Problems

Web Page Questions:

1. Ethnologue - http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries (Languages of the World)

a. How many languages are listed for the following countries?

b. Of the top ten languages spoken by the world's population, how many countries claim that language is spoken in their country? http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/names (Language Name Index)

Problems:

1. Discuss a scenario in which the world has just a handful of functional languages.
2. How would this come about?
3. What is a drawback to having only a handful of functional languages?
4. What influenced the development of unique language groups over time?
5. What has facilitated their demise?

2. Cultural Realms. A list of ten countries, spread across the globe, is given below.

a) For each country, name the dominant religion, language family, and culture realm to which it belongs. All information can be found in Chapter Seven.

b)Make a statement about the spatial relationship of religion, language and cultural realm.

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. Discuss the statement "Plateaus have historically been the site of unique groups and independent states."
2. Pick a favorite food not native to the area in which you live and trace it back to its place of origin. How did it get from its hearth to your table?
3. Toponymy is the study of place names. Look a map of Minnesota at a scale at which the smaller towns are shown. What can you refer from these names as to the origin of the inhabitants that named them?
4. Select one native clothing style (national costume) for each continent and describe how it developed with relation to aspects of that area's physical geography.
5. Native or traditional architectural styles are a result of people's reaction to conditions of weather and climate. Select five different architecture styles and discuss of the each one's characteristic features was developed to address a particular need.