1. Culture Part 2: Language
AP Human Geography
Parkview High School

2. Introduction
Only 30% of U.S. students graduate with 3 or more years of a foreign language
17% have had no foreign language at all!
In contrast, 62% of graduates from Dutch high schools have learned at least THREE foreign languages!

3. Introduction Continued…
There are an estimated 7,299 languages in the world.
Only 10 of them are spoken by at least 100 million people.
The global distribution of languages is a result of:
--interaction
--isolation

4. Common Languages

5. Introduction Continued…
Language: a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning.
Literary Tradition
Official Language: used by the government for laws, reports, and official objects (signs, money, stamps, etc.).

6. Where Are English-Language Speakers Distributed?
Key Issue 1:
Where Are English-Language Speakers Distributed?

7. Origin & Diffusion of English
English is spoken fluently by ½ billion people.
English is an official language in over 50 countries!

8. English is Official… Antigua and Barbuda Australia Barbados Belize
Botswana
Cameroon
Canada
Dominica
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji Islands
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
India
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Kiribati
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Namibia
New Zealand
Nigeria
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Rwanda
Saint Lucia
Samoa
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Swaziland
Tanzania
The Bahamas
The Gambia
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Vanuatu
Zambia
Zimbabwe

9. English Colonies
The people of England migrated with their language when they established colonies all over the world (relocation diffusion!).
More recently, the U.S. has been responsible for diffusing English to several places.

10. Origin of English in England
Celts arrived around 2000 B.C. speaking Celtic.
Around A.D. 450, tribes from mainland Europe invaded, pushing the Celts to the “fringes”…

11. Areas where Celtic Culture Survives

12. Origin of English Continued…
German Invasion:
The invading tribes were the Angles (southern Denmark), Jutes (northern Denmark), & Saxons (northwestern Germany).
England comes from Angles’ land. Their language was called englisc.
Other people came and added their languages to basic English (including the Vikings in the 9th century).

13. Origin of English Continued…
Norman Invasion:
English is very different from Germany today primarily because the French-speaking Normans invaded England in 1066.
In 1204, King John of England lost control of Normandy and entered a period of conflict with France.
The Statute of Pleading in 1362
English mixed with French…

14. Battle of Hastings
Bayeux Tapestry

15. Dialects of English
Dialect: a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and cadence.
Standard Language: a dialect that is well established and widely recognized as the most acceptable for government, business, education, and mass communication.
British Received Pronunciation (BRP)

16. Dialects in England Examples? 5 major regional dialects Origin of BRP
3 main groups today:
--Northern
--Midland
--Southern

17. British vs. American English
Why is American English different than British English?
New things needed new words
Americans wanted independence from Britain
Isolation
New vocabulary for new inventions

18. Dialects in the U.S. Settlement in the East --New England
--Middle Atlantic
--Southeastern
Current Dialects Differences in the East
--Isogloss: geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs; boundary that divides word usage.

19. Example of U.S. Isogloss

20. Dialects in the U.S. Continued…
Pronunciation Differences
--Southern
--New England
--Midwest
Let’s listen to dialect differences (a.k.a. accents!):

21. Where are English-language speakers distributed?
So…
Where are English-language speakers distributed?