Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Canada should Quebec secede from the country. During
the same period, Quebec has experienced a fl ow of inter-
national migrants, many of whom seek residence in
Quebec as a way to enter Canada and North America at
large. These new immigrants must learn French under
Quebec law.
Quebec, like any other place, is susceptible to
change. Calls for independence in Quebec are waning
since the separatist political party has captured fewer
seats in recent parliamentary elections for the province.
Nonetheless, the Quebecois still feel a connection to
France. The province even has a presence in Paris in the
Maison Quebec
(House of Quebec), an embassy-like entity
of the province. As people, ideas, and power fl ow through
the province, change will continue. Yet, the province's
laws, programs, presence in France, and the desire of the
Quebecois to remain loyal to their French language will
at the very least keep the language alive as the province
continues to experience change.
in many (or nearly all) aspects are Serbian and Croatian,
Hindi and Urdu, Spanish and Portuguese, and Navajo
and Apache.
Given the complexities of distinguishing languages
from dialects, the actual number of languages in use in the
world remains a matter of considerable debate. The most
conservative calculation puts the number at about 3000.
However, most linguists and linguistic geographers today
recognize between 5000 and 7000 languages, including
more than 600 in India and over 2000 in Africa.
Standardized Language
Language is dynamic: new discoveries, technologies, and
ideas require new words. Technologically advanced soci-
eties are likely to have a
standard language
, one that is
published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught.
In some countries, the government sustains the standard
language through offi cial state examinations for teachers
and civil servants. Ireland promotes the use of the Irish
(Celtic) language by requiring all government employees
to pass an Irish-language examination before they can be
hired. The phrase “the King's English” is a popular refer-
ence to the fact that the English spoken by well-educated
people in London and its environs is regarded as British
Received Pronunciation (BRP) English—that is, the
standard.
Who decides what the standard language will be?
Not surprisingly, the answer has to do with infl uence
and power. In France, the Académie Française chose the
French spoken in and around Paris as the offi cial, stan-
dard language during the sixteenth century. In China,
the government chose the Northern Mandarin Chinese
heard in and around the capital, Beijing, as the offi cial
standard language. Although this is China's offi cial stan-
dard language, the linguistic term
Chinese
actually incor-
porates many variants. The distinction between the stan-
dard language and variations of it is not unique to China;
it is found in all but the smallest societies. The Italian of
Sicily is quite different from the Italian spoken north of
Venice, and both tongues differ from the standard Italian
spoken in Florence and Tuscany, the region where many
leaders of the Italian Renaissance wrote and published in
what became the standard Italian language.
What Is a Language?
Many geography textbooks differentiate languages based
on a criterion of mutual intelligibility.
Mutual intel-
ligibility
means that two people can understand each
other when speaking. The argument goes that if two of
us are speaking two different languages, say Spanish and
Portuguese, we will not be able to understand each other,
but if we are speaking two dialects of one language, we will
achieve mutual understanding. Yet linguists have rejected
the criterion of mutual intelligibility as strongly as geog-
raphers have rejected environmental determinism.
First, mutual intelligibility is almost impossible to
measure. Even if we used mutual intelligibility as a cri-
terion, many languages would fail the test. Famous lin-
guist Max Weinreich once said that “a language is a dialect
with an army.” Think about it. How could we possibly see
Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese as dialects of
the same language, when two people speaking the lan-
guage to each other cannot understand what each other is
saying? Both can read the standard form of Chinese that
has been built up by a strongly centralized Chinese gov-
ernment. But the spoken dialects are not mutually intel-
ligible. Yet, we see Chinese as one language because of the
weight of political and social institutions that lie behind it.
A further complication with the mutual intelligibil-
ity test is revealed in Scandinavia, where, for example, a
Danish speaker and a Norwegian speaker (at least if they
come from Oslo) will be able to understand what each
other is saying. Yet we think of Danish and Norwegian
as distinct languages. Having a Norwegian language helps
Norwegians identify themselves as Norwegians rather
than as Danes or Scandinavians. Other languages that
are recognized as separate but are mutually intelligible
Dialects
Variants of a standard language along regional or ethnic
lines are called
dialects
. Differences in vocabulary, syntax
(the way words are put together to form phrases), pronunci-
ation, cadence (the rhythm of speech), and even the pace of
speech all mark a speaker's dialect. Even if the written form
of a statement adheres to the standard language, an accent
