1
Learning Unit 5 (The global cultural mosaic)
Excluded:
Dominant and Endangered Languages - PB Sect B, Ch 7: 172-173
French and Spanish in North America - PB Sect B, Ch 7: 174-175
Electoral Geography - PB Sect B, Ch 8: 206-207
Key terms:
Languages and Religions: Section B, Chapter 7: pg 164-193
Animism: Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural
events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a
discrete spirit and conscious life.
Branch of a Large and fundamental division within a religion.
religion:
Cosmogony: Set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.
Denglish: Combination of English and German.
Denomination (of a Division of a branch that unites a number of local
religion): congregations in a single legal and administrative body.
Dialect: Regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary,
spelling and pronunciation.
Ethnic religion: 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.
Franglais: Term used by the French for the English words that have
entered the French language.
Language: System of communication through the use of speech, a
collection of sounds understood by a group of people to
have the same meaning.
Language branch: 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 the same family.
Language family: A collection of languages related to each other through a
common ancestor long before recorded history.
Language group: 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.
Literary tradition: Language that’s written as well as spoken.
Missionary: An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.
Monotheism: The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.
Native speakers: People for whom a particular language is their first
language.
Official language: The language adopted for use by the government for the
conduct of business and publication of documents.
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 2
Pilgrimage: A journey to a place considered sacred for religious
purposes.
Polytheism: Belief in or worship of more than one god.
Sect (of a religion): Relatively small group that has broken away from an
established denomination.
Universalizing Religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those
religion: living in a particular location.
Political geography: Section B, Chapter 8: pg 194-219
Anocracy: Type of government with mix of democratic and
autocratic features.
Autocracy: Type of government in which leaders are selected
from the established elite and have few limits on
their powers.
Balkanization: Breakdown of a state because of internal ethnic
differences.
Centripetal force: Political attitude that supports the state.
Compact state: State whose shape is approximately a circle.
Contiguous waters: Area of the ocean from 12 – 14 nautical miles from
a state’s shore over which it has limited sovereignty.
Cultural boundaries: Areal limit of states that follow the distribution of
cultural characteristics.
Democracy: Type of limited government in which citizens can
elect leaders and stand for office.
Elongated state: A state whose shape is long and narrow.
Enclave: A territory completely surrounded by another state.
Ethnic cleansing: Process in which a more powerful ethnic group
forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to
create an ethnically homogeneous region.
Ethnicity: Identity with a group of people who share the
cultural traditions of a particular homeland or
hearth.
Exclave: A piece of territory separated from the rest of the
country by other countries.
Exclusive Economic Zone The area up to 200 nautical miles from a state’s
(EEZ): shore in which it has sole authority to exploit natural
resources.
Federal state: Internal organization of states giving some powers
to local government.
Fragmented state: State with disconnected pieces of territory.
Frontier: Zone where no state exercises complete political
control.
Genocide: Murderous campaign to eliminate an ethnic, racial,
religious or national group.
Gerrymandering: Redrawing election districts to favour one party over
another.
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 3
International treaties: Agreements between states by which they agree to
limit their sovereign rights or to cooperate on shared
problems.
Nationalism: Loyalty and devotion to a nationality.
Nationality: Identity with a group of people who share legal
attachment and personal allegiance to a particular
country.
Perforated state: Country with other state territories enclosed within
it.
Physical boundaries: Areal limit of states that coincide with significant
features of the natural landscape.
Prorupted state: State whose shape is compact with a protruding
extension.
Recognition: Formal acknowledgement by existing states of a
new state’s claim to sovereign independence.
Sovereignty: State’s right to independently rule itself without
interference from other states.
State: An area organized into a political unit and ruled by
an established government with a resident
population.
Territorial waters: Area of the ocean within 12 nautical miles of a
state’s shore over which it has full sovereign
authority.
Territory: The physical space of a political unit. For states this
includes land, subsoil, waters and airspace.
Terrorism: Systematic use of violence by a group in order to
intimidate a population or coerce a government into
granting its demands.
Unitary state: Internal organization of states keeping most powers
for central government.
Universal jurisdiction: A legal principle that gives all states the right to
prosecute crimes in non-state spaces, for example
piracy on the High Seas.
The distribution pattern of languages and multilingual states:
The number of language families in the world:
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 4
There’s 9 families with more than 100 million native speakers.
