AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 9 CLASS NOTES THE DIFFUSION OF LANGUAGES

Origins of Languages Search goes back 1,000s of years DEEP RECONSTRUCTION – ??? working backwards to reconstruct extinct language

Language Diffusion KEYS TO DIFFUSION??? Writing, technology, & political organization Indo-European languages spread during colonial period

Language Diversification Charted through SOUND SHIFTS – how a word changes form language to language MILK = lacte in Latin latta in Italian leche in Spanish lait in French

THE LANGUAGE TREE INDO EUROPEAN gives us: Latin, Greek, Sanskirt ROMANCE – Spanish, Italian, French SLAVONIC – Russian, Ukranian, Polish, Czech, Slovak GERMANIC – English, German, Dutch, Norwegian

Language DIVERGENCE Split Apart – basic process of language formation Differentiation over time & space Languages > Dialects + Isolation & Time = New Discrete Languages Spanish & Portuguese

Language CONVERGENCE When long isolated languages make contact Human mobility complicates things for linguists (expansion diffusion) Maltese and English into Malta Malta between Sicily and North Africa- British conquest caused language convergence

Relocation Diffusion (CH 2) – population physically moves. How / Why Change Language??? Go far – language likely will change somehow (rhythm, cadence, accent) Cause of language convergence

Language REPLACEMENT Languages of smaller, traditional, tech. less advanced people modified / overtaken by larger, tech. advanced invaders. Assimilation!! War/Disease

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DIFFUSION Spreading of Proto-Indo-European language Competing archeological evidence puts source areas in different places

1. Conquest Theory In Ukraine Region N. of Black Sea Spread W. on horseback conquering tribes theory of the diffusion of the Proto-Indo-European language into Europe through the speakers’ overpowering of earlier inhabitants through warfare and technology (e.g., fighting on horseback).  Its hearth is around modern day Ukraine (Kurgan Hypothesis - Marija Gimbutas).

2. Agriculture Theory 7,000 – 9,000 years ago Agriculture, not Conquest that diffused the Indo European family Source in Anatolia (Turkey) theory of the diffusion of the Proto-Indo-European language into Europe through the innovation of agriculture (being more efficient than hunting and gathering).  Its hearth is around modern day Anatolia (in Turkey; Renfrew Hypothesis - Colin Renfrew).

Conquest / Agriculture Theory in Book, p. 128

Colin Renfrew Model 3 separate source agricultural areas gave rise to 3 separate language families Anatolia-Indo European W. Fertile Crescent-Afro-Asiatic Languages E. Fertile Crescent- Uralo-Altaic Uralo Altaic- Includes mongolian, japanese, korean, turkic

Greenberg Hypothesis 3 families of indigenous languages in Americas Amerind, Eskimo–Aleut, Na-Dene