Unit Three Part One: Culture and Language Flashcards
Cultural diffusion
The spread of new knowledge and skills from one culture to another.
Culture
way of life of a group of people who share beliefs and similar customs.
Culture hearth
a center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward.
Culture region
Division of the Earth based on a variety of factors, including government, social groups, economic systems, language, or religion.
accent
A way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker.
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
Ebonics
Dialect spoken by some African Americans (Outdated term, replaced with AAVE: African American Vernacular English)
Extinct Language
A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.
Ideogram
The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea or concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English.
Isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.
Language Branch
A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Differences are not as extensive or as old as with language families, and archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family.
Language
A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.
Language Group
A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.
Language Family
A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
Lingua Franca
A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
Literary Tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken
mono-linguality
Speaking only one language
bi-linguality
speaking two languages
multi-linguality
speaking several languages
Official Language
The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.
orthography
The study of correct spelling
Pidgin
A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, used for communications among speakers of two different languages.
standard language
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.
Toponym
The name given to a portion of Earth’s surface.
Custom
The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act.
Folk Culture
Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.
Habit
A repetitive act performed by a particular individual
Isolated Langauge
A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.
Taboo
A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.
Terrior
The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes
Acculturation
The adoption of cultural traits, such as language, by one group under the influence of another.
Assimilation
the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another
Multiculturalism
a condition in which ethnic groups exist separately and share equally in economic and political life
Cultural Practice
Routine activities common to a people that may reflect religion, traditions, economic survival, community organization, and regional ideology.
cultural relativism
the practice of judging a culture by its own standards
Nativist
a person who favors those born in his country and is opposed to immigrants
Ethnocentrism
evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture.
Cultural Landscape
An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.
sequent occupance
the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
Post Modern Architecture
A reaction in architectural design to the feeling of sterile alienation that many people get from modern architecture. Postmodernism uses older, historical styles and a sense of lightheartedness and eclecticism. Buildings combine pleasant-looking forms and playful colors to convey new ideas and to create spaces that are more people-friendly than their modernist predecessors.
traditional architecture
buildings use building materials available and reflect social/environmental customs of the people EX) log cabins
cultural beliefs
The predominant beliefs in a culture about right and wrong, what is most important in life, and how life should be lived. May also include beliefs about where and how life originated and what happens after death.
Centripetal force
A cultural value that tends to unify people
Centrifugal Force
A cultural value that tends to pull people apart
