Assignment Guide: Chapter 5
Language and Religion
Major Themes:
1. The classification, spread, and distribution of the world’s languages; the nature of language change.
2. Language standards and variants, from dialects to official tongues.
3. Language as cultural identity and landscape relic.
4. The cultural significance and role of religion.
5. How world religions are classified and distributed.
Friday, 12/2 and Monday, 12/5 Exam Review, “How China Became Chinese,” and “How Africa Became Black”
Tuesday, 12/6 DQs for pp. 122-131
1. Explain the basis for the celebration of the Coptic Christian Meskel Festival.
2. Discuss the variety of conflicts inherent in the statement made by Dinka Chief Makuei Bilkuei against the attempts to compel him to speak Arabic.
3. Account for the great diversity of languages in Africa and Asia as indicated in Figure 5.2.
4. From the list of Languages Spoken by 60 million or More People, identify those that are spoken in South Asia and provide the approximate percentage of the world’s population they represent. (Do not include English.)
5. Outline the system for organizing languages.
6. Explain the process by which linguists can trace family relationships between languages.
7. Identify the continents on which an Indo-European Language is widely spoken as a primary language.
8. Outline the dispersion of the Indo-European peoples.
9. Identify the family, sub-family, branch, and group of the English language.
The following questions relate to data in Figure 5.5.
10. Identify the language families represented in Africa.
11. Identify the language family of Swahili.
12. In what countries is Austro-Asiatic spoken?
13. In what regions are Uralic-Languages represented?
14. Explain the distribution of Amerindian languages in the Americas.
15. Identify the major language subfamilies spoken in Iran.
Wednesday, 12/7 DQs for pp. 122-131
The following three questions relate to date in Figure 5.6.
16. Explain the conclusions currently drawn from linguistic evidence in Amerindian languages.
17. What language families are represented in Southern California?
18. What language family links the Sioux, Iroquois, and Cherokee?
19. Explain the present distribution of Austro-Asiatic languages.
20. Discuss the book’s assertion that adoption rather than eviction accounts for the present distribution of dominant languages.
21. Explain the uniqueness of Euskara.
22. Explain the linguistic diversity of the Caucasus region.
23. Outline, in chronological order, the major developments in the historical formation of the English language.
24. To what extent was Arabic adopted in Western Asia and North Africa as a result of “conquest, religious conversion, and dominating culture?
Thursday, 12/8 DQs for pp. 131-135.
25. Identify the countries in Figure 5.9 in which English is both a prominent second language and an official language.
26. Analyse the concept of a standard language.
27. Identify the words from the Middle East that are indicated in the text box “Language Exchange.”
28. Examine the components of a dialect.
29. Account for the preservation of vernacular languages.
30. Compare and contrast isoglosses and an isophones.
31. Ask a friend or family member (not in APHuG!) if he or she wants to go get a “pop” and record their response (physical or verbal).
32. Account for the limited distribution of the Coastal Southern dialect.
33. Explain the ultimate prevalence of the Midland dialect in the US.
34. Explain the decline in local and regional dialects in recent decades.
35. Read the text box “World Englishes” and assess the likelihood that English will develop along the pattern of Latin into a variety of mutually unintelligible tongues.
Friday, 12/9 DQs for pp. 135-139
36. Compare and contrast creole languages with pidgin languages.
37. Analyze the origins and distribution of Swahili.
38. Account for the diffusion of the Northern Dialect west of the Mississippi River.
39. Explain the various lingua francas that operate across the globe.
40. Using the date in Figure 5.13, identify the major Lingua francas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
41. Account for the presence of a non-Arabic lingua franca in Northern Africa.
42. Identify the groups in Quebec that are generally opposed to the laws that have promoted the primacy of French in that province.
Monday, 12/12 Read and prepare for discussion Questions to Consider for “An Official U.S. Language” (p. 140). DQs for pages 139-143
43. Assess the policies adopted in the UK that sought to preserve the Welsh language there.
44. Assess the validity of the following statement: “Even more than in its role in ethnic identity and separatism, language embodies the culture complex of a people, reflecting environment and gender distinctions.” (p.142)
45. Discuss the origins of at least five place names. What do the names tell us about the history and character of the place?
46. Examine the role of Spanish in California toponyms.
47. Examine the role of Native American languages in US toponyms.
48. Compare and contrast value systems and religions.
49. Examine the general ways in which religion is made evident on the cultural landscape.
50. Discuss the characteristic features of universalizing religions.
51. Compare and contrast animism and shamanism.
The following five questions relate to data in Figure 5.18. Please refer to the formal language of human geography in your answer.
