AP HUG Unit 3.7

What is a cultural hearth?

The geographic area where a cultural trait such as a language or religion originates and begins to diffuse.

What is a language family?

A group of languages that share a common ancestral language.

What is a protolanguage?

An ancestral language from which later related languages developed.

What is the Indo-European language family?

A major language family containing most languages spoken in Europe and many languages in South and Southwest Asia.

What is the Sino-Tibetan language family?

A major language family that includes Mandarin Chinese and other languages primarily spoken in East and Southeast Asia.

What is a language branch?

A subdivision of a language family containing languages that share a more recent common ancestor and similar vocabulary grammar or syntax.

What are major branches of the Indo-European language family?

Romance Germanic Indo-Iranian Slavic and several other branches.

What languages belong to the Romance branch?

Languages descended from Latin including Spanish Portuguese French Italian and Romanian.

What languages belong to the Germanic branch?

Languages including English German Dutch and several Scandinavian languages.

Why are Romance languages widespread in Central and South America?

European imperialism and colonialism spread Spanish Portuguese and French through relocation diffusion.

Why are Germanic languages widespread in North America?

British and other European settlement spread Germanic languages especially English through relocation diffusion.

What is a dialect?

A regional variation of a language involving differences in pronunciation vocabulary or usage.

How do dialects relate to geography?

Dialects often have distinct spatial distributions and help create regional cultural identities.

What is a toponym?

The name given to a geographic place.

Why are toponyms important to cultural geography?

Place names can reveal the languages cultures political control and historical influences associated with a location.

How can changing a toponym reflect cultural change?

Replacing a colonial place name with a local name can reflect changing political power and cultural identity.

What is an example of a toponym changing because of decolonization?

Bombay was renamed Mumbai in India reflecting a move away from British colonial influence.

What is a lingua franca?

A common language used by speakers of different native languages to communicate.

What is the major global lingua franca today?

English especially in international business science aviation diplomacy media and the internet.

What is a pidgin language?

A simplified language that develops when speakers of different languages need a common way to communicate often for trade or work.

What is a creole language?

A fully developed language that can emerge when a pidgin becomes established and is learned as a native language.

What are the two major categories of religion based on patterns of diffusion?

Universalizing religions and ethnic religions.

What is a universalizing religion?

A religion that seeks converts and is intended to appeal to people regardless of ethnicity culture or geographic location.

What are the major universalizing religions?

Christianity Islam Buddhism and Sikhism.

Why do universalizing religions diffuse widely?

They actively seek converts and are not restricted to one particular ethnic group or geographic region.

What types of diffusion commonly spread universalizing religions?

Relocation contagious and hierarchical diffusion.

What is an ethnic religion?

A religion closely associated with a particular ethnic group culture and geographic region that generally does not actively seek converts.

What are major examples of ethnic religions?

Hinduism Judaism and Shinto.

Why do ethnic religions generally diffuse less than universalizing religions?

Their beliefs and practices are closely connected to particular cultures ethnic groups and places and they usually do not actively seek converts.

How do ethnic religions usually spread beyond their hearths?

Primarily through relocation diffusion when members of the religion migrate.

What is the cultural hearth of Christianity?

The eastern Mediterranean region centered on present-day Israel and Palestine.

How did Christianity initially spread?

It spread through missionaries relocation diffusion and hierarchical diffusion through major cities and eventually the Roman Empire.

How is hierarchical diffusion connected to Christianity?

Christianity spread through influential urban centers and political institutions before reaching surrounding populations.

What is the cultural hearth of Islam?

The Arabian Peninsula especially Mecca and Medina.

How did Islam diffuse?

Through expansion diffusion conquest trade missionary activity and relocation diffusion.

How did trade help spread Islam?

Muslim merchants carried Islam along trade routes and introduced it to populations in places such as South and Southeast Asia.

What is the cultural hearth of Buddhism?

Northern South Asia in the region of present-day India and Nepal.

How did Buddhism diffuse from its hearth?

Merchants missionaries and migrants carried Buddhism into East Southeast and Central Asia.

How did physical geography affect the diffusion of Buddhism?

Barriers such as the Himalayas influenced the routes and directions along which Buddhism spread.

What are the three major branches of Buddhism?

Theravada Mahayana and Vajrayana.

Where did Theravada Buddhism become concentrated?

Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia.

Where did Mahayana Buddhism become concentrated?

China and other parts of East Asia.

Where did Vajrayana Buddhism become concentrated?

Tibet and parts of the Himalayan region.

Where is the hearth and primary concentration of Hinduism?

South Asia especially India.

Why has Hinduism remained relatively concentrated in India?

It is an ethnic religion deeply connected to Indian culture history and traditional social structures.

How has Hinduism spread outside South Asia?

Primarily through relocation diffusion as Hindu populations migrated.

How has Judaism spread geographically?

Primarily through relocation diffusion as Jewish populations formed diaspora communities and enclaves around the world.

What is a diaspora?

The dispersion of a cultural or ethnic population from its traditional homeland to multiple locations.

Where is Shinto primarily concentrated?

Japan because Shinto is closely connected to Japanese culture history and traditions.

What is the main difference between universalizing and ethnic religions?

Universalizing religions seek converts across cultures while ethnic religions are closely tied to particular ethnic groups and places.

How are colonialism and language diffusion connected?

European colonial powers carried their languages to colonies through relocation diffusion creating modern language patterns across the Americas Africa and other regions.

What is the main connection among cultural hearths diffusion and modern cultural patterns?

Languages and religions originate in cultural hearths and spread through different diffusion processes creating their present-day spatial distributions.