Tools: Isogloss (Subset of Isoline)

Keywords: creole, dialect, language, language families, lingua franca, multilingual, pidgin, polyglot, toponym, (variant, generic toponym)

Tools: Isogloss (subset of isoline)

Concepts: Kargan hypothesis,language hotspot, linguistic refuge area

Languages are central to cultural transmission, and language suppression suppresses other attributes.As with other cultural attributes, words, such as keywords, allow us to discuss concepts, These concepts become more real to us through their repeated occurrence and observed relevance in the real world. Please study this chapter, starting definitions, expanding to apply them to the concepts they describe, and focusing on their expression in the real world. Also, remember the connection of the concepts in this chapter to the other relevant chapters you have read. This is merely a chapter synopsis, reminding you of what you should have read and outlined.

Dialects are variants of a language, which can be understood by other dialects of the same language. Given enough isolation over time, these languages diverge. When they diverge enough not to be mutually understandable, these become new languages. They are related though, and are considered to be of the samelanguage family. One example of a language familybegins with Latin, which diverged when the Roman Empire fell, developing into Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, along with several dialects [Jordan, 2010].

Languages diffuse via migration, war, trade, religion, or the quest for knowledge. Language diffusion is slowed by physical (e.g. mountains, oceans, deserts, tundra, swamps, and rainforests) and cultural barriers (e.g. conflict and country borders). When people relocate beyond these barriers, dialects and new languages often form. Again, this takes isolation over time.

When people with two or more languages converge, and must interact, they often initially develop a pidgin language, a mixture of words and structure from these languages. This is often used to facilitate trade, paid labor, and goods manufacturing, and Spanglish is one example found in San Jose. Some people in multilingual (polyglot) societies become bilingual,learning two languages. One of these languages may dominate communication, becoming a lingua franca. Sometimes a complete creole languagedevelops, aided by isolation [Jordan, 2010].

Geographers use isoglosses to mark the boundaries between word uses. These lines shift as word use spreads or shrinks. They may also be used to measure slang words and phrases.(An isogloss is a form of isoline, and you will see this concept again.) [Jordan, 2010]

Diffusion can be triggered by cultural advantages, such as sedentary farming, which increases yields. This is the center of the peaceful expansion diffusion described in the Anatolian hypothesis. The Kurgan hypothesis expresses this movement as faster and more violent. Excess food production allows specialization, and this makes warfare more feasible. Neither hypothesis has yet been proven. [Jordan, 2010]

Austronesian diffusion from SE Asia to Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia is a very impressive example of seamanship assisted cultural diffusion. [Jordan, 2010] This spread related languages, religions, agriculture, and other cultural aspects across most of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.Critical seafaring skills were passed on by the languages, which included key terms and concepts that help pass on these skills.

Pressures leading to placelessness [Jordan, 2010, p. 31] and its opposite, continuing cultural variation, are also at work in languages. English, the present lingua franca, seems to be a candidate for a single world language. This pattern in some parts of the core is countered by cultural trends such as nationalism in India (which reinforces a return to Indian language and place name use), and creole language development, such as Singlish in Singapore. [Jordan, 2010] There are also competing languages, such as Chinese, with the largest number of native speakers. History shows a different pattern, whereprevious regionally dominant languages of empire, such as Latin, and later Spanish, are no longer dominant, but remain culturally active. Time will tell, and traditional languages continue to dwindle. Globalization of technologies further complicates the matter.[Jordan, 2010]

The physical environment and cultural adaptations to it modify languages over time, resulting in new words for key features and concepts. Spanish describes arid lands key to herding, while Gaelic focuses more on wetter hilly terrain, and English has more words for wetlands and coastal plains. When the cultures preferentially migrated to similar places, they were pre-adapted and often successful. They then used their languages to describe these features, which then remain today in cultural landscape astoponyms [Jordan, 2010]. These toponyms can describe attributes of the cultures that labeled them and aspects of the environment they describe.

When traditional (homogeneous isolated, often rural cultures) are not overcome by popular culture, their cultural attributes, including language, remain. Linguistic refuge areasoften protecttheselanguages (and cultures) because of geographic isolation. This linguistic variety often leads to language hotspots, where several diverse languages are found.[Jordan, 2010]

As with all other cultural aspects, languages are often strongly affected by other aspects of culture. Religions spread dominant languages of the time, (e.g. Latin), and those of the religious source, (e.g. Arabic). Sometimes, when a religion survives, the language of that religion is supported, as found in Hebrew scripture, in particular the Torah. When religions spread, the base language of religious scriptures is often taught as well. Sometimes, they translate it into one of the local languages, which is favored by this religious literature.[Jordan, 2010]

Literate societies (societies with written languages) are favored by the encapsulation of their cultural attributes, including histories, beliefs, and norms, in their writings. Nearby non-literate cultures are then at a cultural disadvantage. [Jordan, 2010] This is why suppression of literature is one contribution to ethnic cleansing.

Technologies have strongly modified language retention and diffusion, starting with writing and printing, and expanding from mail to the internet. Books, copiers, sea, land and air transportation technologies, among other advances, also speed the diffusion of languages and linguistic aspects of cultures. Languages that dominate literature (written language) and the internet (its fastest dissemination mode) are learned more often as secondary languages. Languages of technologically advanced cultures may expandmore thanother languages. If a culture’s language dies, much of its oral traditions, including stories, histories, norms, ideas, beliefs, etc. are often lost. Some cultures strive to retain their language, crucial to their culture.

References:

Jordan-Bychkov, Terry J., Mona Domosh, Roderick P. Neumann, Patricia L. Price. 2010. Fundamentals of the Human Mosaic. W. H. Freeman and Company. 357 pages.