Unit 3: Culture Flashcards
Accent
An accent is stress or emphasis on a particular part of a word.
ex: [Pecan] pea-can vs puh-con
Creole Language
A formation of two languages and varieties that are based on French.
ex: Haitian creole or Louisiana creole
Cultural Convergence
Two cultures will be more and more like each other as their interactions increase.
ex: McDonalds is considered American, but the menu differs in other countries to incorporate their culture
Cultural hearth
Centers of origin of ancient civilizations
ex: Mesopotamia or Nile River Valley
Cultural landscape
Cultural resources and natural resources associated with the interactions between nature and human behavior.
ex: Dairy farm or Golden gate park
Culture realms
The entire region throughout which a culture prevails.
ex: criteria are religion, language, diet, customs, or economic development
Cultural region
A region with people who share common cultural characteristics.
ex: Middle East or North America
Cultural trait
Any trait of human activity acquired in social life and transmitted by communication.
ex: wearing a wedding ring
Culture
The characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people.
ex: language, religion, cuisine, social habits
Cuneiform
An ancient Mesopotamian form of writing made by pressing a reed into a tablet of wet clay.
ex: used to write around 15 different languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
ex: some people may say “hello” and some may say “howdy”
Diaspora
A group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived.
ex: removal of Jewish people from Judea
Ethnic enclaves
A geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity.
ex: Arab population in Dearborn, MI
Ethnic group
A group of people who share a similar culture, language, or other characteristic that is often handed down from one generation to the next.
ex: Han Chinese
Ethnic islands
Small, usually rural and ethnically homogeneous enclaves situated within a larger and more diverse cultural context.
ex: Louisiana Creole
Ethnic provinces
Large areas associated with a particular ethnic group.
ex: Italians in Tuscany
Ethnic religions
A religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group.
ex: Druidism of the Welsh
Ethnoburbs
A suburban residential and business area with a notable cluster of a particular ethnic minority population.
ex: Chinatown
Ethnocentrism
Belief in the superiority of one’s nation or ethnic group.
ex: Asians using chopsticks and thinking that the way Americans use forks and spoons is unnecessary
Feminist geography
The application of feminist theory and methodologies to understanding human geography.
ex: female spatial behavior restricted to the home
Folk culture
A culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.
ex: Amish in the US, practice traditional religious customs and beliefs such as limited use of technology
Foodways
The eating habits and culinary practices of a people, region, or historical period.
ex: North Carolina; sweet tea, peaches, okra, black eyes peas, fried chicken
Globalization
The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.
ex: Coca Cola
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is a writing system that was developed in Greece about 1000 BCE. It is the direct or indirect ancestor of all modern European alphabets.
ex: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, and Ω ω.
Grimm’s Law
The observation that certain Indo-European consonants undergo regular changes in the Germanic languages that are not seen in non-Germanic languages such as Greek or Latin.
ex: p becoming f so that Latin pedem corresponds to English foot and German fuss
Inclusion vs. Exclusion
Improving the terms for individuals and groups to take part in society vs the process in which individuals are blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to members of a different group.
ex: Famous people vs individuals with Leprosy
Language convergence vs. Language divergence
In bilingualism, languages may become increasingly similar and can effect pronunciation and structure vs One language breaks into two smaller dialects because there is a constant lack of spatial interaction between original speakers.
ex: Balkan languages vs British English/American English
Language extinction
When its last native speaker dies, and it’s usually the result of its speakers shifting to a lingua franca.
ex: Latin
Language family
A grouping of linguistically linked languages, stemming from a common ancestral mother-language called Protolanguage.
ex: Afro-Asiatic
Language isolate
A natural language with no demonstrable genealogical with other languages.
ex: Basque
Latin/Roman alphabet
The Classical Latin alphabet consisted of 23 letters, 21 of which were derived from the Etruscan alphabet.
ex: our current English alphabet
Lingua franca
A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
ex: English (recognized globally)
Loan words
A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.
ex: café (French for coffee)
Mentifacts
The shared ideas, values, and beliefs of a culture.
ex: religion, language, viewpoints
Patois
Speech or language that is considered nonstandard.
ex: Trasianka, Sheng, Tsotsitaal
Phoenician alphabet
A writing system that developed out of the North Semitic alphabet and was spread over the Mediterranean area.
ex: 𐤀, 𐤁, 𐤂, 𐤃, 𐤄, 𐤇
Phonemes
Any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another.
ex: p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat
Pictographic writing
A way of writing in which a picture/drawing of an object is used to represent the object.
ex: two joined hearts mean “love”
Pidgin
A grammatically simplified form of a language, used for communication between people not sharing a common language.
ex: Chinese Pidgin (700 words)
Popular culture
Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared meanings of a social system.
ex: Film and Sports
Proto-languages
A postulated language from which a number of attested known languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family.
ex: Latin
Received Pronunciation
An instantly recognizable accent.
ex: ‘typically British’
Rosetta Stone
A tablet found near Rosetta, Egypt, in 1799, carved with Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphic inscriptions.
ex: it became the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian writing
Social constructs
Something that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.
ex: the concept of currency
Sprachbund
A group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact.
ex: Papua New Guinea, the Amazon basin, and the Australian desert
Taboo
A social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.
ex: In Jewish communities, pork is not permitted
Toponymy
The study of place names.
ex: United States or Narnia
Universalizing religions
Religions that attempt to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or location.
ex: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism
Vernacular language
Describes an everyday language, including slang, that’s used by people.
ex: English in the US / Medical terms used by Doctors
Cultural complex
Describes a group or cluster of interrelated cultural traits.
ex: Cars in U.S. are a social status, sign of freedom, a way to work, a job, collectible, business
