 5tAGE 5tAGE  LKM8 LKM8

Proto-Tongue  Language is a culture trait, learned from one generation to another.  It is speculated that nearly 2.5 million years ago, language first developed in order to organize human activity.  All original speakers communicated in the proto- tongue, or original language.  Once speakers diffused to various places on the Earth through migration, language divergence occurred and new languages and dialects spawned from the proto-tongue.

Language Divergence  Language divergence occurs when speakers of the same language scatter and develop variations of that original form of the language to meet their needs in the new surroundings.  The proto-language may not have had words for concepts such as “snake” or “iceberg.” Once the human group came into contact with these new concepts, they created new words for them.

Language Shift  When speakers come into contact with other languages, a blending of the two or more languages can occur.  Language replacement occurs when invaders replace the language of those places they conquer.  Language replacement can lead to language extinction, when a language is no longer used. Some argue that Latin is facing language extinction, as fewer and fewer people are using Latin.

Reverse Reconstruction  Geographers can trace diffusion paths of language through reverse construction, the process of tracking a language’s diffusion. The process begins with the most recent places of the language’s existence and moves backward through time, comparing words with geographic places and groups of people using the same of similar words.  For example: If two languages share a common word for an extinct animal and that animal only existed in one of many places where the two languages are now spoken, then one possible conclusion is that the language diffused from the place where the extinct animal once existed and the speakers carried with them the word for the hearth’s extinct animal.

 2t6k 2t6k

The Language Tree Organization of the language tree Linguists have organized languages into a language tree. The tree is subdivided into the following hierarchy:  19 language families  Each family has its own branches  The language evolved into various forms.  Each has its own groups  Each group has its own language each language has its own dialect

The Indo-European Family General Facts:  About 50 percent of all people speak an Indo- European language, most prominently English.  English is part of the Indo-European language family.  Other major branches of the Indo-European language family include the Balto-Slavic, Romance, and Indo-Iranian branches.

Proto-Indo- European  The original Indo-European language is referred to as Proto-Indo-European.  New languages developed through language diversification. As a result of migration of proto-Indo-European speakers from the hearth of this language family.  The location of the hearth of the proto-Indo- European language is the subject of speculation.

 Because modern Indo-European languages share words for “snow” but not “sea,” the hearth is believed to have been somewhere with snow, but distant from the sea.  Linguists estimate its origin to have been between 6000 and 4500 BCE.  As the Proto-Indo-European speakers diffused by using horses and the wheel, the language evolved into various forms.

Conquest Theory and Indo-European Diffusion  The conquest theory argues that Indo-European diffusion began in the empire building Kurgan culture located in the steppe region of Russia, north of the Caspian Sea.  Agriculture Theory of the Indo-European diffusion: The agriculture theory argues that Indo-European diffusion started in a farming community in Europe’s Danube river region.

Language Related Conflict Multi-lingual states:  Multi-lingual states are countries in which more than one language is spoken.  Multilingual states often contain linguistic minorities, or groups of speakers who are outnumbered by speakers of another language in the country.  When there are power imbalances among linguistic groups, this can lead to conflict over language and its ties to national identity and power.

Monolingual States:  Monolingual states contain speakers of only one language.  Because of the increasing pace of spatial-cultural interaction globally, purely monolingual countries no longer exist. One might argue, however, that Japan is relatively monolingual with its stringent immigration laws.  Countries like France have fought to preserve their monolingual heritage. For example, French politicians have called for laws to keep French pure and prohibit the infusion of English words into their vocabulary.

Some conflicts related to multilingualism:  The following table lists some recent conflicts related to multilingualism. Keep in mind the conflicts highlighted in the table reflect multifaceted conflicts, not singularly related to language. Instead, language is an important symbol of the ethno-cultural divisions at the root of the conflict in these regions.

Official and Standard Languages Official Language:  An official language is declared by the leaders of a country to be the language used in legal and governmental proceedings. Countries or regions often declare an “official” language to define and declare national identities.  An official language is often the language of the powerful, linguistic majority.

 IN 2006, US engaged in a national debate surrounding the longstanding call by some Americans for a declaration that English be the official language of the United States.  Declaring an official language is often controversial.  In Nigeria, English was chosen as a neutral choice, rather than one of the three largest languages in the country, to prevent calls of dominance by one group over another.  In Sri Lanka, one part of the civil war was about declaring Sinhala the official language and not giving status to Tamil.

Standard Language:  Is the acceptable form of a given language as declared by political or societal leaders.  The British Government declared British Received Pronunciation (BRP) English as the standard form of language to be taught in all schools, rather than American English.  German Schools teach High German (Hoch Deutch), a form in the upper Rhine region of Germany.

Language and Imperialism Lingua Franca:  A lingua Franca is a language used to facilitate trade among groups speaking different languages.  In the multilingual region of East Africa, hundreds of native languages are spoken but people turn to Swahili as their lingua franca to communicate with speakers of other languages when they need to trade or conduct business.  The lingua Franca in a region is often rooted in colonialism and imperialism, such as the use of French in Cameroon and Senegal and English in India.

 GWao GWao

Pidgin language:  When regions are invaded or economically dominant by a foreign language speaking group, the dominated group is often forced to pick up the language of the dominators in order to trade with them and conduct business.  When the dominated culture picks up the new language, they usually speak a pidgin, or simplified version, of the dominators language.  When the French dominated the Caribbean region, the native people began speaking a pidginized (simplified) form of French.

Creolization:  Once a pidginized language becomes part of a culture and is written down, it becomes known as creole (or Creolized) language, or a pidgin language that has become the main language of a group of people.  In the Caribbean, Pidgin French became such a part of life that it became the mother language of the dominated people, thus becoming a creole.

Place Names Toponyms:  Toponyms are place names that reflect cultural identity that impact the cultural identity and impact the cultural landscape.  People take great pride in naming their place, which can become a controversial task because determining a toponym can indicate ownership and control over a space.  Controversy erupted in India when the government announced it would rename the city of Bombay to rid the place of its British Colonizers’ toponym (Bombay). The new toponym, Mumbai, angered some Muslims because it relates to a Hindu god.

 Toponyms can also give clues into origins and aspirations or their related cultures.  Saint Petersburg, Russia, was named by Czar Peter the Great, perhaps conveniently after his patron saint, Peter.  Santa Barbara, California, reflects both the Spanish-Portuguese language and catholic influences, as “Santa Barbara” is Spanish for Saint Barbara, a catholic martyr.  Consider what these toponyms indicate about the people and cultures who named these places: Paradise, California; Hope, Arkansas; and Hell, Michigan!