modern language mosaics changing cultural composition in the united states hispanics population on...
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MODERN LANGUAGE MOSAICS
Changing Cultural Composition in the United States
Hispanics population on the rise An “official” second language?
Even divides Hispanic communities Hispanic policy organization report, 1990
Early European immigrants faced language barrier…
Language and Culture
Current debates Language vs. cultural preservation English = international communication standard Some countries have made English (or another
language) their official language Neocolonialism to some Emotional attachment important What is the US’s official language?
Language and Trade The Esperanto experiment: L.L. Zamehof, a Polish Oculist in the 1880s. Based on existing
natural languages to create a second language that would be easily learned. Thousands use it to communicate worldwide.
Elvish: invented by J.R. R. Tolkien. Was invented by Tolkien but not intended as Esperanto. Spoken by Elvish inhabitors of Middle-Earth, pronunciation and script are not easy to learn. There are several dictionaries and language course.
Lingua franca Linguistic convergence of Frankish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, and
Arabic Today’s usage of “lingua franca”
Swahili has become the lingua franca of East Africa In West Africa Hausa is a regional tongue
Language and Trade Creolization
“Pidgin” Sometimes a mother tongue Difficult distinguishing between them & dialects
Gullah or Geechee: 10,000 descendents of African slaves in coastal islands of S.C., GA, and North Florida. Gullah cuisine based on African foodstuffs, okra
Gullah language combination of Elizabethan English and African tongues
The only surviving example of an English-based Creole language in North America.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2008/08/china_kung_fu_e.html
Kung Fu English-the impact of a global lingua franca in China
Multilingualism
Few true monolingual states left Japan, Uruguay, Venezuela, Iceland, Portugal,
Poland, and Lesotho Multilingual states
Linguistic fragmentation can reflect cultural pluralism
Multilingualism
Regional expression Examples:
Switzerland Russia Andean Cultures
Multilingualism
Canada French & English
speaking areas Still divided
MultilingualismBelgium Dutch-speaking and
French-speaking regions
Brussels officially bilingual, but majority speak French
Reflects 19th century efforts to build an integrated state
Linguistic partition in 1920s
For Flemish identity Language regions tend
to foster regionalism
Multilingualism
Nigeria A colonial creation Three major regional
languages 230 established
tongues English as “official”
language Repercussions?
Official languages
Serve different purposes Enhance internal communication and interaction Colonial influence Official language can cause problems
Hindi example US official language? None!
Toponymy: The study of place names
When you study toponymy you learn much about the culture of places.
-Why, AZ -Nothing, AZ -Peru, ME -Bolivia, SC In many instances the toponym could be two part
names: -a specific or given part -generic or classifying part For Example:
Penn’s Forest, Pennsylvania
Place names give evidence of past cultures Dutch in Michigan, French in Lousiana
Toponyms in the United States show the diffusion of people with distinct dialects:
-Northern toponyms: center, corner names of towns, east, west, north, south
Vermont: Randolph Center, South Randolph, East Randolph, North Randolph, Hewetts Corners
(Check out Seattle)
Midland: gap, cove, hollow, knob and burgh. Pittsburgh, Bald Knob, Stillhouse Hollow
Southern: bayou, gully, store
George Stewart: 10 categories descriptive (Rockville, MD)
associative (Great Falls, MT) incident (Harper’s Ferry, MD) possessive (Martha’s Vineyard) commendatory (Providence, R.I.) commemorative (Martin Luther King Jr. Middle
School) folk-etymology (Plains, GA) manufactured (Truth or Consequences, New
Mexico) mistake (Lasker, NC) so-called shift names (Norfolk, VA) Originally a
name in England and used when people moved
Revival of minority languages: Why? Preserve culture
Devolution: Basques
Nationalism: Celtic, Welsh, Hawaiian
Revival of extinct languages: Hebrew
Resources
De Blij, Harm, J. (2007). Human Geography People, Place and Culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderic, Price, Patricia, & Jordan-Bychkov, 2010. The Human Mosaic, A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Fellman, Jerome, D., Getis, Arthur, & Getis, Judith, 2008. Human Geography, Landscapes of Human Activities. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Pulsipher, Lydia Mihelic and Alex M. and Pulsipher, 2008. World Regional Geography, Global Patterns, Local Lives. W.H. Freeman and Company New York.
Rubenstein, James M. (2008). An introduction to human geography The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.