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Chapter 5 - Language. Q: What do you call a person who speaks three or more languages? A: A polygot. Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages? A: Bilingual Q: What do you call a person who speaks only one language? A. An American. Chapter 5 - Language.
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Q: What do you call a person who speaks three or more languages? A: A polygot. Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages? A: Bilingual Q: What do you call a person who speaks only one language? A. An American
Chapter 5 - Language • Language is a system of communication through speech… a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning. • Many languages, but not all, have a literary tradition… or a system of written communication.
Countries sometimes designate an official language, which is one used by the government. (laws, reports, road signs, etc.) • If there’s more than one official language, then everything is duplicated in the needed languages.
Language is like luggage: People carry it with them when they move from place to place. • We can look at languages around the world to understand the diffusion and interaction of people.
Key Issue # 1 - Where are English Language Speakers Distributed?
The history of English serves as a case study for how a language originates and diffuses.
ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF ENGLISH • English spoken fluently by one-half billion, more than any other language except Mandarin. • Mandarin speakers are clustered in China, whereas English speakers are spread around the world. • Official language of 42 countries • 2 billion live in a country where English is the official language (even if they can’t speak it)
English Colonies • The distribution of English exists today b/c people from England migrated and est. colonies. • Beginning w/ Jamestown, 1607. • Took control of Ireland in 17th century, South Asia in mid-18th century, and South Pacific in early 19th century.
Origin of English in England • People lived in England for k’s of years, but little is known about them until the Celts invaded (500 BC). • Around 450 AD, Germanic tribes from Europe invaded (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes). • Modern English people are called Anglo-Saxons and England attributes their cultural heritage to these invaders. • The name England comes from “Angle’s Land” • The origin of English can be traced to these differing Germanic languages.
Norman Invasion • English is a good bit different from German today b/c England was conquered by the Normans in 1066 AD. (William the Conqueror, Battle of Hastings, etc.) • They spoke French, which was the official language of England for 150 yrs. • After breaking from France, English became the official language again. • French and Germanic words merged to create a simpler language.
Dialects of English • A dialect is a regional variation of language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. • When speakers of a language move to other locations, various dialects may develop (ex: English in North America). • In a language with multiple dialects, one dialect may be recognized as the standard language, which is the most established and most widely recognized dialect.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH • The early colonists obviously spoke the language used in England at the time. • Later immigrants from other countries found English embedded here. • Therefore, the earliest were mostly responsible for the language patterns in the US today.
Why is our English diff from England’s? = isolation • Differs in three significant ways… vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
Vocabulary is different mainly b/c we encountered many new objects and experiences in North America. link • We also borrowed many words from Indians. link
Spelling is different b/c we wanted our own identity. • Ex: gray/grey color/colour mom/mum tire/tyre • link • Noah Webster created many of these spellings by ignoring many recently created rules of spelling developed in England.
Pronunciation is immediately recognizable. • Once separated, the main communication was by letters. Biggest differences are between “a” and “r.” fast, path, half. • American… a = / a /… “man” • British… a = / ah /… “father • British also eliminate “r” sound except before vowels… “lord” sounds like “laud”
DIALECTS IN THE US • Most differences are due to dialects of the original settlers. • Determined speech patterns for their communities. • Most dialect differences are on the east coast due to diverse groups settling the 13 colonies.
A word not used nationally, but has some geographic extent is called an isogloss (a word use boundary). • On the east coast, we have 3 dialect regions – Northern, Midland, and Southern. • Some words are used in 2, but rarely all 3. • Ex: “pail” in North, “bucket” in other 2 • Ex: “brook” in North, “run” in midlands, “branch” in South
Pronunciation differences in the US are more familiar to us than word differences. • Read 143-4
Key Issue #’s 2 and 3 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 world’s most widely spoken language family. • 3 billion total people
Indo- European
Indo-European is divided into 6 branches… Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian are largest. • Branches are further divided into language groups. • The Germanic branch is divided into West Germanic and North Germanic language groups. • Our language, English, falls within the West Germanic language group.
English • Language Family: Indo European • Langauge Branch: Germanic • Language Group: West Germanic • Language: English
ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF INDO-EUROPEAN • All Indo-European languages must be descended from a single ancestor. • The ancestral language cannot be proved, however. • Evidence lies in the fact that words in various languages are almost the same. Pg 150. • Probably lived in cold climate b/c have common words from snow and winter, but not ocean. • People agree it existed, but disagree on when and where it existed.
Indo-European origin theories • Kurgan people were among the first to domesticate horses and cattle. • As they spread out, they took their language with them of course. Was this them? • Anatolian hearth theory occurred 2000 years earlier than Kurgan theory. • Originated in “Turkey” and diffused from there?
Regardless of where it came from, communication was poor and slow among people. • After generations of isolation, individual groups evolved increasingly distinct languages.
CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES • About 50% of all people speak an Indo-European language. • About 20% speak a member of the Sino-Tibetan family. • About 5% each speak one of the following… Afro-Asiatic (Middle East) Austronesian (in SE Asia) Niger-Congo (in Africa Dravidian (in India) • The remaining 10% speak a language from a smaller language family.
DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUGE FAMILIES • Sino-Tibetan – Encompasses languages spoken in the People’s Republic of China. *Remember, there is not one Chinese language.* Mandarin is the most important (spoken by 3/4ths of Chinese people)
Afro-Asiatic – Includes Arabic and Hebrew. 4th largest language family. Arabic is the official language of over 2 dozen countries. It is also spoken by Muslims all over the world.
Niger-Congo – Spoken by 95% of sub-Saharan Africans. Includes Swahili, spoken by much of Eastern Africa. One of few African languages with an extensive literature.
Austronesian – Once known as Malay-Polynesian. Most common language is Malay-Indonesian (Indonesia is 4th most populous country).
Dravidian – spoken by about 1/4th of Indians. The rest speak a type of Indo-European language.
Key Issue #4 Why do People Preserve Local Languages?
The distribution of a language is a measure of that ethnic group’s fate. • English diffused from a small island to the world. Some languages have never diffused. Others are in danger of extinction.
