Linguistic Geography
California State University,
Northridge
Language on the Landscape (fig)
Introduction
• Language is a powerful shaper of who we are.
• Geolinguistics is a growing discipline.
• In the last decade, cultural theory has turned to language and the control of systems of meanings as the primary source of political power
Some Terms
• Language: a way of speaking that is mutually intelligible
• Dialect: language variants that are still mutually intelligible.
• Pidgin: a functional language that is simplified mostly to facilitate commercial interaction.
• Creole: when a pidgin develops into a language
• Lingua Franca: a non-mother tongue that is used as a compromise by a variety of speakers in a region.
I. Linguistic Culture Regions
A. Language Defines Culture Regions
Geographers use isoglosses to define the spatial extent of certain words or phrases, dialects and languages.
Core-Periphery patterns generally emerge.
Lots of overlap of dialect patterns, signifiers.
Generalizations work best.
Linguistic Isoglosses (fig)
I. Linguistic Culture Regions
B. Major Language Families
1. Indo-European
-most widespread, includes Russia and India
2. Afro-Asiatic
-Semitic and Hamitic(Arabic languages)
3. Other Biggies
-Niger-Congo, Altaic, Uralic, Austronesian
-Sino-Tibetan, Japanese/Korean, Austo-Asiatic
4. Others still: Khosian, Dravidian, Basque
Language Families- West (fig)
Language Families-East (fig)
English Dialects in the United States
• Three major dialects are spoken by three major subcultural groups.
• Northern
• Midland
• Southern
• Consider the various expressions for “highway”
• What other words or terms are used in one part of the country but not in others?
Major US Dialect Regions (fig)
(fig)
Burlap Sacks and Dragonflies (fig)
Ebonics
• Center of a controversy in early 1990s when Oakland school board put issue forth.
• Partly a pidginized English
• Partly a variant of the Southern Dialect
• May demonstrate social, cultural and economic isolation of Blacks in rural South and urban North.
• Also partly a political statement by Blacks and Whites
• Many Southerners now speaking Midland English.
Ebonics
• Multiple Varieties of Ebonics-not just slang
• Pulpit Ebonics: the linguistic style of the black churches
• Sports Ebonics: the linguistic style of black athletes
• Musical Ebonics: the linguistic style of black musicians and singers.
• Consider “the dozens” and Hip Hop
• Georgia’s Gullah Islanders
II. Linguistic Diffusion
A. Indo-European Diffusion
B. Austronesian Diffusion
C. Searching for the Primordial Tongue
Language Diffusion (fig)
III. Linguistic Ecology
A. The Environment and Vocabulary
-Unlike English, for example, Spanish, Gaelic and Romanian all are rich in terms describing rough terrain
-How many words do we have for snow?

III. Linguistic Ecology
Bathe Environment Provides Refuge
-Linguistic refuge areas are places where the language changes little because of the lack of contact with other dialects.
-Examples here in the United States
-Tangiers, VA.wav
-Gullah on the Sea Islands
-Long Island
-Cajun-ized English

Caucasus Region (fig)
Linguistic Shatterbelt
Diffusion Barrier (fig)
III. Linguistic Ecology
The Environment Guides Migration
-people move to areas which they feel they are best suited. Language, like other cultural items is an adaptive strategy, and therefore helps guide migration streams.
What is this? (fig)
IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
Language is an important indicator of the health, status and changing nature of wider cultural issues.
Politics, economics, social and cultural movement are all reflected in the linguistic changes of a society
IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
A. Technology and Linguistic Dominance
-technology is key in cultural dominance
-alphabets are a technology that enabled political dominance
-the technological dominance of the US has spread English much faster than migration or military conquest
IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
B. The Social Morale Model
-Charles Withers’ idea
-Language loss is a product of political disempowerment. Schooling, legal systems, broadcasting facilities and pride factors can undermine the maintenance of a language.
-Native American tongues are disappearing.
-Doesn’t always happen (Greek, Chinese)

IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
C. The Economic Development Model
-Chuck Withers again
-Moving off the farm to the city is destructive
-Nobody left in the rural areas to speak old tongue (clearance model)
-Invasion by dominant group (changeover)
-Counter measures often too late
Decline of the Welsh Language (fig)
IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
D. Language and Religion
-Language and Religion sometimes get linked which heightens the criticality of both.
-Conversion is often a factor of language.
-Arabic and _____________
-Hebrew and ____________
-Amharic and _____________

IV. Culturo-Linguistic Integration
E. Language and Power
-language is a powerful tool in the maintenance of political arrangements (on both sides of the coin)
“mugging”
-many countries try to ban visual displays of minority languages.
They’re only words? (fig)
Political Decisions and Language
V. Linguistic Landscapes
A. Toponyms (place names)
-serve as reminders of migration patterns, ethnicity and religion.
-the generic and the specific
“Hartland Four Corners” “South Woodstock”
“Cumberland Gap” “Rocky Knob”
“Bayou” and “Store” “______ inn”
V. Linguistic Landscapes
C. Toponyms and Cultures of the Past
-lots of places have Indian names
-can you name any?
Toponyms as Clue to the Past (fig)
Linguistic Landscape of PA (fig)
PA German Forebay Barn (fig)
PA Row Houses (fig)
“Center” and duplicate names (fig)
Hartland Four Corners, VT (fig)
V. Linguistic Landscapes
D. Toponyms and Environmental Modification
-toponyms can also tell you something about the past landscape.
-for example the suffix “ley” or “leigh” refers to “clearing”
-in the United States “prairie” often refers to open land cleared specifically by fire.