1. LANGUAGE Language is not merely communication…
but a symbolic form of communication
-- i.e.: chimpanzee grooming (social communication)

2. What is Language?
language: an organized system of spoken words by which people communicate with mutual comprehension.
• ideas, attitudes, signs, sounds, or gestures
• language is an open-system, not a closed-system
• finite sounds exist with potential for infinite meaning
• contains displacement
c ya r u? :) ginormous
Why is a “book” not a “gumrf”?

3. Anatomical Ability to Speak
1. The throat & the position of the pharynx
2. Cranial Capacity
Left hemisphere of human brain with language centers— Broca’s area & Wernicke’s area

5. CLASSIFICATIONS OF LANGUAGE
-- More than half the world: speak just 8 tongues
isogloss: a geographic area where a language is spoken
5,000 years ago: 10,000-15,000 tongues
Today: about 4,000 remain

7. Approx. number of speakers
Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World???
Language
Approx. number of speakers
 1. Chinese (Mandarin)
1,075,000,000
 2. English
514,000,000
 3. Hindustani1
496,000,000
 4. Spanish
425,000,000
 5. Russian
275,000,000
 6. Arabic
256,000,000
 7. Bengali
215,000,000
 8. Portuguese
194,000,000
 9. Malay-Indonesian
176,000,000
10. French
129,000,000
First Language:
1. Mandarin Chinese mill
2. Spanish mill
3. English mill
4. Arabic mill
5. Hindi mill
6. Portuguese mill
7. Bengali mill
8. Russian mill
9. Japanese mill
10. German - 96 mill
English: official language of 83 countries!

8. English Speaking Countries

9. Percent of People 5 Years and Older Who Speak a Language other than English at Home

10. language family: a group of languages descended from a single, earlier tongue (Indo-European most widely distributed)
Indo-European --- Latin --- Romance Languages
(Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, & Romanian)
Afro-Asiatic --- Semitic--- Arabic
(Moroccan, Palestinian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Tunisian, & Arabian)
Chinese --- Mandarin, Cantonese, Jin, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Hakka,
(Minbei, Minnan, Yue, Hokkien, Teochew, Pinghua , Taiwanese)

11. Chinese Ideograms

12. Language Families of the World
Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named

13. protolanguage: an earlier language that led to other tongues
Ex: panis pane pan pine
lacte latta leche lait

14. Indo-European Language Family

15. WORLD PATTERN OF LANGUAGES:
World language distribution reflects the dynamic pattern of:
human movements, settlements, & colonization
How do languages spread?
--relocation diffusion
--hierarchical diffusion
(i.e.: English in India)