AP HUMAN GEO

Diffusion of Culture

  1. Relocation Diffusion: Spread through migration.
    Example: Pizza brought to the U.S. by Italian immigrants.

  2. Expansion Diffusion: Spread through exchange (without migration).

    • Contagious: Rapid and widespread (e.g., Blues music).

    • Hierarchical: From important places/people (e.g., cell phones).

    • Reverse Hierarchical: From lower to upper class (e.g., tattoos).

    • Stimulus: Core idea adopted but modified (e.g., McDonald's menus in India).

Historical Causes of Diffusion

  • Colonialism: Domination by one state over another.

  • Imperialism: Extending power for political/economic control.

  • Trade: Exchange of goods and ideas.

Contemporary Causes & Effects of Diffusion

  1. Cultural Convergence: Cultures become similar through interaction.

  2. Cultural Divergence: Conflicts or barriers make cultures less alike.

  3. Diaspora: Scattered populations with shared origins (e.g., Jewish diaspora).

  4. Acculturation: Adoption of traits from a dominant culture.

  5. Assimilation: Loss of original traits in favor of another culture.

  6. Syncretism: Fusion of old and new ideas.

  7. Multiculturalism: Recognition of multiple cultural identities.

  8. Cultural Appropriation: Adoption of elements from another culture.

  9. Time-Space Compression: Technology reduces the feeling of distance.

Diffusion of Language

  1. Language Tree:

    • Families: Largest groups (e.g., Indo-European).

    • Branches: Subgroups with shared origins (e.g., Romance).

    • Groups: Recent common ancestors with overlap in vocabulary.

  2. Language Concepts:

    • Standard Language: Most widely accepted (e.g., for government use).

    • Official Language: Designated by law.

    • Dialect: Regional variations.

    • Isogloss: Geographic boundary of a linguistic feature.

  3. Language Diffusion Factors:

    • Colonialism and conquest.

    • Human interaction.

    • Printing press and migration.

    • Trade and rise of nation-states.

  4. Special Terms:

    • Lingua Franca: Bridge language (e.g., English in Nigeria).

    • Pidgin: Simplified mix of two languages (e.g., Spanglish).

    • Creole: Formalized mixed language (e.g., Swahili).

    • Basque: Isolate with no connections.