AP Human Geography Unit 4 Vocabulary (Cultural Patterns and Processes)

Acculturation

The process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups each of which retains distinct culture features.

Assimilation

The process by which a group's cultural features are altered to resemble those of another more dominant group

Commodification

The process through which something is given monetary value; occurs when a good or idea that previously was not regarded as an object to be bought and sold is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

Creole

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Cultural Appropriation

the process by which other cultures adopt customs and knowledge and use them for their own benefit

Cultural Ecology

The multiple interactions and relationships between a culture and the natural environment

Cultural relativism

the practice of judging a culture by its own standards

Culture Complex/System

a unique combination of culture traits for a particular culture group

Culture Trait

a single attribute of a culture

Customs

Common practices followed by people of a particular group or region

Dialect

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

Diasporas

Enclaves of ethnic groups settled outside of their homelands.

Environmental Determinism

A nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

Ethnicity

the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.

Ethnic Neighborhoods (Ghettos)

an area within a city containing members of the same ethnic background

Ethnic Religion

religion that is identified with a particular ethnic or tribal group and that does not seek new converts

Ethnocentrism

evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process

Folk Culture

Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

Fundamentalism

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).

Glocalization

the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations.

Hierarchical Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places

Indigenous Religions

Belief systems and philosophies practiced and traditionally passed from generation to generation among peoples within an indigenous tribe or group

Isogloss

A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.

Language Branch

A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Differences are not as extensive or as old as with language families, and archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family.

Language Families

Group of languages with a shared but fairly distant origin

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.

Language Sub-Families

divisions within a language family

Lingua Franca

a language used among speakers of different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce

Logogram

A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound

Material Culture

the physical things created by members of a society

Multiculturalism

The practice of valuing and respecting differences in culture.

Neolocalism

seeking out the regional culture and reinvigorating it in response to the uncertainty of the modern world

Non-Material Culture

The beliefs, practices, aesthetics, and values of a group of people.

Norms

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

Official Language/Standard Language

The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.

Pidgin

A simplified form of speech developed from two or more languages

Placelessness

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

Popular Culture

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Religion Branches/Denominations/Sects

divisions of universalizing religions, branches: large and basic divisions within a religion, denominations: divisions of branches that unite local groups in a single administrative body, sects: relatively small groups that do not affiliate with the more mainstream denominations

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Sacred Sites

A location that is held by a certain religion to be holy and worthy of reverence

Secularism

a belief that religion should be excluded from civic affairs and public education.

Sequent occupancy

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Syncretism

a blending of beliefs and practices from different places into a new cultural trait

Taboo

A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

Terroir

The contribution of a location's distinctive physical features to the way food tastes

Universalizing Religion

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location and often seeks new adherents