Human Geog Chapter 6

1. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6:
Language,
Communication,
and Belief
Chapter 6 Lecture
Katie Pratt
Macalester College
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

2. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Distribution and proliferation
of world languages
• Language dynamics
• Different forms of
communication
• Distribution and proliferation
of world religions
• Different religions and
religious movements
• Importance of space to
religion
Key Concepts
Figure: Chapter 6 Opener - Speech and hearing
impaired students use sign language to answer
their teacher’s question in a classroom in the
Xa Dan school in Hanoi.

3. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• What is language?
• Linguists
• Dialects
• Standard language
(official language)
Geographies of Language
Figure 6.1: In some parts of India, pranāma, or touching feet, is an
expected gesture of respect made by a young person to an older one.
Apply your knowledge: What dialects are spoken in the United States? How
has your own dialec changed as you’ve traveled, gained employment, gone to
college? Why do you think that might be?

4. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)
Figure 6.2: World distribution of major languages and major
language families.

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Figure 6.3: Language map of India.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)

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Figure 6.4: Twitter map of language use in New York
City.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)

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• Fusion language
The Garifuna Example
Figure 6.5 (a & b): Garifuna language
migration and influences.
Apply your knowledge: How is the Garifuna language also a story of
human migration and power relations between people?

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• Language family, branch, or group
• Language tree
• Proto-languages
Language Relationships and Dynamics
Figure 6.6: Iranian
language tree.

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• Linguistic drift
• Icelandic example (one of
the most unchanged
languages)
• Mother tongue
• Mutually intelligible
• Ultraconserved words
• Linguistic weathering
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.7: Linguistic drift: the separation of the
Germanic language as it branched into three
pathways.
Apply your knowledge: How does geography affect language development and/or
preservation?

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• Official (standard) language
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.8: Regional languages and dialects of France.
Apply your knowledge: What is the role of the state in creating an
official language? What do you think is gained in the process? What is
lost?

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• Language hearths
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.9: Hearth areas of the Indo-European language family.

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• Place names (toponyms)
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.10: Piestewa Peak, Phoenix, Arizona.

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• Identity and language
– Lingua franca
– Majority and minority languages
Figure 6.11: Endangered language hotspots globally.
Apply your knowledge: Aside from the children raised in a minority
language community, who else might benefit from learning a minority
language, and why?
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)

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• Threatened languages are typically minority
languages
• Linguistic contestation
Language Revival
Figure 6.A: The office of the French
language.
Figure 6.B: Basque Country.
Apply your knowledge: Why do regional languages experience
endangerment and what does it matter if they die out?

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• Geographies of language learning: children acquire
language in culturally explicit and implicit ways
• Writing and reading: literacy
• The story of writing
– Cuneiform
– Pictograms
Communication
Figure 6.13: Roman graffiti.
Figure 6.12: Pictograms.
Apply your knowledge: How do you think technology has changed writing?

16. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Geographies of Literacy
Figure 6.D: Race, literacy, and prison.Figure 6.C: School-to-prison pipeline.
Apply your knowledge: What is the difference between illiteracy and functional
literacy?
Why is illiteracy higher for women than for men around the globe?

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• Slang
• Vocal fry
Communication (cont’d)
Apply your knowledge: What are five slang terms you and your colleagues use
regularly? List them and trace the roots of their development. How does your
own community of friends embrace new words and change language in the
process?

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• Social media
Communication (cont’d)
Figure 6.14 World maps of social networks. Figure 6.15 Intimacy and communication.

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• Sign language
• Sensual language
Communication (cont’d)
Figure: Chapter 6 Opener - Speech and hearing
impaired students use sign language to answer
their teacher’s question in a classroom in the Xa
Dan school in Hanoi.
Apply your knowledge: List three examples of non-verbal communication
used around the world. How important is nonverbal communication in
social relations? Why do you think we often inflate the importance of words
over other ways of communicating?

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Religious Geographies
Figure 6.16: World distribution of major religions.

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• Migration and religion
– Diaspora
Religious Geographies (cont’d)
Figure 6.17: Origin areas and diffusion
of four major religions.
Figure 6.18: Spread of Buddhism.
Apply your knowledge: How is religion like language in terms of its diffusion
and potential for change?

22. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Religious Geographies (cont’d)
Figure 6.19: Spread of Christianity
in Europe.
Apply your knowledge: What are the world’s major religions? Where did they
develop? Why is the concept of “diaspora” important to the proliferation of
world religions? Why do you think the world’s major religions are oriented
around men and not women?

23. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Established churches
• Church and state in England
• Islam as a state religion
Figure 6.20: Cross Bones burial grounds
in Southwark, London.
Figure 6.21: Planted Church.
Religious Geographies (cont’d)

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Belief Systems and Restrictions on Behavior
Figure 6.1.1: Government religious restrictions around the world.

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• Religiosity
Figure 6.22: Religiosity in Europe.
Figure 6.23: Religiosity in London.
Figure 6.24: Adaptive reuse of a church.
Religious Geographies (cont’d)

26. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 6.25: Wealth and religiosity.
Apply your knowledge: In looking at the relationship between wealth and
religion, where does the United States stand? What can explain this exception?
In what areas of the U.S. public and private life has religion remained
important?
Religious Geographies (cont’d)

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• Other belief systems
– Cults
Figure 6.26: Norse mythology.
Apply your knowledge: Where in the world is religion part of everyday
life? What parts of the world are experiencing a decline in religious
affiliation? What factors explain this regional phenomenon?
Religious Geographies (cont’d)

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• Cargo cults
• The influence of modern communications
Globalization, Communication, and Religion
Figure 6.27: San Xavier del Bac Mission
near Tucson, Arizona.
Figure 6.28: Megachurch, Louisville,
Kentucky.

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• Cultural nationalism
• Islamism
Globalization, Communication, and Religion
(cont’d)
Figure 6.29: Muslim World.
Apply your knowledge: What is Islamism? How does it differ from the practices
of Islam? Where in the world does Islamism have the most traction? Why?

30. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Fashion Veiling
Figure 6.F: Three examples of Islamic dress: (a) traditional; (b) a more liberal
interpretation in London; (c) a mixture of styles in Singapore.
Apply your knowledge: What is fashion veiling? How does veiling among
Muslim women reflect both religious beliefs as well as popular culture?

31. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Visible architecture as well as less visible land
holdings
Religion and Landscape
Figure 6.30: Parish church spires, like this
one in Chamery, in the Champagne region
of France, were visible from a long
distance.
Figure 6.31: Bedford Estate, London.
Owners of Great Estates had the
opportunity to exercise architectural
and urban design control.

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• Sacred spaces
Religion and Landscape (cont’d)
Figure 6.32: Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Figure 6.33: Sacred sites of Hindu India.

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• Pilgrimages
– Hajj
Religion and Landscape (cont’d)
Figure 6.34: Source areas for pilgrims
to Mecca.
Figure 6.35: Source areas for pilgrims
to Lourdes.
Figure 6.37: The Dome of the Rock.

34. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• The future of language, communication, and belief
will be one of accelerating change
• Religions will remain an influential force globally
• Secularization in core countries will continue
• New forms of belief and worship will emerge
• Many languages in decline while languages like
English experiences dramatic growth
Future Geographies