Indo-European The largest language family is the Indo-European Hearth of Indo-European was Black Sea or east-central Europe some 5,000 to 9000 years ago

Indo-European Language Family The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.

Indo-European is the largest and most widespread language family.

Languages of Europe Dominated by Indo-European. Subfamilies include: Germanic Romance Slavic Celtic There is a high correlation between languages and political organization. Pockets of Ural-Altaic Germanic (Northwest and Central Europe) includes-English, German, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish Romance( South and Southwest Europe) includes-French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian. (derived from Latin the old Roman tongue hence the name Romance. Slavic-(Eastern Europe) Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Slovenian and Bulgarian Celtic-(Western margins) the old language that dominated Europe, but was pushed to the periphery by invasions-Breton, Welsh and Gaelic of Ireland and Scotland. Anomalies include-Pockets of Ural-Altaic such as Magyar in Hungary, Finnish and Estonian-spread into Europe about 7,000 to 10,000 years ago. Greek in Greece, Euskara in Basque area of Spain and France.

Romance Branch of Indo-European Fig. 5-8: The Romance branch includes three of the world’s 12 most widely spoken languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese), as well as a number of smaller languages and dialects.

Germanic Branch of Indo-European Lorchhausen and vineyards on the Rhine Fig. 5-6: The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic groups. English is in the West Germanic group.

Languages of China Chinese has the most speakers of any language. It is one of the world’s oldest languages spoken by the greatest contiguous population on Earth. Mandarin-the dominate language of the North spoken by 700 million including Beijing. Wu is next with 100 million speakers in Shanghai area. Yue-or Cantonese is spoken by 70 million in the SE. Pinyin is a system of phonetically spelling Chinese characters as spoken in Mandarin in the Latin alphabet. Translation from Chinese to English is often a problem: The floor of the bathroom was wet and the sign warned people about the slippery tiles.  Beneath the Chinese, the sign had English subtitles that said: “Fall down carefully.”

Languages of China Note the complexity of the language map in the southern part of China. Why? Proximity to many other lands across the water and other cultures to the south?

Translation from Chinese to English is sometimes problematic Translation from Chinese to English is sometimes problematic. A photo from a 2007 visit to China. Bottom right-another Chinese translation gone bad/

Languages of India India had 4 language families with the largest being Indo-European and Dravidian. There are 15 major languages-all but 4 are Indo-European. Over 1,600 lesser languages. The largest Indo-European language is Hindi Largest Dravidian tongue is Telugu. Of India’s 1 billion people most speak either an Indo-European or a Dravidian language. Notice that the Dravidian language family is confined to the south which resulted from the Aryan invasion of Indo-European speakers in ancient times. Northern India is predominantly Indo-European with the largest group being Hindi. There are 15 major languages-all but 4 are Indo-European, but 1,600 minor languages, some spoken by only a few thousand. Telagu, the largest Dravidian language is concentrated in the province of Andra Pradesh. Tamil is spoken by 75 million, mostly in Tamil Nadu. There are also Tamil speakers on the island nation of Sri Lanka. India’s federal government divisions closely follow the linguistic isoglosses (lines that divides linguistic features or groups).

Languages of Africa There are 1,000 spoken languages in Africa and many are unwritten. There are 4 major indigenous language families; Afro-Asiatic of N. Africa Nilo-Saharan Niger-Congo Khosian Largest ethnic groups are associated with a language. Afro-Asiatic of North Africa includes Somali, Amharic and Tuareg Nilo-Saharan includes Dinka, Turkana and Nuer in East Africa Niger-Congo-the largest family includes Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Swahili and Kikuyu. The largest sub-family is Bantu spoken near and south of the Equator. Bantu like Celtic in Europe was once the dominant language of the continent. Khoisan is a small language family spoken by the Bushmen of the Kalahari-noted for distinctive “clicking” vocalizations. The largest ethnic groups are associated with certain dominant languages such as Hausa, Yoruba and Zulu. Attempts to consolidate ethnic groups across boundaries and the struggle for power between groups has been a major cause of conflict

Languages of Subsaharan Africa - extreme language Languages of Subsaharan Africa - extreme language diversity - effects of colonialism

Nigeria More than 400 different languages.

Language and National Identity Standard Language a language that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught. Government usually plays a big role in standardizing a language.

Place Place – the uniqueness of a location, what people do in a location, what they create, how they impart a certain character, a certain imprint on the location by making it unique. Baden-Baden, Germany

Toponym Toponym – a place name A toponym: Imparts a certain character on a place Reflects the social processes in a place Can give us a glimpse of the history of a place Mumbai is the new name for Bombay-derived from a Hindu god’s name

Changing Toponyms When people change the toponym of a place, they have the power to “wipe out the past and call forth the new.” - Yi-Fu Tuan Town in Wales with one of the longest names in the world

Changing Toponyms Major reasons people change toponyms: After decolonization After a political revolution To memorialize people or events To commodify or brand a place UN Peace keepers on Israel-Lebanon border