1. Afro-Asiatic Family
2. Niger-Congo Family
3. Dravidian Family
4. Austronesian Family
5. Austro-Asiatic Family
6. Japanese
7. Sino-Tibetan Family
8. Altaic Family
9. Indo-European Family
The relationship between language distribution and culture distribution:
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
Learning Unit 5 (The global cultural mosaic)
Excluded:
Dominant and Endangered Languages - PB Sect B, Ch 7: 172-173
French and Spanish in North America - PB Sect B, Ch 7: 174-175
Electoral Geography - PB Sect B, Ch 8: 206-207
Key terms:
Languages and Religions: Section B, Chapter 7: pg 164-193
Animism: Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural
events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a
discrete spirit and conscious life.
Branch of a Large and fundamental division within a religion.
religion:
Cosmogony: Set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.
Denglish: Combination of English and German.
Denomination (of a Division of a branch that unites a number of local
religion): congregations in a single legal and administrative body.
Dialect: Regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary,
spelling and pronunciation.
Ethnic religion: 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.
Franglais: Term used by the French for the English words that have
entered the French language.
Language: System of communication through the use of speech, a
collection of sounds understood by a group of people to
have the same meaning.
Language branch: 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 the same family.
Language family: A collection of languages related to each other through a
common ancestor long before recorded history.
Language group: 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.
Literary tradition: Language that’s written as well as spoken.
Missionary: An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.
Monotheism: The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.
Native speakers: People for whom a particular language is their first
language.
Official language: The language adopted for use by the government for the
conduct of business and publication of documents.
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 2
Pilgrimage: A journey to a place considered sacred for religious
purposes.
Polytheism: Belief in or worship of more than one god.
Sect (of a religion): Relatively small group that has broken away from an
established denomination.
Universalizing Religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those
religion: living in a particular location.
Political geography: Section B, Chapter 8: pg 194-219
Anocracy: Type of government with mix of democratic and
autocratic features.
Autocracy: Type of government in which leaders are selected
from the established elite and have few limits on
their powers.
Balkanization: Breakdown of a state because of internal ethnic
differences.
Centripetal force: Political attitude that supports the state.
Compact state: State whose shape is approximately a circle.
Contiguous waters: Area of the ocean from 12 – 14 nautical miles from
a state’s shore over which it has limited sovereignty.
Cultural boundaries: Areal limit of states that follow the distribution of
cultural characteristics.
Democracy: Type of limited government in which citizens can
elect leaders and stand for office.
Elongated state: A state whose shape is long and narrow.
Enclave: A territory completely surrounded by another state.
Ethnic cleansing: Process in which a more powerful ethnic group
forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to
create an ethnically homogeneous region.
Ethnicity: Identity with a group of people who share the
cultural traditions of a particular homeland or
hearth.
Exclave: A piece of territory separated from the rest of the
country by other countries.
Exclusive Economic Zone The area up to 200 nautical miles from a state’s
(EEZ): shore in which it has sole authority to exploit natural
resources.
Federal state: Internal organization of states giving some powers
to local government.
Fragmented state: State with disconnected pieces of territory.
Frontier: Zone where no state exercises complete political
control.
Genocide: Murderous campaign to eliminate an ethnic, racial,
religious or national group.
Gerrymandering: Redrawing election districts to favour one party over
another.
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 3
International treaties: Agreements between states by which they agree to
limit their sovereign rights or to cooperate on shared
problems.
Nationalism: Loyalty and devotion to a nationality.
Nationality: Identity with a group of people who share legal
attachment and personal allegiance to a particular
country.
Perforated state: Country with other state territories enclosed within
it.
Physical boundaries: Areal limit of states that coincide with significant
features of the natural landscape.
Prorupted state: State whose shape is compact with a protruding
extension.
Recognition: Formal acknowledgement by existing states of a
new state’s claim to sovereign independence.
Sovereignty: State’s right to independently rule itself without
interference from other states.
State: An area organized into a political unit and ruled by
an established government with a resident
population.
Territorial waters: Area of the ocean within 12 nautical miles of a
state’s shore over which it has full sovereign
authority.
Territory: The physical space of a political unit. For states this
includes land, subsoil, waters and airspace.
Terrorism: Systematic use of violence by a group in order to
intimidate a population or coerce a government into
granting its demands.
Unitary state: Internal organization of states keeping most powers
for central government.
Universal jurisdiction: A legal principle that gives all states the right to
prosecute crimes in non-state spaces, for example
piracy on the High Seas.
The distribution pattern of languages and multilingual states:
The number of language families in the world:
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
, 4
There’s 9 families with more than 100 million native speakers.
1. Afro-Asiatic Family
2. Niger-Congo Family
3. Dravidian Family
4. Austronesian Family
5. Austro-Asiatic Family
6. Japanese
7. Sino-Tibetan Family
8. Altaic Family
9. Indo-European Family
The relationship between language distribution and culture distribution:
Summaries by Marizanne du Plessis All rights reserved.
