APHG Unit 4 Flashcards
Language
a set of sounds, combinations of sounds, and symbols that are used for communication.
Dialect
distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and/or pronunciation;
british is a dialect of english
Natural Languages
Languages that people use in every day life that evolved within living or historic communities.
Body Languages
ASL, gestures we all understand
Artificial Languages
Elvish, Klingon (made)
Universal Language
Esperanto is an artificial language created by a Polish doctor in the 19th century.
Today somewhere between 1-15 million people speak
it worldwide
Standard Language
a language that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught.
none in the us
belgium: flemish dutch, german, french
Language Family
A collection of languages that share a common, but distant ancestor.
Indo-European - 50% of all
SinoTibetian - 2nd largest –> Spreads through most of SE Asia and China
Indo-European Language Tree
result of migration and subsequent isolation of people that can only be reconstructed through linguistic and archaeological theories.
10 most popular languages today
Chinese, Spanish, English, Arabic, Hindi, BengaliPortuguese, Russian, Japanese
Language and Political Conflict
Belgium:
Flanders (Flemish language) - North Half
Wallonia (French language) - South Half
Dialect
variants of a standard language along regional/ethnic lines; vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation, pace
Isogloss
A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs. a boundary between two regions
ex. france and germany
Mutual Intelligibility
Two people can understand each other when speaking - not measurable, many languages fail the test of mutual intelligibility
Language Divergence
when a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language breaks the language into dialects and then new languages.
Language Convergence
when peoples with different languages have consistent spatial interaction and their languages collapse into one.
Backward Reconstruction
tracking sound shifts and the hardening of consonants backward to reveal an “original” language.
Agriculture Theory
With increased food supply and increased population, speakers
from the hearth of Indo-European languages migrated into Europe.
Dispersal Hypothesis (Kurgan Hypothesis)
Indo-European languages first moved from the hearth eastward into
present-day Iran and then around the Caspian and into Europe.
Romance languages
Southern and Western Europe
Germanic languages
Northern and Western Europe
Slavic languages
Eastern and Central Europe
Euskera
Euskera is a language isolate, meaning it has no known relation to any other language family in Europe.
Languages of Subsaharan Africa
extreme language diversity
effects of colonialism
