Ch5/Sec1: Language

• 
  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
  

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
  

• 
  1^st 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
  

• 
  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
  

• 
  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 9^th 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
  

• 
  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
  

• 
  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
  

• 
  Originally, colonial English (17^th-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
  

2. 
   Spelling:
   

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

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

3. 
   Pronunciation:
   

• 
  Changed more in England than in the U.S. (BRC emerged in the late 18^th 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)
  

• 
  Originated b/c of differences in the original settlers’ dialects
  
• 
  Later immigrants adopted the distinctive elements of the original settlers’ dialects
  

• 
  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.
  

• 
  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.
  

• 
  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.