Chapter 10 Modern Language Mosaics

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Chapter 10 Modern Language Mosaics

• Language and Culture
• Language and Trade
• Multilingualism
• Official Languages

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Language and Culture

• English is the primary medium of international
  communication
• Case in Malaysia (Bahasa Malayu vs. English) -
  promote the countrys international and domestic
  competitiveness, Culture ? Long-term effect.
• Why Spanish should be treated differently? in
  United States...
• The Esperanto Experiment - in early 20th century,
  a world language from Latin and modern European
  languages was created. It is not a global tongue
  but another Indo-European language. Europe is
  already a multilingual region.

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Language and Trade - Lingua Franca

• Traders wanted to communicate for trading, before
  the Esperanto, Lingua Franca was created from the
  Mediterranean Sea following Crusades.
• Franks mixed with Italian, Greek, Spanish and
  Arabic
• A product of linguistic convergence
• Good Example-Swahili-developed from Bantu,Arabic
  and Persian-with complex vocabulary and
  structure. And Hausa.
• Creolization
• English in Australia, India, and South
  Africadifference in cadence, rhythm and speed.-
  from relocation
• Through contact with other languages, a language
  changed, modified to become pidgin - Caribbean
  regionEnglish African languages pidgin English

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Figure 10-1 Three African Linguae Francae,
compared to map of language of Africa
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Creolization -2

• As years go by, the original language fade away
  (no more African language), and was replaced by
  more complex pidgin. Such replacement
  calledcreolization, The original pidgin becomes
  a lingua franca and is referred to as a creole
  language
• West Pacific-Melanesian a creole language based
  on English
• West Africa - Wes Kos -a pidgin language,
  continuing to develop, but Swahili is a
  full-fledged Bantu language, not a creole or
  pidgin due to its complex structure and
  vocabulary.
• Pidgin and Creole -tend to be simple and
  accessible. In Southeast Asia, Bazaar Malay
  becomes a lingua franca in that region

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Creole and pidgin

• Western Pacific-Melanesian a creole language
  based on English
• West Africa - Wes Kos -a pidgin language,
  continuing to develop, but Swahili is a
  full-fledged Bantu language, not a creole or
  pidgin due to its complex structure and
  vocabulary.
• Pidgin and Creole -tend to be simple and
  accessible. In Southeast Asia, Bazaar Malay
  becomes a lingua franca in that region

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Multilingualism

• They are only a few near-monolingual country -
  Japan, Uraguay, Venezuela, Ireland, Portugal,
  Poland and Lesotho. Actually, there is no true
  monolingual country.
• Mexico and Guatemala (Native Americans)(figure
  10-2)
• Canada,Czechoslovakia and Belgium (languages
  divide regions). Switzerland -4 regions (figure
  10-3)
• South Africa - no regional separation due to
  different languages
• Failed examples-Russia and Cyprus (figure 10-4)

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Belgium
Flanders - Northwest European region, Flemish
speaking, center of the cloth industry -
Germanic
Wallonia Walloons,granted limited autonomy in
1980, Romance
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Figure 10-4, Cypruss Majorities before 1974

• 1974 hostilities divided the island into two
  areas,
• Greek area controlled by Cypriot Government (59
  land area), separated by UN buffer zone (4 land)
  two UK sovereign areas
• about 0.6 times the size of Connecticut
• 78 Greek, 18 Turkish

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Canada

• British N.America Act of 1867-French protected in
  Quebec, 85 of 7million speak French now. 1977
  law passed required business in French. 1988 law
  prohibits any language other than French in
  commercial signs.
• Huge language problems arose from such movement.
  English should be treated the same way as French
  in other regions?
• Less than 700,000 French-speaking Canadians live
  outside Quebec.
• Quebec Independence movement - 1995

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• Nigeria -With 3 major regional languages (Huasa,
  Yoruba and Ibo), more than a dozen spoken by 1 to
  5 million and 230 lessor tonegues 100 million
  population, adopted English as official language
  which doesnt make too much sense if the kids
  plunge into the society after the six year
  elementary school with English learning
  environment

Nigeria
Hausa
Yoruba
Ibo
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Official Language (link)

• Umbrella language as official languages-
• Angola -Portugese,
• Nigeria and Ghana-English,
• Cote dIvorie -French, Table 10-1.

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Classification of Place Namesby George Stewart
Toponymy

• Study of place names
• Place name provide the history and culture, route
  of diffusion and ways of life
• Two-part names- Battle Creek, Amster/dam,
  Pitts/burgh, Cooke/Ville

• Descriptive-Rocky Mt.
• Associative-Mill Valley,California
• Incident-Battle Creek
• Possessive-Johnson City
• Commemorative-San Francisco
• Folk-Etymology-Georgia
• Manufactured-Truth,New Mexico
• Mistake-Lasker,North Carolina
• Shift-Alpine Mt.

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Place Names

• Moscow -is Moskva in Russian. In Finnish, kva
  is water- Finnish peoples lived there before.
• Cape Horn named from Dutchs Cape Hoorn and
  Cabo Hornos in Spanish (Cape of Ovens) -
  Mistake
• Change Names
• After Independence, African countries changed the
  names of places,even countrys name. Eg. Upper
  Volta to Burkina Faso, Gold Coast to Ghana
• Collapse of the Soviet Union, Leningrad to St.
  Petersburg
• Name change can evoke strong reactions,
  government is trying to move slowly to avoid
  arousing emotions in South Africa

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Name change again?

• Mobutu changed Cogo to Zaire
• -1997, Kabila changed name back to Democratic
  Republic of the Congo
• 1989, Burma changed to Myanmar from general
  again.