52. Account for the “Hindu pockets” in South America.
53. Explain the distribution of Islam in Africa.
54. Account for the distribution of Shiite and Sunni Islam.
55. Explain the distribution of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in sub-Saharan Africa.
56. Account for the presence of Protestantism in South Korea.
57. Assess the validity of the following textbook claim: “Hinduism, the largest ethnic faith, is essentially confined to the Indian subcontinent, showing the spatial restriction characteristic of most ethnic and traditional religions even when found outside of their homeland area. Small Hindu emigrant communities in Africa, southeast Asia, England, or the United States, for example, tend to remain isolated even in densely crowded urban areas.” (p. 146)
The following questions relate to information in the text box “Militant Fundamentalism.”
58. Identify the characteristic features of Fundamentalism as they express themselves across various religions.
Tuesday, 12/13 DQs for pp. 147-151
59. Explain the defining tenets (articles of faith) of Judaism
60. Outline the migration patterns of Jews from the time of the Roman Empire to the present.
61. Analyze the concept of Zionism.
62. Discuss Judaism’s imprint on the cultural landscape.
63. Analyze the diffusion patterns of Christianity from its hearth in Jerusalem to the present.
64. Discuss the global distribution of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
65. Explain the significance of Gothic Cathedrals to the culture of medieval Europe.
The following five questions relate to data in Figure 5.24.
66. Account for the prevalence of Lutherans in the Northern States of the Midwest.
67. Explain the isolated pocket of Roman Catholics in eastern Florida.
68. Account for the large Roman Catholic population in southern Louisiana.
69. Explain the large areas of Roman Catholic settlement in the northeastern US.
70. Explain the large area of Roman Catholic settlement in eastern Canada.
Wednesday, 12/14 DQs for pp. 151-156
71. Outline the fundamental tenets of Islam.
72. Examine the social context in which Islam emerged.
73. Identify the Balkan regions where Islam had a particularly strong impact.
74. Examine Table 4.1 on p. 89 and identify all of the countries that have a majority population of Muslims.
75. Identify the countries with Shiite majorities.
76. Discuss the various functions of a mosque.
77. Discuss the origins of Hinduism.
78. Examine the belief system of Hinduism.
79. Outline the component groups in the Hindu caste system.
80. Discuss the ways in which the situation of Dalits has changed in the modern history of India.
81. Discuss the effects of Hinduism on the cultural landscape.
Thursday, 12/15 DQs for pp. 156-162
82. Using the data from Figure 5.31, outline the chronological diffusion of the various forms of Buddhism throughout Asia.
83. Examine the reforms that Jainism brought to Hinduism in the 6th century.
84. Explain the syncretic elements of Sikhism.
85. Identify and explain the “four noble truths” of Buddhism.
86. Account for the virtual absence of Buddhism in India, despite being its hearth.
87. Compare and contrast the three “vehicles” of Buddhism.
88. Discuss the impact of Buddhism on the cultural landscape
89. Explain the religious dimensions of Confucianism.
90. Analyse the basic ideas of Taoism.
91. Account for the prevalence of religious devotion in the US at a time when most urban, industrialized countries have become secular.
Friday, 12/16 Essay Review for Exam
Tuesday, 1/3 Exam
Wednesday, 1/4 Essay Exam
1. Discuss the origins and development of the English language. Examine the ways in which various cultural influences have affected the development of English.
2. Explain the spatial distribution of Buddhism. Include in your discussion an account of its variations and the ways in which Buddhism is reflected in the cultural landscape.
3. Explain the spatial distribution of Islam. Include in your discussion an account of its variations and the ways in which Islam is reflected in the cultural landscape.
4. Explain the spatial distribution of Christianity. Include in your discussion an account of its variations and the ways in which the diverse forms Christianity are reflected in the cultural landscape.
5. Indo-European languages belong to the largest language family in the world. Discuss linguists’ theories of the origins and development of these languages. Include in your discussion an explanation of the current spatial distribution of Indo-European languages.
6. Compare and contrast standard languages, dialects, pidgin languages, and creole languages. Account for the difficulty in explaining the differences between them. Be sure to include specific examples in your discussion.
Sub-Saharan African Geography
Countries / Cities / Physical FeaturesAngola
Cameroon
Chad
Congo Republic
Democratic Republic of The Congo
Ethiopia
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Liberia
Mali
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Niger
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe / Addis Ababa
Cape Town
Dar Es Salaam
Durban
Harare
Johannesburg
Kampala
Kinshasa
Lagos
Luanda
Maputo
Mombasa
Monrovia
Nairobi
Pretoria / Blue Nile River
Cape of Good Hope
Congo River
Ethiopian Highlands
Kalahari Desert
Lake Chad
Lake Malawi
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Victoria
Niger River
Orange River
White Nile River.
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