HIST 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Native Tongues, Language Convergence, Historical Geography
9/22/2017 Chapter 10 - Modern Language Mosaics
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Chapter 10 - Modern Language Mosaics
CHAPTER INTRODUCTION
Language is an expression of culture, serving to both unite and divide people. The question of which
language to use in a multilingual country is an important one since intercultural Communication is
essential for political stability. Sometimes an existing language will spread worldwide to serve as a means
of communications between people, but in regions where several languages, and their cultures, meet and
merge a whole new language may develop. The study of place names, both historical and contemporary,
can also reveal much about a culture and its people. In the world of the late 1990s, when the cultural
composition of many countries is changing, questions about language are of particular significance.
Choosing A Language
The United States has no official language—The language selected in multilingual countries, often by the
educated and politically powerful elite, to promote internal cohesion; usually the language of the courts
and government—even though we are a nation of emigrants and enormous ethnic mix. The reason for this
is simply that if there were an “official” language selected for this country—no matter which language it
might be— it would carry with it the implied preference for the particular culture of which it was the native
tongue. It would also imply, rightly or wrongly, that other languages/cultures were not as important.
Historically, languages spread primarily by three means; commerce, religion, and conquest, within the
parameters of expansion and/or relocation diffusion. The
Indo-European languages spread globally in this manner and one in particular, English, diffused
throughout the world during the era of colonialism. Largely because of the political and economic power of
Britain and the United States , English today has become the global language of elites, commerce, and
business.
Command of English undoubtedly is an advantage throughout the world and the position of some
governments is that the advantages of being able to use English Outweigh cultural considerations. Some
countries have made English (or another foreign language) their official language, giving indigenous
languages secondary status. This provokes charges of neocolonialism or favoring the interest of educated
elites. The emotional attachment to language is not just a matter of protecting threatened tongues. It is
also a practical issue.
Multilingualism
There is no truly monolingual—where only one language is spoken—country in the world today. Several,
such as Japan , Uruguay , Iceland , and Poland , claim monolingualism but even in these countries there
are small numbers of people who speak other languages. For example, more than a half-million Koreans
live in Japan , and English-speaking Australia has more than 180,000 speakers of aboriginal languages.
Countries in which more than one language is in use are called multilingual states. In some of these
countries linguistic fragmentation reflect strong cultural pluralism as well as divisive forces (see Figure 10-
5). This is true in former colonial areas where peoples speaking different languages were thrown together,
as happened in Africa and Asia . This also occurred in the Americas as Figure 10-2 shows. Multiltngualism
takes several forms and can be reflected in regional divisions ( Canada , India , Peru , and Belgium ), but
in some countries (far fewer) there is less regional separation of speakers of different languages (for
example South Africa ). Multilingual countries sometimes solve the problem of intercultural communication
by making a foreign tongue their official (“umbrella”) language, as shown in Table 10-1. For former
9/22/2017 Chapter 10 - Modern Language Mosaics
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colonies, this has often been the language of the colonists, even though they may have gained their
independence in a violent revolution against those colonists. Such a policy is not without risks, however,
and the long-term results of the use of a foreign language may not always be positive.
Lingua Franca
Traders have often succeeded in overcoming regional linguistic communication problems where language
planners failed. Centuries ago people speaking different languages were forced to find ways to
communicate for trade. This need resulted in the emergence of a lingua franca—any common language
spoken by peoples with different native tongues, the result of linguistic convergence. The term comes from
the Mediterranean region and its numerous trading posts during the period following the Crusades. In
several areas of the world today, linguistic convergence has produced languages of mixed origin. Some of
these have developed into major regional languages (see Figure 10-1).
Toponymy
The study of place names (toponymy) can reveal a great deal about the contents and historical geography
of a cultural region. Even when time has erased other evidence, place names can reveal much about a
cultural area. Welsh place names in Pennsylvania , French place names in Louisiana , or Dutch place
names in Michigan reveal national origin as well as insight into language and dialect, routes of diffusion,
and ways of life.
Toponyms—place names—make reading a map a fruitful and sometimes revealing experience. A careful
eye will spot Roman names on the map of Britain , German names on the map of France , and Dutch
names in Australia .
CHAPTERS OUIZ
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. All languages have at least one thing in common, they:
a. change over time
b. remain static
c. do not borrow from other languages
d. do not use symbols
2. Spatially the ? language family is the most widely dispersed.
a. Afro-Asiatic
b. Ural-Altaic
c. Indo-European
d. Khoisan
3. The use of sound shifts helps trace languages back toward their origins. This technique is called:
a. backward reconstruction
b. root tracing
c. deep reconstruction
d. language foundation tracing
Document Summary
Home > chapter 10 - modern language mosaics. Language is an expression of culture, serving to both unite and divide people. The question of which language to use in a multilingual country is an important one since intercultural communication is essential for political stability. Sometimes an existing language will spread worldwide to serve as a means of communications between people, but in regions where several languages, and their cultures, meet and merge a whole new language may develop. The study of place names, both historical and contemporary, can also reveal much about a culture and its people. In the world of the late 1990s, when the cultural composition of many countries is changing, questions about language are of particular significance. It would also imply, rightly or wrongly, that other languages/cultures were not as important. Historically, languages spread primarily by three means; commerce, religion, and conquest, within the parameters of expansion and/or relocation diffusion.
