This document provides an overview of key concepts about the geographies of language, communication, and belief from Chapter 6. It discusses the origins and distributions of major world languages and language families. It also addresses the origins and spread of the world's major religions and how migration has impacted language and religious diffusion. Additionally, it examines topics like linguistic relationships, language endangerment, literacy, and the influences of globalization on communication and religion.

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.
• Origins & spatial
distributions of:
• World Languages
• Language diffusion
– Language Families…
• Indo-European
• Sino-Tibetan
• Uralic
• Afro-Asiatic, & more!
• World’s Major
Religions - origins
• Different religions and
religious movements
• Importance of space to
religion
Key Concepts: Languages & Religions
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.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)
Figure 6.2: World distribution of major languages and major
language families.

4. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• What is language?
• Spoken form of
communication
• Standard language
(official language)
• Dialects
– Creole – a dialect
evolving from trading &
commerce.
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 dialect changed as you’ve traveled, gained employment, gone to
college? Why do you think that might be?

5. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 6.3:
Language map
of India.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)

6. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 6.4: Twitter map of language use in New York City.
Geographies of Language (cont’d)

7. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Language Relationships and Dynamics
Figure 6.6: Iranian
language tree.
• Language Families, branches, & groups
• Language tree
• Proto-languages

8. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

9. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

10. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

11. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Language hearths
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.9: Hearth areas of the Indo-European language family.

12. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Place names (toponyms)
Language Relationships and Dynamics
(cont’d)
Figure 6.10: Piestewa Peak, Phoenix, Arizona.

13. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
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)
• Identity and
language
– Lingua franca
– Majority and
minority languages

14. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

15. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

17. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

18. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Social media
Communication (cont’d)
Figure 6.15 Intimacy and communication.
Figure 6.14 World maps of social networks.

19. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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?

20. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Religious Geographies
Figure 6.16: World distribution of major religions.

21. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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)

24. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Belief Systems and Restrictions on Behavior
Figure 6.1.1:
Government religious
restrictions around the
world.

25. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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)

27. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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)

28. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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.

29. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
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?
• Cultural nationalism
• Islamism

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.

32. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• Sacred spaces
Religion and Landscape (cont’d)
Figure 6.32: Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Figure 6.33: Sacred sites of Hindu India.

33. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
• 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