Critical Thinking What’s the official language of the United States?

Language and Cultural History How language can teach us about the history and culture of a people

Language –Method of mutually-understandable communication –Set of sounds, combination of sounds and symbols –Language is an essential part of culture Why do people feel so strongly about bilingual v. English-only education?

Language Standard Language –Widely published and distributed –Purposefully taught Lexicon (Vocabulary) Syntax (Structure) Phonetics (Sounds) Orthography (Writing system)

Dialects –Variants on standard language by region –Isogloss Contour line representing area where language feature is present Where is the line between dialect and language?

The English Language? Alcohol Amok (to “run amok”) Boondocks Chasm Embargo Finger Geyser Juggernaut Schmalz Typhoon Umbrella Yogurt

Origins of Words Alcohol Amok Boondocks Chasm Arabic Malay Tagalog Greek

Origins of Words Embargo Finger Geyser Juggernaut Spanish German Icelandic Hindi

Origins of Words Schmalz Typhoon Umbrella Yogurt Yiddish Chinese Italian Turkish

Gypsies

The Roma

Where did they come from? “Gypsy” –Egypt?

Where? The Romani language has many similarities to some modern Indian dialects. Linguists concluded that the Roma left from Northwest India in the 12 th Century

But Why? Languages helps again –Roma words for non-Roma Gadjo = “civilian” Das = “slave; prisoner” –Roma has a plethora of military words that have their origin in Sanskrit

Therefore By using language and historical texts, scholars were able to trace the origin of the Roma to a military group in India

One Theory: Ancient Battles Ghaznavid Empire –Moghul Rajputs –Kshatriya (warrior caste) –Shudra (servant caste) Defeated in battle –Diaspora