LANGUAGE The ability to communicate with others orally or in writing. Language insures the continuity of a culture. (culture bag) It is estimated there are between 5,000 and 6,000 languages in the world today. Only ten are spoken by at least 100 million people. The “big five” of first languages are : EnglishMandarin Chinese SpanishHindiArabic It is expected that about 90% will die out in the next century. Young people move from rural to urban areas and do not pass along their language.

LANGUAGE FAMILIES Have a shared but fairly distant origin. About half the world speaks an Indo- European language. A language group would be the “Romance Languages.” The theories of the spread of languages includes the diffusion of languages by conquest or migration and by the spread of people and their agriculture.

Sino-Tibetan languages include Chinese. About 20% of the world speaks this family of languages. Niger-Congo consists of languages in sub-Saharan Africa. Afro-Asiatic includes North Africa (Arabic.) It is estimated there may be 1,000 languages spoken in Africa alone. There are up to 100 languages in India.

Languages within states DialectsSouthern or New England An isogloss is the boundary of a language or dialect. Similar to a functional region. Pidgin languageVery elementary language but allows people to communicate at a very basic language. Used for trade. Creole is a language results when two languages are combined, often including elements not common to either first language. Cajun?

An official language is used in all government business. What is the official language of the USA? Lingua franca:A “third” language which most people can understand and communicate in. The lingua franca of the business world is? The lingua franca of former British India and East Africa is” The official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. The working languages of the secretariat are English and French.

Toponyms- Often reflect the culture or people that live in an area. In Quebec, place names are French. New Amsterdam New York New London, Ct. end

Language extinction is occurring all over the LDC’s of the world in areas like central Africa, the Amazon rainforest, and Southeast Asia. As cultures come into contact with the “outside” world, folk cultures succumb to popular culture. An example of a “revived language” that was brought back from virtual extinction would be