AP Human Geography Unit 3 Vocab

acculturation

adoption of the behavioral patterns of the surrounding culture

animism

doctrine that everything natural has a soul

artifacts

ancient objects made by human beings

assimilation

process of adding new ideas

Baha'i

follower of Bahaism

behaviors

observable actions or responses of humans or animals

beliefs

ideas that people hold to be true

bilingualism

able to speak two languages

Buddhism

a religion of Buddha that teaches that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire

Confucianism

the teachings of Confucius that encourage love for humanity

contagious diffusion

rapid and widespread diffusion

creole

mother tongue that originates from contact between two languages

cultural determinism

the belief cultural that influences determine the behaviors and personalities of people

cultural diffusion

spread of cultural ideas from one society to another

cultural ecology

geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment interactions

cultural geography

human geography that looks at how cultures vary over space.

cultural hearths

place of origin of a culture

cultural landscape

visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

cultural relativism

practice of judging a culture by its own standards

cultural transmission

process by which one generation passes culture to the next

culture complex

related set of culture traits descriptive of one aspect of a society's behavior or activity

culture region

area in which people have many shared culture traits

culture system

collection of interacting elements taken together shape a group's collective identity

culture trait

single element of normal practice in a culture

Daoism

philosophical system of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu that emphasizes a simple, honest life

dialect

usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; branches off of a language

diaspora

a group migration of people with common roots

Durkheim's sacred and profane

sacred is the religious world

profane is the secular world (world withoyut religion)

Eastern Orthodox

a branch of Christianity that derives from the Byzantine Church

environmental determinism

view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development

ethnic religion

religion with a concentrated spatial distribution

ethnocentrism

belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group

extinct religion

religion that is extinct

folk culture

culture usually practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups

folk culture region

an area where many people who live in a land space share at least some traditions or customs

folk life

composite culture of folk societies

geographic region

distinguished area of the Earth

Hagerstrand, Torsten

was a geographer that wrote about cultural diffusion

hierarchical diffusion

spread of an idea from nodes of authority or power to persons or places with less power

Hinduism

polytheistic religion of Hindus

humanism

doctrine encouraging a person's self-realization using reasoning

independent invention

term for a trait with many cultural hearths that developed independent of each other

Indo-European language family

spoken in most of Europe and areas of European settlement and in much of southwestern and southern Asia, an example

Islam

monotheistic religion of Muslims

isogloss

boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate

Judaism

monotheistic religion of the Jews

language

vocal or written communication

language families

group of languages with a shared origin

language sub-family

group of languages with more in common than a language family

lingua franca

a common language such as English used by different speakers

linguistic fragmentation

many languages spoken by a small group of people.

linguistic geography

study of the geographical distribution of linguistic features

Mahayana

one of two schools of Buddhist doctrine encouraging the use of faith only

Marxism

economic and political theories of Karl Marx that say human actions and institutions are economically determined

material culture

physical manifestations of human activities such as buildings

migrant diffusion

when an innovation originates somewhere and enjoys strong-but brief-adoption, loses strength at origin by the time it reaches another area

monotheistic religion

religion with one god

multilingualism

common use of two or more languages in a society or country

non-material culture

human creations, such as values, that are not embodied in physical objects

norms

rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members

official language

language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of busines and publication of documents

pidgin

an artificial language used for trade between speakers of different languages

popular culture

culture found in a heterogeneous society

Protestants

reformers who protested some practices of the catholic church

regional identity

an awareness of being a part of a group of people living in a culture region

religion: branches, denominations, sects

branches: large and general divisions

denominations: small divisions that branch off of the branches

sects: even smaller groups

relocation diffusion

spread of a feature or trend through movement of people

Roman Catholics

a branch of CHristianity

Sauer, Carl

American geographer that wrote about diffusion

shamanism

animistic religion of northern Asia

Shiite

one of the two primary branches of Islam

Sikhism

a monotheistic religion founded in northern India

standard language

form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications

stimulus diffusion

diffusion in which one people receives a culture element from another but gives it a new and unique form

Sunni

one of the two primary branches of Islam

symbolic landscape

smaller landscapes that symbolize a bigger area

symbols

motifs that stand for other things or ideas

syncretism

combining of beliefs

Tantrayana

The Buddhist yana whose path is the transformation of neurotically confused emotions into their enlightened equivalents.

Theraveda

Way of the Elders

time-distance decay

declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin or source.

toponymy

branch of naming that studies the place names of a region or a language

traditional religion

original religion

transculturation

cultural borowing that occurs when different cultures of approximately equal complexity and technological level come into close contact

universalizing religion

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