1. Intro to Language

2. Section A: What is Language

3. Language is a system of communication that uses signs, gestures, marks, or vocal sounds to communicate thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

4. What is the purpose of language?

5. Gives us the ability to communicate.

6. Allows us to teach new skills.

7. Provides us tools to transmit culture.

8. Is this Language?

9. Is this Language?

10. Is this Language?

11. How do languages differ?

12. Differences In Language
Writing Direction
Alphabets
Allowable Sounds
Grammar

13. Section B: Linguistic Geography

14. What is Linguistic Geography?

15. Linguistic Geography is the study of speech areas and their local variations.

16. Interesting Facts about Language:

17. There are an estimated 7,100 languages spoken in the world.
Source: The CIA Factbook, 2013
There are an estimated 7,100 languages spoken in the world.

18. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish are the mother tongue or second language of about half of the world's population

19. Approximately 80% of languages are spoken by less than 100,000 people.

20. Approximately 50 languages are only spoken by one person.

21. How do we track the history of language?

22. We track languages by looking at language divergence and convergence.
Spatial Interaction between speakers break down causing new words to develop. British/Americans
Language breaks into dialects and then into new tongues.
Language Divergence
Two languages become one because of close spatial interaction.
This can also cause Language extinction
Language Convergence
We track languages by looking at language divergence and convergence.

23. We can tell what languages played part in the development of others.
Latin: Crux
Albanian: kryq
Aromanian: crutse
Catalan: creu
Dalmatian: crauc
English: crux, crucial
French: croix
Galician: cruz
German: Kreuz
Italian: croce
Occitan: crotz
Old Portuguese: cruz
Portuguese: cruz
Romanian: cruce
Romansch: crusch, crousch
Sardinian: cruche, crugi, cruxi, gruche, grughe, gruxi
Serbo-Croatian: krȋž / кри̑ж
Spanish: cruz
Venetian: cróxe
We can tell what languages played part in the development of others.

24. Section C: Categorizing Language

25. How do we categorize languages?

26. Language Families Languages Dialects
Languages with a shared, but fairly distant origin.
Languages
Culturally Defined.
Standard Languages are those recognized by people for use in schools, government, media, and general use.
Dialects
Regional Variants of a Standard Language.

27. What does the map above reveal about the diffusion of language?

28. Language families by speakers.
Language Family Approx. # of Speakers % of Pop
1. Indo-European billion %
2. Sino-Tibetan billion %
3. Niger-Congo million %
4. Afro-Asiatic million %
5. Austronesian million %
6. Dravidian million %
7. Altaic million %
8. Japanese million %
9. Austro-Asiatic million %
10. Tai-Kadai 78 million %

29. List the following languages in order of greatest to least based on number of native speakers: Arabic, Bengali, English, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Standard German

30. Commonly spoken languages by native speakers.
Language % of Pop
1. Mandarin Chinese %
2. Spanish %
3. English %
4. Arabic %
5. Hindi %
6. Bengali %
7. Portuguese %
8. Russian %
9. Japanese %
10. Standard German %