NOTES: UNIT 3 “CULTURE: LANGUAGE”Language is…- fundamental component of culture- best means of cultural transmission- essential linking device in human cultures- enables members of groups to communicateALSO a barrierClassifications of Language:- Global languages vs local languages- Top 14 languages spoken by 60% of world population; bottom 500 languages divided among no more than 1 million people in remote regions of Asia, Africa, South America, and Australasia.- About 6000 languages spoken in the world today. As many as 10-15,000 in prehistoric times.Language illustrates the origin and dispersal of cultural elements. --Question: What is the relation of one language to another?Taxonomy of languages: Family, subfamily, group, languagedialects and regional variationsDistribution of languages: clue to the past history of culture groups, their migration, contact/isolation, former distribution, etc. “Spatial signals”- e.g., origins of Indo-European languages- e.g. migration patterns in Asia and Indian Ocean- e.g. AfricaLanguages differentiate over time. The greater the time lapse, the more individual languages become, e.g., Latin and Romance languages- regions with languages that are somewhat different but closely related: recent migration- regions with languages of common roots yet strongly different: modification over long timeAfrican history traced through languagesCultural patterns are not static in time or space: language use and spatial distribution changing because of demographic changes and aggressive spread of second languagesexample of diffusion....relocation and expansionSpatial changes in language.Languages give clues about the culture of those speaking the language: Sapir Whorf Hypothesis--structure, vocabulary, ability to express concepts, used to stratify society.Nations can be classified as either mono, bi, or multi lingual.Where do you find multilingual nations? Common in former colonies where different culture groups were forced together by foreign interests and alsofound in nations settled by people from different culture sources.Communication through lingua franca.Reflect forces that divide a nation. Why? Language is an inseparable part of group identity and a defining characteristic of ethnic and cultural distinctionTOPONYMSLook at any map of the United States and notice the kinds of place names (toponyms) that appear. For example on a map of Texas you will see cities or towns named San Angelo and San Antonio, Houston and Austin, New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, Amarillo, Midland, and El Paso, among many.Place names can give clues to past cultural landscapes. They can also offer evidence of past migrations (sequent occupance) in an area, even whentime has erased other evidence.Many toponyms have two parts:- generic (classifying), e.g. John's Town, Pitt's Burgh, Nash ('s) Ville- specific (given), e.g., Battle Creek (Michigan)- this is an event (a battle took place) and a landscape feature (the creek).There are nine categories of toponyms:Category ExamplesDescriptive toponyms Rocky Mountains, Chicago (Stinking Onions in the language of the first inhabitants)Associative Toponyms Mill River (a mill was on the river), SpringfieldIncident Names Battle Creek, Bloody Ridge, Cut and ShootPossessive Names Castro Valley, PittsburghCommemorative (commemorating someone well-known or in honor of a famous person)St Louis, San Jacinto, Houston, Seattle (named after Chief Seattle), Austin, Pennsylvania (Penn's Woods), Illinois (after the Illini Indians)Commendatory (praising) Pleasant Valley, GreenlandManufactured (made up names) Tesnus (Sunset spelled backwards), Reklaw (Walker spelled backwards) Iraan (Ira and Ann name the town after each other)Mistaken (historic errors in identification or translation)West Indies (not west of the Indies and not the Indies)Shift Names (relocated names or names from settler's homeland)Athens (Greece and Texas), Palestine (Middle East and Texas), New Mexico(settlers from Mexico named their new home after their previous home),New