Ch5/Sec1: Language



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Ch5/Sec1: Language

Language: a system of communication through speech (a collection of sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning)

  • Languages often have a literary tradition (a system of written communication), but many lack them  difficulty documenting them

  • Official language: a country’s designated language used by its gov.’t for laws, reports, & public objects, e.g. signs, money

  • It is an intangible part of culture (v. material artifacts), but people’s values, such as religion & ethnicity are communicated through it

  • It is a source of pride to a people, a symbol of cultural unity

2 basic questions for human geographers:

  1. Where are different languages spoken?

  2. Why might 2 languages spoken in one location (such as English and French in Canada), or the same language in 2 diff locations (English in the U.S. and Belize)?

  • Interplay b/w globalization & local diversity

The contemporary distribution of languages around the world is mainly the result of past migration by people (relocation diffusion).

Ch5/Sec1: Where Are English-Language Speakers Distributed?

  • 1st language of 328 million people

  • Spoken fluently by 500 million-1 billion people

  • Official language of 57 countries

  • Mandated language of air traffic since January 1, 2008

  • 1/3 of the world live in a country where the official language is English

Distribution of English around the world:

  • British colonies around the world, including N. America, India, Africa, the S. Pacific, and Ireland

  • U.S. colonies around the world, including the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, etc.

  • English as an official language even if it is not spoken by many natives

Origin of English in England:

  • Celtic invaders of the British Isles in 2000 B.C.

  • Germanic tribes (Jutes from N. Denmark, Angles from S. Denmark, now Schleswig-Holstein corner of Germany, & Saxons from NW. Germany) invaded in 450 B.C.  Anglo-Saxons

  • England = Angles’land (Angles spelled as Engles, language as englisc)

  • The Vikings, who invaded England in the 9th c., added to basic English

  • The Normans, who invaded England in 1066, established French as England’s official language for the next 300 years (nobility v. common people)  the 2 languages mingled, e.g. man / masculine

  • England v. France, beginning in 1204  fewer people spoke French

  • Statute of Pleading, 1362: English the official language of England

(Parliament continued to use French until 1489)

Dialects of English:

Dialect = a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinct vocabulary, spelling, & pronunciation

  • Speakers of different dialects are able to understand one another

  • Dialects reflect the distinctive features of the environ. in which they live

  • The distribution of dialects is observed through the study of isogloss

Isogloss: the geographic boundary of certain linguistic features, such as pronunciation, spelling, or meaning (= not used nationally)

  • boundary lines may coalesce (unite or fuse)

  • as people migrate, multiple dialects of a language may develop

  • in a language w/ multiple local dialects, one dialect is recognized as the standard language for writing & speech (used in gov.’t, business, mass communic.) e.g. British Received Communication (BRP)



  • Norman invasion  French for gov.’t  5 major regional dialects of English in the isolated communities of England: Northern, East Midland, West Midland, Southwestern, Southeastern, & Kentish

  • Upper-class London, Cambridge & Oxford (Kentish)  standard for English (grammar books, dictionaries, arbitrary rules)

  • Differences in dialects still exist today

Differences between British and American English:

  • Originally, colonial English (17th-century British English)

  • Isolation of the colonies from the mother country  English developed independently in the colonies

  • 3 significant ways British & American English differ:

  1. Vocabulary:

    • new objects in America  often borrowed words from the Native Americans, e.g. raccoon, chipmunk, canoe, squash

    • new invention on both sides of the Atlantic  elevator v. lift, flashlight v. torch

  1. Spelling:

  • Noah Webster: spelling & grammar reforms  establishment of a national language, reduction of cultural dependence on England, & source of national pride

e.g.: elimination of “u” from words (colour v. color)

substitution of “s” for “c” (defense v. defence)



  1. Pronunciation:

  • Changed more in England than in the U.S. (BRC emerged in the late 18th century, after the colonies became independent)  Americans do not speak “proper” English b/c

  1. English has changed since the time the colonists left

  2. Most colonists were not from the upper class

  • Examples:

  • fast (father v. man)

  • lord (laud)

  • secretary (secret’ry)


Ch5/Sec1 cont.: Dialects in the United States

  • Originated b/c of differences in the original settlers’ dialects

  • Later immigrants adopted the distinctive elements of the original settlers’ dialects

Settlement in the East: the 13 original colonies +

  • New England (NY, VT, ME, NH, MA, CT, RI, NJ): Puritans from E. Anglia

  • Southeastern (DE, VA, NC, SC): diversity of social class from SE England (deported prisoners, indentured servants, refugees)

  • Middle Atlantic (PA, MD, WV): Quakers from N. England, Scots, Irish, German, Dutch, Swedish

  • Current distinctions are the result of isolation.



Language differences are greater in rural areas due to isolation: words that relate to rural life, food & objects from daily activities.

Today: national media spread regionally distinctive words, although differences still exits, e.g. soda-pop-coke

Pronunciation differences:

  • Southern: two syllables (half, mine); “y” sound (Tuesday)

  • New England: dropping “r” (heart, lark); “ah” substitute for the “r” ending (ear, care)

  • The distinctions are the result of the close ties b/w New England, esp. Boston & S. England, such as London, Plymouth, & Bristol.

Standard pronunciation in most of the U.S.: Middle Atlantic

  • The diffusion of Middle Atlantic pronunciation is mirrors the diffusion of housing types (relocation diffusion), as settlers from the East spread across the continent to the West.

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