Culture Basics, Language, Religion, & Ethnicity

Family Culture Interviews:  Interview each other. –# of people living in home: Pets?: –size of “nuclear family”: –From where did family originate? –amount of time spent w/ relatives outside of “nuclear” family (daily? yearly?): –Favorite foods: –Favorite activities: –Known values (education, sports, music, art, etc.) –Customs: (family meals, religious activities, etc.) –Rules (chores, expectations, allowed responses, etc.) –Type of home: –Expected type of career (based on parental expectations):

 Mine:  # of people living in home: 4 Pets?: 2  size of “nuclear family”: 5  From where did family originate? Italy-Sicily  amount of time spent with relatives outside of “nuclear” family (daily? yearly?): ~1-2/wk  Favorite foods: Fajitas, Oyster-Artichoke Soup & Crawfish Patties, Sushi  Favorite activities: Television, Wii, Reading  Known values: Education First  Customs: Family/Holiday Meals/Vacations, Church on Sunday  Rules: Do Well in School, Be Respectful, Curfew, Chores  Type of home: Single Family; Suburban  Expected type of career: Not Education; Animation/Computer Graphics

What is Culture?  “way of life”  “attitudes, objectives and technical skills of a people”  Human traits acquired through formal or informal learning process  Specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptations, & social systems that summarized a group’s LEARNED way of life.

General Cultural Development –Agricultural Revolution: Change? Religion: hunter vs. farmer –Religious revolutions: Changing societal hierarchies and roles –Industrial Revolution: Technology; Urbanization –Democratic Revolution: Reaction against?

Geographers Study Language  Single most common variable by which cultural groups are identified  Primary means by which culture passes from one generation to the next  Reinforce the sense of region & place  Some 6,000 languages & many more dialects are spoken today

 Languages — words that cannot be mutually understood  Dialects — variant forms of a language that have some mutual comprehension –Dialect is distinctive enough in vocabulary & pronunciation to label its speaker  Pidgin language — results when different linguistic groups come into contact –Serves the purposes of commerce –Has a small vocab. derived from the various contact groups  Creole language- when a pidgin becomes the native tongue of a group & develops in complexity  Lingua franca — (Frankish Tongue) language that spreads over a wide area where it is not the mother tongue –Lang. of communication/commerce

Kenya  Kenya has two official languages: –Swahili and English.  Swahili (Creole language) developed along the coast of East Africa.  English came during the British colonial period.

isoglosses — borders of individual word usages or pronunciations –Typically cluster together in “bundles” –Bundles serve as dividing lines among dialects and languages

English Dialects in the United States  At least three major dialects, corresponding to major culture regions, developed on the east coast by the time of the American Revolution –Northern –Midland –Southern

 Today, many regional words = old-fashioned, but new words display regional variations  Controlled-access divided highway = –Freeway -- California –Turnpike &parkway-- mainly northeastern and Midwestern words –Thruway, expressway, & interstate

English Dialects in the United States  Some African-Americans speak their own form of English — Black English (Ebonics) –Pidgin that developed on early slave plantations –Many features separate it from standard speech, for example: Lack of pronoun differentiation b/w genders –Often not recognized as a separate linguistic group

London, England  Not all English words are mutually intelligible.  London tube sign –Means?  Tubes & busking = dialect words

Americans say:Canadians say: first grade (100%)grade one (88%) candy bar (80%)chocolate bar (88%) faucet (91%)tap (74%) zee (99%)zed (74%) studio apartment (71%)bachelor apartment (61%) ATM (89%)bank machine (57%) gutters (91%)eavestroughs (58%) soda (57%)pop (70%) silverware (83%)cutlery (51%) restroom (55%)washroom (52%)

History of English  Old English: CE –Old German meets Celt –Norse invasion –Beowulf  Middle English: CE –Old German/Celtic meets Old French (Nordic) –1066: Normans –Chaucer

Modern English: current day  Early Modern: –German/ Celtic/ French (Nordic) meets new words and changes pronunciation (Great vowel shift- shorter sounds) –Exploration –Shakespeare  Late Modern –Standardized Spelling –Changes in vocabulary (Industrial Revolution)

