Chapter 5

-Quick ReviewBold=main point

Why/how has English become the

worlds lingua franca?
A lingua franca is a language of international communication
People in smaller countries need to learn English to communicate with the rest of
the world
Children in other countries (like Netherlands and Sweden) learn English in schools to
assist international communication
The above ^ may seem unfair, but it makes for sense, for example, for the several
million people who speak Dutch to learn English, then for the a billion people who
speak English to learn Dutch
The importance of English depends on the percentage of students who are learning
English as a 2nd language in school
90% of students in Europe learn English in Middle or High school- in both small and
large countries
The Japanese have determined that English is such a large part of the global
economy, that they made English an official second language
Foreign students increasingly try to go to schools that teach English, rather than
other main languages like German, French, or Russian, because students believe it is
the most effective way to work in the global economy and participate in global
culture
English is used in business, trading, government, and any other international
communication because it is one of the most widely used language in the world.

What makes a language survive

through the years?
Sufficient amount of speakers and
official government support make a
language survive.
(We could go into more detail if we
really tried, but really you just need to
know that^)

Know what the following are and

provide an example of:
Isolated Language: A language unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any language
family: Example: Basque-cannot successfully be connected to a common origin of the other European
languages
Extinct Language: A language that was once spoken or read in daily activities by anyone in the world
in the far/recent past, and is not anymore: Example: Latin, Gothic
Revived Language: An extinct language that is recovered: Example: Hebrew was an extinct language
but because it is used in many religions, people started speaking it again and it became a revived
language
How Pidgin Forms: When two people who speak different languages want to communicate a pidgin
language, a simple version of a lingua franca, to communicate, it is always spoken in addition to
ones native language: Example: English, Swahili in East Africa, Hindi in South Asia
Dialect: A regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and
pronunciation: Example: Southern dialect in the U.S.
Creolized Language: (or a Creole) A language that results from mixing of the colonizers language
with the indigenous language of the people being dominated, forms when the colonized group adopts
the language of the dominant group but makes come changes, such a simplifying the grammar, or
adding words from the former language: Example: French Creole, Papiamento from Spanish
Language Family: A collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that
existed long before recorded history: Example: Indo-European, Afro Asiatic, Sino-Tibetan
Language Group: A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the
relatively recent past and display many similarities in grammar and vocabulary: Example: West
Germanic, North Germanic, East Slavic, West Slavic, South Slavic,
Isogloss: line on a dialect map marking the boundary between linguistic features: Example: names
for soft drinks,

Know the most important language

families in major regions of the world.
Sino-Tibetan: China, Southeast Asia
Austronesian: Indonesia , Madagascar
Niger-Congo: Sub-Saharan Africa
Austro-Asiatic: Southeast Asia
Indo-European: Europe, South Asia, North and Latin

America
Afro-Asiatic: North Africa, Middle East
Korean: North and South Korea
Altaic: South Africa
Japanese: Japan
Dravidian: South India
SANtA Im AsKing for A Jumping Dog!

Why does Africa have so many

different languages?
1. Isolation: Many villages in Africa
are isolated from each other so their
languages are not the same, they
develop their own culture, religion,
and language

Renfrews Anatolian Hearth

Theory
Other wise known as the Sedentary Farmer Theory
(Remember Renfrew sedentaRy faRmeR)
Says the first speakers of Proto-Indo-European (theory that
all Indo-European languages came from the same common
ancestor) lived 2,000 years before the Kurgans
Renfrew believes that they diffused from Anatloia (Present
day Turkey)---Westward to Greece---Italy, Sicily, Corsica,
Mediterranean cost of France, Spain, Portugal: From
Mediterranean---North to Northern France, British Isles:
From Greece---to central Europe---Baltic Sea---Ukraine--Dnepr River (Homeland of Kurgans)
Renfrew argues that the Indo-European language spread as
said above ^ through agricultural practices, he says the
language was larger then all the others because its
speakers were large in number and prospered because
they grew their own food instead of hunting

Marija Gimbutas Theory

Also known as the Nomadic Warrior Hypothesis

Believed the first Proto-Indo-European speakers
were the Kurgan people whose homeland was in
between present day Russia and Kazakhstan
The Kurgans were nomadic herders (which
means they moved from one place to another to
find grass/food for their animals, good soil to
plant in, or for other agricultural reasons)
They were among the first to domesticate
horses and cattle
Between 3500-2500 BC: Searching for food for
their animals took them west-through EuropeEast to Siberia-Southeast to Iran and South Asia

Roots and History of the English

language:
Good Video On History of English Language
The above video is long (10 Minutes), but it is worth it! It
explains things well. If you are in a hurry- watch from the
beginning until 2:22, then read diffusion of North America
on pg 155 of your textbook.
The history of English is very long, so I would suggest
watching the video, but here is a quick summary: The tribes
that invaded the British Isles were the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. All three
added new words to the beginning of the English language. English mostly
originates from the Angles and the Saxons-the two larger groups. All three
groups were Germanic Tribes. In 1066 England was conquered by the Normans,
who spoke French. In 1204 England lost control of Normandy and fewer people
in England wanted to speak French now, so English became the countrys most
used language. Many French words however are still in the English language.
Germanic words in English: Simple words such assky, horse, man, woman
French words in English: Elegant words such ascelestial, masculine, feminine