Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
estingly, the religious connection is particularly visible in Germany in the guise of the famous
“Blue Nun” label, and the popular white wine liebfraumilch, meaning literally “milk of the
blessed Lady,” Mary.
Getting in a Word about Language
Language is arguably the most important of the cultural universals that were identified earlier. This is
not to question the significance of religion or other traits; but language is essential to communicating
and sharing many aspects of culture. The standard first step in analyzing the geography of languages
is to produce a map of them. Unfortunately, on a page of this size, I can't possibly give you a map
that shows the geography of the estimated 6,500 languages that are spoken today, nor even a map
showing the dominant language in different parts of the world. Simply too many are out there. But I
can, at least, show the geography of English usage worldwide (Figure 13-4).
What Figure 13-4 shows are large-scale English language culture areas around the world. In Britain,
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, English is spoken by the overwhelming ma-
jority of the population. In other countries, English is spoken only by a minority, even though it may
be an “official language.” The “big picture” map aside, consideration of language — like religion —
affords opportunity to observe and apply diverse concepts of cultural geography.
Diffusing languages
The map of English is in large measure a product of cultural diffusion from Britain through its
former colonies. The initial stage was largely limited to relocation diffusion (described earlier in this
chapter). That is, large numbers of immigrants and officials moved from Britain to the colonies and,
of course, took their language with them. Once there, they intermingled to different degrees with nat-
ive peoples and non-English speaking immigrants, many of whom acquired English by contagious
diffusion — contact with English speakers.
English now enjoys the status of official language — the one in which government business
is transacted and printed, as well as the language of publicly financed education — in virtually
all of Britain's former colonies. In many cases it is also the vernacular language — the one
that is spoken by the people of a particular locality. But official and vernacular languages are
not always the same in a given area or region. English, for example, is the official language of
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