GGH110 Assignment #2 Park University Fall 2015 Exploring the “Core Components” of Culture Groups: For this activity, you will use the Ethnologue website (www.ethnologue.com) and the Adherents website (www.adherents.com) in order to explore the two major “core components” (i.e., language and religion) of the cultures found in the place you have chosen to research this semester. Although some of the data in these resources may be relatively "old" (which really just illustrates the great need for current and sustained research in support of these languages and religions), together they represent perhaps the most comprehensive collection of information about the “core components” of the distinctive culture groups found throughout the world today. As we have recently discussed in this course, language is often used as the most important "defining trait" of many culture groups and the primary means by which they are identified. Thus, exploring the linguistic diversity within a place is arguably the primary starting point for gaining a sense of its cultural diversity. In addition, understanding what the status is of the languages that are spoken in a place is significant because, as the Ethnologue states, “Since language is closely linked to culture, loss of language almost always is accompanied by social and cultural disruptions as well.” Finally, studying the languages of a place through a geolinguistics approach can also reveal a great deal about where a group of people came from and with whom they have been in contact. Therefore, most of this assignment will focus on finding information from Ethnologue. Before you begin this assignment, you should take some time to become familiar with the array of information that is presented for each country and its languages on the Ethnologue website. A simple way of doing this is by going to its listing for the United States at the country index page: http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp. Can you find all of the answers to the following questions? · How many total languages are given for the United States? · How many languages are classified as “living”? How many are “nearly extinct”? What seems to be the basis for classifying a language as nearly extinct? · Does the U.S. have an “official language”? If so, what is it? · What is the language family/branch/group classification for each language? · What is the number of people who can speak each one? Where are these speakers primarily located? · What other linguistic trends and patterns catch your attention? Notice that you can also see language maps that show where the people who speak these languages live. Now, go back to the county index page and find the page for the country you have chosen to study for this class. Create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the following content: 1) Slide #1: a. Name of the country/place you are studying b. Go to the CIA World Factbook page for the place you are studying and gather and re.