1. Language as a Weapon
People use language as a cultural conflict and political strife
Spanish speakers and their advocates are demanding the use of Spanish in public affairs
On the other hand, the United States is promoting “Official English” policies, with English as official language of government

2. Bilingualism
Over 30 different states in the United States considered passing laws declaring English the official language in the 80’s
Some 30 states today have declared English as their official language
A few states have passed English-plus laws (bilingualism)

3. Bilingualism Canada is officially bilingual
Government documents and scholarly journals are printed in both French and English

4. Quebec’s Language Most of Canada’s French speakers live in Quebec
The majority of people in Quebec speak French at home
Quebec has passed several laws requiring the use of French in the province

5. Quebec’s Language
In 1993, the Quebec government passed a law requiring the use of French in advertising
Quebec law allows inclusion of both French and English translations on signage
Not all Quebec residents identify with French. Some speak indigenous languages, some English, etc.

6. Quebec’s Language All new immigrants of Quebec must learn French
The people of Quebec try their hardest to remain loyal to the French language as the province continues to experience change

7. Mutual Intelligibility
Two people understand each other when speaking
If speaking two dialects of one language, you will achieve mutual understanding
Has been strongly rejected by linguists

8. Mutual Intelligibility
Almost impossible to measure
For example, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. Both can read standard form of Chinese, but dialects are so different they can’t understand each other
So many different dialects in the world that the actual amount of languages is still in debate

9. Standardized Language
Published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught
Ireland promotes Irish (Celtic) language by requiring all government employees to pass Irish-language examination before being hired
Ones with influence and power decide the standard language

10. Standardized Language
Government in China chose the Northern Mandarin Chinese as official standard language
Linguistic term Chinese actually incorporates many different variants

11. Dialects
Variants of a standard language along regional or ethnic lines
Pronunciation, cadence, syntax, and pace of speech mark a speaker’s dialect
Accent can reveal the regional home of a person

12. Dialects
Linguists think about dialects in terms of dialect chains distributed across space
Language is an umbrella for a collection of dialects
Tend to see one dialect as the “true” language only because the government claims it as standard

13. Dialects
Dialects are frequently marked by actual differences in vocabulary
A single word or group of words can reveal the source area of a dialect
Dialects nearest to each other will be the most similar

14. Isogloss
A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic occurs
Such boundaries are rarely just a line
Fuzzy isoglosses signifies that the dialect has been expanded or contracted
Pronunciation, vocabulary, use of colloquial phrases, and syntax determine isoglosses

15. Isogloss
Linguistic geographer, Hans Kurath, published atlases of dialects in the U.S. defining Northern, Southern, and Midland dialect in eastern part of country
In mid 1900’s Kurath drew distinct isoglosses among the three dialects, based on pronunciation of certain sounds

16. Bert Vaux
Recently used a 122- question online survey to map dialects of the United States
Words like pop, soda, and coke can distinguish dialects in the United States

17. Why are languages distributed the way they are?
First step in mapping distribution of world is to classify languages
Linguistic geographers use biology terms to classify languages: like species

18. Why are languages distributed the way they are?
Languages are classified as language families at the global scale
Languages have a shared but fairly distant origin within a single language family

19. Why are languages distributed the way they are?
Language families are broken down into subfamilies
Subfamilies- commonalities are more definite and origin is more recent
Completing the categorization are individual languages, covering a smaller extent of territory, and dialects, covering the smallest extent of territory

20. Why are languages distributed the way they are?
The world map of languages actually maps 20 major language families
Indo-European language family stretches across the greatest extent of territory and also claims the largest number of speakers
Of all languages in the world Chinese actually claims more speakers than English