Unit 4 culture and language flashcards

Monotheistic

Believing in one god

Polytheistic

Believing in multiple gods

Assimilation

The complete blending with the host culture and the loss of most, if not all of a groups previous distinctive ethnic traits

Neolocalism

Seeking out the regional culture and reinvigorating it in response to the uncertainty of the modern world. Leads to creation of ethnic neighborhoods and celebrations

Globalization

The worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integrations.

Animism

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

Ethnic Religion

A religion closely associated with a particular cultural group. (Ex: Animism)

Universalizing religions

Religion that seeks to appeal to all people, regardless of cultural background, and aim to spread their beliefs worldwide (Ex: Christianity)

Cultural landscape

An area that human activity has shaped

Placelessness

Loss of uniqueness of place, where places become standardized and lack distinct local character, caused by globalization (Ex: Walmart looks the same everywhere.)

Reterritorilization

When folk culture takes from pop culture and uses it according to their own value system.

Commodification

When a name, good, or idea becomes an entity to be bought, sold, or traded on the world market that wasn’t before.

Standard language

The main language used by a population (Ex: English)

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary (Ex: Southern English, New York English, Boston English.)

Isogloss

A line on a map marking the boundary between areas where different linguistic features are used (Ex: a line that marks the boundary between areas where people say “you guys” versus “y’all”)

Creolized language

A stable natural language that develops from a mixture of other languages

Language divergence

When a single language splits into two or more distinct languages over time (Ex: Latin split into Spanish, French, and Italian)

Fundamentalism

The basic principles of a religion or ideology

Secularism

When a government does not favor any particular religion (ex: the United States government is seperated from religion.)

Pilgrimage

A journey to a sacred place for religious reasons (Ex: the Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia)

Conquest theory

The origin of the state can be attributed to the domination of one group over another, through warfare and subjugation

Lingua France

A common language used for trade and communication between different ethnic groups who speak different native languages.