- Information
- AI Chat
Human Geography 5
Human Geography (Gt-Ss2) (GEO 106)
Colorado Mountain College
Preview text
13
Pop culture also promotes uniformity of landscape, as evidenced by the prevalence of nearly identical fast-food restaurants at convenient stops along highways. Quite obvious is the increased need of natural resources to feed the pop culture craze. As a new trend engulfs a population, a specific resource may be required to satisfy the demand, and little care is taken to ensure the preserving of that resource for posterity. This, in turn, can lead to higher pollution levels as a result of pop cultures.
Ch. 5 Language
Key Issue 1: Where are English-language speakers distributed?
Language- a system of communication through speech, or other conventional methods, that groups of people understand to have the same meaning. Literary tradition- a system of written communication. Many languages lack a literary tradition, therefore impeding advancement and documentation. Official language- language designated for use by a country’s government.
English is spoken by one-half a billion people across the globe. It is the official language of at least 42 countries; two billion people live in one of these countries.
The widespread diffusion of English is thanks, in large part, to the colonial practices of the British. Through their colonization of the Earth, English was spread eventually to N. America, Ireland, S. Asia, S. Pacific, S. Africa, and numerous other remote locations.
Little is known of the British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic. Around 450 B. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years. Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A. These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles. Once they were driven out, few people wished to speak the “enemy’s” language anymore, but the French influence on the language had already taken place. Today’s English can be seen as a hybrid of the original Germanic languages, with some Celtic and French mixed in. (along with varying degrees of influence from a large number of other languages.)
Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by a distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation. English has the largest # of dialects b/c of its wide diffusion. Standard language- a dialect well-established and recognized for government use. British Received Pronunciation- the official dialect of English used by politicians, broadcasters, and actors in Great Britain.
“My Fair Lady” was a musical in the 50’s that depicted social effects of dialect.
14
Differences between British and American English are:
- Vocab- different mainly because settlers in America encountered new objects and experiences, many of which were assigned Native American names.
- Grammar- distinctly different because Americans had a strong national feeling for an independent identity. The first American dictionary, published by Noah Webster was purposely altered from British spelling to differentiate the two languages.
- Pronunciation- the most obvious reason for differences is that large expanse of water that seems to separate the U. from the U. The extreme physical separation caused the language to diverge into two very distinct dialects.
Dialects within the States are numerous and varied due to the number of people in the U., the wide land area across which the language is spoken, the historical mobility of the American people as they ventured across the West, and the varied ethnicity of the English-speakers within this country.
Three main dialects exist in England: -Northern -Midland -Southern These are used to classify many of the dialects within the U.
Isogloss- the word-usage boundary that can be constructed for any word.
Key Issue 2: Why is English related to other languages?
Language family- a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history. -Language branch- a collection of languages within a family that are related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. --Language group- collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in relatively recent history.
Largest family is Indo-European, spoken by nearly 3 billion people. Below is an example of the break-down of a language family: INDO-EUROPEAN
GERMANIC ALBANIAN
-English, German, etc. ARMENIAN INDO-IRANIAN GREEK -Indic (eastern) Hindi, Urdu, etc. ARMENIAN -Iranian (western) Farsi, Kurdish, etc. ROMANCE *These 4 are used less
- Med. Sea languages, French, Italian, etc. extensively than the others. BALTO-SLAVIC -Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.
Human Geography 5
Course: Human Geography (Gt-Ss2) (GEO 106)
University: Colorado Mountain College
