1. Why are Languages Distributed the Way They Are?
AP Human Geography Chapter 6 Section 2
Why are Languages Distributed the Way They Are?

2. World Language Families

5. Categorization of Language
Language Families
Indo European
Subfamilies
Germanic
Languages
English

6. European Languages in the Americas
What languages from Europe had the largest impact in the Americas?
English
French
Spanish
Portuguese

7. How are Languages Formed?
Can find linkages among languages by examining sound shifts – a slight change in a word across languages over time.
eg. Milk
lacte in Latin
latta in Italian
leche in Spanish
lait in French

8. Language Divergence
when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages.

9. Language Convergence
when peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one.

10. Language Extinction
when peoples speaking a language are wiped out or when they shift to a language other than that of their ancestral language

11. How do Linguists Study Historical Languages?
Backward reconstruction – tracking sound shifts and the hardening of consonants (stops, b, p, or t vs. fricatives f, v, or th) backward to reveal an “original” language.
Can deduce the vocabulary of an extinct language.
Can recreate ancient languages (deep reconstruction)