AP Human Geo Culture Unit

Habit

a repetitive act that a particular individual performs

Custom

a repetitive act of a group, performed to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group

Folk Culture

practiced primarily by small, homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas

Popular Culture

found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics

Terroir

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

Taboo

a restriction on behavior imposes by social custom

Uniform Landscape

the spatial expression of a popular custom in one location that will be similar to another

Language

a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning

Institutional Language

a language used in education, work, mass media, and government

Official Language

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

Literary Tradition

a language that is written as well as spoken

Developing Language

a language spoken in daily use with a literary tradition that is not widely distributed

Vigorous Language

a language that is spoken in daily use but lacks a literary tradition

Language Family

a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history

Language Branch

a collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestor that can be confirmed through archaeological evidence

Language Group

a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display many similarities in grammar and vocabulary

Vulgar Latin

a form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents

Franglais

the mix of French and English

Spanglish

a mix of Spanish and English spoken by Hispanic Americans

Denglish

the mix of Deutsch (German) and English

Lingua Franca

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

Pidgin Language

a simplified form of a lingua franca used for communication of two groups

Logograms

symbols that represent words or meaningful parts of words

Dialect

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

Subdialect

subdivision of a dialect

Standard Language

a dialect that is used for official government business, education, and mass communications

Received Pronunciation (RP)

the dialect of England associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom

Isogloss

a boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate

Ebonics

a dialect spoken by some African Americans, sometimes used as a synonym for AAVE

Creole

a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated

Isolated Language

a language that is unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any language family

Extinct Language

a language once used by people in daily activities but is no longer in use

Atheism

belief that God does not exist

Agnosticism

belief that the existence of God can’t be proven empirically

Universalizing Religion

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

Ethnic Religion

a religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated

Congregation

a local assembly of persons brought together for common religious worship

Denomination

unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body

Branch

a large and fundamental division within a religion

Syncretic

combining several religious traditions

Animism

the belief that objects, such as plants or stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life

Monotheism

belief that there is only one God

Polytheism

belief in or worship of more than one God

Missionary

an individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion

Ghetto

during the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure

Hierarchical Religion

a religion that has a well-defined geographic structure and organizes territory into local administrative units; has a central authority and exercises a high degree of control

Autonomous Religion

a religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally

Pilgrimage

a journey for religious purposes to a place considered sacred

Cosmogony

a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe

Solstice

an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the tilt of Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach it most northernmost or southernmost extreme, and resulting in the shortest and longest days of the year

Caste

the class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned, according to religious law

Fundamentalism

a literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion

Racism

the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

Racist

person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism

Ethnic Enclave

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

Ethnoburb

suburban area with a cluster of a particular ethnic population

Triangular Slave Trade

a practice primarily during the 18th century in which European ships transported slaves from Africa to Caribbean islands, molasses from the Caribbean to Europe, and trade goods from Europe to Africa

Sharecropper

a person works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops

Blockbusting

a process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear that persons of color will soon move into the neighborhood

Apartheid

laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into geographic areas

Nationalism

loyalty and devotion to a nationality

Centripetal Force

an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

Ethnic Cleansing

a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas

Balkanized

a small geographic area that cannot successfully be organized into stable countries because it is inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms toward each other

Balkanization

a process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities

Genocide

the mass killing of a group of people in an attempt to eliminate the entire group from existance

Sect

a small group that has broken away from an established denomination

Plessy v. Ferguson

allowed separate but equal treatment of races

Brown v. Board of Education

ordered desegregation “with all deliberate speed”

Redlining

refusing/limit loans within geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods