Unit 3 APHG

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes covering key geographic concepts, cultural topics, language, religion, ethnicity, and identity.

Cultural Barrier

Prevailing cultural attitude rendering certain innovations, ideas, or practices unacceptable or unadoptable in that particular culture.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place.

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Cultural Convergence

The theory that two cultures will be more and more like each other as their interactions increase.

Cultural Divergence

The likelihood or tendency for cultures to become increasingly different with the passage of time.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture.

Cultural Relativism

The practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one's own culture.

Cultural Landscape

The visible imprint of human activity on the landscape, including buildings, roads, and other structures.

Placelessness

The loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next.

Language

A system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

Dialect

A regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.

Language Family

A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history.

Language Branch

A collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago.

Language Group

A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

Lingua Franca

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

Pidgin Language

A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca; used for communication among speakers of two different languages.

Creole Language

A language that develops from a pidgin language and is taught as a first language.

Religion

A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities.

Universalizing Religion

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.

Ethnic Religion

A religion that is particular to one culturally distinct group of people.

Animism

The belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence.

Monotheism

The doctrine or belief that there is only one God.

Polytheism

The belief in or worship of more than one god.

Syncretism

The blending traits from two different cultures to form a new trait.

Secularism

The principle of separation of the state from religious institutions.

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth.

Ethnic Enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area.