 The effort in this section is to see how languages are

related to various other notions in the real world.

 How languages affect some of the views in the real

world.

 And how some views and things from the real world

seem to have deep effect on languages.

 The course in language typology should not ignore

some of these inter-related facts.

 They might not have direct impacts on the methods

that are used for analyzing languages, but they seem to be responsible for the structural nuances with regard to forming the world-view of the Natives. 1

 It provides the single most common variable by which

cultural groups are identified

 It facilitates us with the means by which learned customs and

skills pass from one generation to the next

 It motivates the cultural diffusion which has let to many

innovations in the world

 Because languages differ spatially, they reinforce the sense of

region, place, and differences in perception of things

 Study

of language with these ingredients is called geolinguistics or linguistic geography by researchers outside linguistics

 Such studies have facilitated the linguists to understand the

ways in which the human mind responds to processes of cognition through language. 2

 Language — tongues or forms of speech that

cannot be mutually understood

 Dialects — variant forms of a language that have

not lost mutual comprehension

 A speaker of English can understand the various dialect

of the language  A dialect is distinct enough in vocabulary and pronunciation to label, mark and differentiate its speakers and their geographical belongings  Some 6,000 languages and at least six times more to the number of dialects are spoken around the world today

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 Pidgin language — results when different

linguistic groups come into contact

 Serves the purposes of commerce, trade or

empire building  Becomes the hub of structural differences due to the flux of languages,  yet the efforts are incessantly made to make the communication possible following some technique  Has a small vocabulary derived from the various contact groups  Prepares a unique platform for re-structuration of the language that will sever as a means to link the people

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 Lingua franca — a language that spreads over a

wide area where it is not the mother tongue of many speakers  A language of communication and commerce  Hindi has this status in many parts of India  Swahili has this status in many parts of East Africa

If we compare the role of lingua franca and the pidgin form of language, we would realize the difference that they bring for the community that speaks them. In case of ‘pidgin’, the membership is for its speaker is not a matter of any pride, however, in the case of ‘lingua franca’ it is understood that its membership brings prestige to the speakers in the area. 5

 Kenya

has two official languages: Swahili and English.

 These

lingua franca facilitate communication among Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic language speakers.

 Swahili developed along

the coast of East Africa where Bantu came in contact with Arabic spoken by Arab sea traders. 6

 English became important

during the British colonial period and is still associated with high status.

 This shopping center

caters to Maasai herders who speak a Nilotic language and Kikuyu farmers who speak a Bantu language.

 Jambo means “hello” in

Swahili.

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isoglosses — A geographical boundary line marking the area in which a distinctive linguistic feature commonly occurs.

This linguistic feature may be phonological (e.g., the pronunciation of a vowel), lexical (the use of a word), or other. Thus, it may also indicate the borders of individual word and its usage or pronunciation Major divisions between dialects are marked by bundles of isoglosses. 8

 No two words, phrases, or pronunciations

have exactly the same spatial distribution  Spatially isoglosses crisscross one another  Typically cluster together in “bundles”  Bundles serve as the most satisfactory dividing lines among dialects and languages  The more the ‘bundles of isoglosses’, the less is the similarities amongst the languages

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 In any given area more than one tongue may be spoken.  Mirzapur (UP), Raurkela (Odisa) and many other areas

present an excellent example of the fact mentioned abobe  In Mirzapur, natives claim that they speak Mirzapuri and this language neighbours with Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Hindi is also spoken by the sizable population,  In Raurkela, Sadri, Oraon, Oriya and Hindi are spoken by different settlers and the natives are naturally bilingual.  So, in many areas, language barriers are rarely sharp  Overlap of languages complicates drawing of linguistic boundaries or borders  So, drawing isoglosses is not a simple task in many occasions! 12

 Dialect

terms often overlap considerably, making it difficult to draw isoglosses  Dialectologists often disagree about how many dialects are

present  Disagreement also occurs on where lines should be drawn, and what should be the basis of the boundaries  Thus, boundaries are necessarily simplified and

that paves the generalizations of the structure of languages

 We will discuss how this simplification process of dialect

boundaries helps the typologists to include more and more varieties of any language for the purpose of data sampling and preparing bigger corpora for research. 13

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