The Geography
of Language
Cultural Geography
C.J. Cox
Language Overview
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Geographer’s Perspective of Language
Language as the foundation of Culture
Key Terms
Language Divisions
Spatial Distribution of Languages
Why do people speak the same
language differently in distinct regions?
The Geographer’s Perspective of
Language
• What is the distribution of world languages
– density
– concentration
– patterns
• How is culture influenced or limited by this
language distribution?
• How does the language reflect the culture?
Language Distribution indicates
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History and conquest
Isolation or integration of cultures
Migration of peoples
Economic Domination of certain cultures
Influence of wealth and technology
Political Divisions (country boundaries)
Physical geography barriers (mts.,
deserts)
Cultural Aspects Language May
Influence
• Character and sounds of a culture
• Visual landscapes of signs
(script, letters, ideograms)
Cultural Values A Language May
Indicate
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class structure
gender differences in vocabulary
environmentally specific vocabulary
formal and informal relationships
technology of a culture
Language
• Language:
– a system of communication
• that uses sounds
• writing (literary tradition
• and or gestures
– meanings of
symbols and
sounds are
learned
Hearth Area of the Indo-European Languages
Key Term
• Ideograms: The system
of writing used in China
and other East Asian
Countries in which each
symbol represents an
idea or a concept rather
than a specific sound,
as is the case with
letters in English.
Key Term
• Lingua Franca: a language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people
who have different native languages.
– A language of commerce
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English
Spanish
Chinese
Japanese
Language Divisions
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Language Families
Languages Branches
Languages Groups
Languages
Dialects
Accents
Language Families
• a collection of individual languages with
a common ancestor
a family may be divided into several divisions
or branches
Language Branches
• a group of languages that share a
common origin but have evolved into
different languages
• example: Romance Branch - Indo-European
Family
– French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanch
Language Groups
• Several individual languages within a
language branch
– share a common origin in recent past
– few differences in grammar and vocabulary
Language
Groups
in Northern
Europe
Language
• Language:
– a system of communication
• that uses sounds
• writing (literary tradition
• and or gestures
– meanings of symbols and sounds are
learned
World’s Top 10 Languages
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Mandarin Chinese
English
Spanish
Hindi
Arabic
Portuguese
Bengali
Russian
Japanese
German
726 Million
427 Million
266 Million
182 Million
181 Million
165 Million
162 Million
158 Million
124 Million
121 Million
English Speaking Countries
Interesting Facts about the
English Language
• English is spoken as a first language by 427
million
• English is spoken as a second language by
another 350 million
• English is the most widely taught language in
over 100 countries
• In 70 countries English has official status:
– more than any other language
Dialect
• Pronunciation of a
language distinct to
a certain region
– New England Dialect
– Southern Drawl
– Australian Dialect
Why Do People Living in Distinct
Locations Speak English
Differently?
• Isolation over long periods of time
• Integration with other cultures
• Interplay of migrants
Key Terms
• Isogloss: An area of
distinct word usage or
pronunciation that can
be defined as a distinct
region with
boundaries.
• Accent: Non standard
pronunciation of
language by a a non
native speaker
– First generation
Language Overview
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Geographer’s Perspective of Language
Language as the foundation of Culture
Key Terms
Language Divisions
Spatial Distribution of Languages
Why do people speak the same
language differently in distinct regions?
The Geography
of Language
Cultural Geography
C.J. Cox
Top 10 Languages by Population
• The population figures in this table refers to first language speakers in all
countries. Note that these figures are updated from the 13th Edition of the
Ethnologue (1996). Last updated: February 1999
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Rank
Language Name
Primary
CountryPopulation
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MANDARIN
China
885,000,000
• 2
SPANISH
Spain
332,000,000
• 3
ENGLISH
United Kingdom
322,000,000
• 4.
BENGALI
Bangladesh
189,000,000
• 5
HINDI
India
182,000,000
• 6
PORTUGUESE
Portugal
170,000,000
• 7
RUSSIAN
Russia
170,000,000
• 8
JAPANESE
Japan
125,000,000
• 9
GERMAN
Germany
98,000,000
• 10
CHINESE, WU
China
77,175,000

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