How geography shapes cultural diversity (fwd link)

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

So...do you have an opinion on this and if so, I would appreciate reading
it....or anyone else...particularly indigenous people on the
list....probably worded wrong but not meant to be exclusive or
chauvinistic(not a gender statement)...
 
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon
_____________________________________
  “in the cabaret of globalization, the state appears as a stripper — 
it strips off all its characteristics until only the bare essential remains:
repressive force.” SubCommander Marcos...
 

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From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Phillip E Cash Cash
Sent: June-12-12 1:53 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: [ILAT] How geography shapes cultural diversity (fwd link)


How geography shapes cultural diversity

Study offers evidence that long countries give better protection to
languages than those that are wide.

Zoë Corbyn
11 June 2012

One reason that Eurasian civilizations dominated the globe is because they
came from a continent that was broader in an east–west direction than
north–south, claimed geographer Jared Diamond in his famous 1997 book Guns,
Germs and Steel. Now, a modelling study has found evidence to support this
'continental axis theory'.

Continents that span narrower bands of latitude have less variation in
climate, which means a set of plants and animals that are adapted to more
similar conditions. That is an advantage, says Diamond, because it means
that agricultural innovations are able to diffuse more easily, with culture
and ideas following suit. As a result, Diamond's hypothesis predicts, along
lines of latitude there will be more cultural homogeneity than along lines
of longitude.

To test that prediction, researchers at Stanford University in California
used language persistence as a proxy for cultural diversity, and analysed
the percentage of historically indigenous languages that remain in use in
147 countries today relative to their shape. For example, the team looked at
the difference between Chile, which has a long north–south axis, and Turkey,
which has a wider axis running east to west.

Access full article below:
http://www.nature.com/news/how-geography-shapes-cultural-diversity-1.10808


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