indo-European languages.

Origin and Diffusion of English

23. Make notes on each of the following: German Invasion

Norman Invasion

Diffusion of English

Global Importance of English

Official Languages

24. What factors lead countries to enact a language as “official?”

25. How many official languages are there for the European Union?

26. How many countries have English as an official language? (figure 5-24)

Why do Individual Languages Vary Among Places?

27. What is the difference between a dialect and an accent?

28. How does one dialect become the standard for everyone, or the “Received Pronunciation?”

29. Describe:

Ebonics Appalachian English Creole

Multilingual Places

30. Describe the language issues in the following places:

Switzerland

Canada

Nigeria

Belgium

31. How does a language become “endangered?

32. List three endangered languages from these two pages. Which dominant language seems to threaten many endangered languages?

Preserving Languages

33. Describe efforts to preserve Welsh:

Isolated and Extinct Languages

34. Describe Basque (location, why isolated, issues)

35. What causes extinction?