Language families  The Indo-European language family –Largest, most wide-spread family –Subfamilies—Romance, Slavic, Germanic, Indic, Celtic, and Iranic Subfamilies divided into individual lang. –By comparing vocabularies in various lang. one can see the kinship Mother = Madre = Màthair = Mutter = Mère = Mati = Mataji

Indo-European diffusion  Earliest speakers from southern and southeastern Turkey (Anatolia) ~ 8 or 9 thousand years ago –Diffused west and north into Europe  Later language diffusion occurred with the spread of great political empires: Latin, English, & Russian –Conqueror’s language spread hierarchically Spread of Latin with Roman conquests Spanish in Latin America

Other major language families  Sino-Tibetan family –2nd largest lang. family w/ 403 languages –Extends through most of China & Southeast Asia –Mandarin and Cantonese = dialects or languages?  Afro-Asiatic family Semitic—Tigris/Euphrates valley west across the N. Africa –Arabic is the most widespread –Hebrew (was “dead”) is Israel’s off. lang. Hamiti--Expansion of Arabic decreased the area & number of speakers

Searching for the first language  “Ur language”  Nostratic—ancestral speech of Middle East 12,000 to 20,000 years ago –Ancestor to nine modern language families –A 500-word dictionary has been compiled  Contemporary to ↑: Dene-Caucasian –led to Sino-Tibetan, Basque, and Native- American: Na-Dene

Environment provides refuge  Inhospitable environments offer protection and isolation –Harder or less likely to be conquered –Mountains tend to isolate inhabitants –Linguistic refuge areas Rugged hill and mountain areas Excessively cold or dry climates Impenetrable forests and remote islands Extensive marshes and swamps

Examples of linguistic refuge  Caucasus Mountains  Alps, Himalayas, and highlands of Mexico are linguistic shatter belts  American Indian tongue Quechua → Andes Mountains of South America  Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, still has an archaic form of Spanish  Appalachian Mts- historically preserved 17th century English

Switzerland  Switzerland has four recognized national languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansch.  Romansch, Latin group, is spoken by only 1.1% of the population.

Facts on Religion  Religion is a great binding force in societies, especially those less dominated by technology  Religions change over time  Religions have been adopted across cultural barriers and lang. boundaries

Religion's role in society  Religion manifests itself in many ways –Animist-worship of souls of the dead living in natural objects and/or of the forces of nature –Belief that certain living persons possess capacities granted by a supernatural power –Belief in a deity or deities  In Western, industrialized, urbanized societies religion has become subordinate to secular culture & government; whereas, in other areas, religion almost completely dictates culture

 Effect on culture –"good" life has rewards and "bad" behavior risks punishment- controlling individual behavior –Modes of dress acceptable and foods a person can or cannot eat –Commercial practices –Location and structure of houses

Major World Religions

Religion Vocab.  Inclusive vs. Exclusive –Inclusive-“Our” way is right for us, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is wrong. –Exclusive-any who don’t follow “OUR” beliefs is wrong and will be punished in the afterlife.  Sect, Denomination, Cult –Divisions of a religion. –Cult - used negatively, really refers to ANY religion  Syncretism –When 2 aspects blend to create a new idea  Agnostic vs. Atheistic –Agnostic- unsure about “what’s out there” –Atheistic- sure that there isn’t anything “out there.”

Religion Vocab.  Apostate vs. Convert –Apostate- leaves a religion or religious group –Convert- joins a religion or a religions group  Blasphemy vs. Heresy vs. Dogma vs. Infidel –Dogma- accepted beliefs and traditions in a religion –All the others- going against the dogma of a religion  Solstice and Equinox –Mark the change of seasons- important days in many religions, especially early ones  Morals vs. Ethics –Morals- ideas about right and wrong - from religion –Ethics- ideas about right and wrong - from society

Religion Vocab.  Fundamentalist vs. Conservative vs. Liberal –Fundamentalist- interpret every word of their religion literally as absolutely true- no interpretation –Conservative- allows for a little interpretation, change over time –Liberal- allows more interpretation, religious writings seen as more symbolic in meaning, rather than literally true  Idol –Something which is admired excessively or worshipped

Religion Vocab.  Myth –Religious stories which are not believed or have been disproved  Avatar –Physical form of deity that has come to earth to accomplish a specific task