Language and Culture

Language Ties Us Together

• Language- The ability to communicate with others orally and/or in writing.– Can be both unifying

and dividing

• Unifying= nations use their political power to ensure the widespread adoption of a language

• Dividing= Many independence movements fueled by desire to use one’s own language

Monolingual vs. Multi-lingual

• Monolingual- has only one official language in which all government business is conducted

• Multilingual -has more than one official language

• Ex: Switzerland has four official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh)

Lingua Franca

• English is the most widespread Lingua Franca in the world.

• Lingua Franca- a common tongue among people who speak diverse languages, often to conduct business.

• Ex: All airline pilots communicate in English

Development and Lingua Franca• The more developed a country is the more

its language will be used in worldwide commerce.

• Ex: Mandarian Chinese is becoming more and more important to learn. It is being taught more and more in U.S schools.

• Ex: As business becomes more global it is becoming more important to speak another language.

Dialects• Dialect-

a form of a language that is different in sound, speed and syntax( the grammatical arrangement of a language, and vocabulary.

• EX: U.S Dialects- Northeastern accent, Southern accent, Midwestern accent, Cajun accent, accents based on age.

What is an isogloss?

• Isogloss- the boundary of a dialect• Geographers and Linguists interview people from

different regions to determine speech patterns.

• Ex: North- “You guys” = a group of people• Ex: Appalacia- “you’uns” = a group of people• Ex: South- “Y’all”= a group of people

• The boundary for all of these is determine by an isogloss.

Isogloss of Dialects

Another isogloss map showing dialects

What do you call these products?

•http://popvssoda.com:2998/

Dialects Continued

• Northeastern- elimination of letter r when a short a precedes it.– Ex: “Party” becomes “Pahty”

Pidgin, Trade, and Creole Languages

• When cultures collide, languages mix. – Ex: Cajun- mix of English and French– Ex: Spanglish- mix of English and Spanish

• Pidgin- Mixture of languages– Often very elementary as far as grammar,

vocabulary but they allow TRADE to occur.

• Trade Language- a made up language that is used by people who want to trade

Hawaiian PidginThe Old Woman Who Lived in a

Shoe translated into Hawaiian Pidgin

Dere waz one ol Tutu

Stay living in one slippa

She get choke kids

Planny braddahs and one sistah

She geev um lau lau

But no mo da poi

Den broke dere okoles

And sent dem moi moi

Vocabulary:

Tutu- grandmother Slippa- sandals

Choke- a lot Planny –plenty

Braddahs- brothers Sistah- sister

Poi- a Hawaiian food made from taro plant

Okoles- butt Moi Moi- sleep

Creole Language• Creole Language- a stable language resulting

from a blend of two or more languages which does not include features of either.

• Ex: Haiti- speak a creole language that is a blend of African languages with French.

• (Don’t confuse this use of creole with Creole people who are of European decent born in a European colonial era, particularly Latin America or the Caribbean)

What happens to languages when a dominant culture

interacts with a less dominant culture?

Extinct Languages

• A language no longer spoken or read in daily activities by anyone in the world– Examples:

• Native American Languages• Gothic• Indigenous African Languages

• Minority Languages/Endangered Languages– Language spoken by a minority of the population of a

country– Sometimes forced to give up language

• Examples: Gaelic, Welsh, Cherokee

What is AAVE or Ebonics?• Ebonics Notes and Discussion• John R. Rickford

December, 1996

• (1) Some sample sentences in AAVE/Ebonics, with discussion of the ways in which they show the systematicity of AAVE:

• AAVE: "She BIN had dat han'-made dress" (SE: She's had that hand-made dress for a long time, and still does.)

• AAVE: "Befo' you know it, he be done aced de tesses." (SE Before you know it, he will have already aced the tests.)

• AAVE: "Ah 'on know what homey be doin." (SE: I don't know what my friend is usually doing.)

• AAVE: "Can't nobody tink de way he do." (SE: Nobody can think the way he does.)

• AAVE: "I ast Ruf could she bring it ovah to Tom crib." (SE: I asked Ruth if/whether she could bring it over to Tom's place.)