Settlement FAQs

how did colonial settlement patterns influence american dialects

by Kay Moore Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

Krapp, among others, makes a compelling argument against the theory that a transplanted dialect or language to a new place suddenly has its linguistic development arrested at the point of colonization, so that examples like American English or Acadian French must simply be more archaic than the dialects that continued evolving in their home countries.

Full Answer

What were the goals of the English colonists in America?

COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS. In the sixteenth century, England sought to emulate other European powers by establishing colonies in the New World. The goal of the colonists and their supporters was to increase England's territorial hegemony and to enrich themselves. Little gold or silver was found in England's North American colonies,...

Why did people settle in New England colonies?

While Virginia was settled primarily by fortune hunters, the first settlements in New England, like those in Maryland, were prompted by religious reasons. The Church of England persecuted a group of extreme Puritans called Separatists.

What are the special characteristics of settlement in North America?

Another special characteristic of American settlement, one that became obvious only by the mid-20th century, is the convergence of rural and urban modes of life. The farmsteads—and rural folk in general—have become increasingly urbanized, and agricultural operations have become more automated,...

Why did the English colonize North America?

England claimed North American territory on the basis of the 1497 and 1498 voyages of John Cabot. The Roanoke colony was also to serve as a base from which the English could launch attacks on Spanish vessels as they sailed for European waters.

image

How did colonialism change the English language?

During colonialism, other languages were created as different groups of people interacted—for example, pidgins and creoles, some of which are now recognized as languages, such as Haitian Creole.

How did colonialism spread language?

Lesson Summary European languages are spoken across the globe, thanks mostly to a history of imperialism. As European empires conquered regions of the world, they introduced their tongues both as languages of administration and as parts of cultural conquests meant to convert native peoples into Europeans.

How did geography influence settlement patterns in the first English colonies?

European settlement patterns were influenced by geographic conditions such as access to water, harbors, natural protection, arable land, natural resources and adequate growing season and rainfall. Examine a variety of primary sources to determine why colonists were drawn to a particular region of the country.

How did colonization affect American culture?

European colonization of North America had a devastating effect on the native population. Within a short period of time their way of life was changed forever. The changes were caused by a number of factors, including loss of land, disease, enforced laws which violated their culture and much more.

How colonialism affected global patterns of language and religion?

Through colonialism, many dominant societies impose their languages upon other groups of people, and through globalization, popular culture traits create increasingly uniform global landscapes, leading to a significant loss of diversity.

How did imperialism affect language?

One of the major arguments in his Linguistic Imperialism was that the spread of English, much of which had occurred through its prominence in global language education, has served to undermine the rights of other languages and to marginalise the opportunities that should exist for widespread multilingual education.

Why was the colonial settlement important?

COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS. In the sixteenth century, England sought to emulate other European powers by establishing colonies in the New World. The goal of the colonists and their supporters was to increase England's territorial hegemony and to enrich themselves.

How does geography affect American culture?

Culture is largely shaped by geography, by the topographical features of the landscape, the climate, and the natural resources. Geography shapes how cultures interact with each other, what they need for food, shelter, and clothing, and how they choose to express themselves.

Why did Europeans settle in the English colonies How did their motivations influence their settlement patterns and colony structures?

Why did Europeans settle in the English colonies? New England was settled by Puritans seeking freedom from religious persecution in Europe. They formed a "covenant community" based on the principles of the Mayflower Compact and Puritan religious beliefs and were often intolerant of those not sharing their religion.

What caused conflict between settlers and Native American?

They hoped to transform the tribes people into civilized Christians through their daily contacts. The Native Americans resented and resisted the colonists' attempts to change them. Their refusal to conform to European culture angered the colonists and hostilities soon broke out between the two groups.

What was the culture of colonial America?

Society and culture in colonial America (1565-1776) varied widely among ethnic and social groups, and from colony to colony, but was mostly centered around agriculture as it was the primary venture in most regions.

How did colonialism affect Central America?

Although most of Latin America was colonized by Spain, the countries of Portugal and France also had major influences on the region. Due to war and disease, native populations were decimated. The European countries' demand for free labor led them to engage in the African slave trade.

How did European colonization cause the spread of European languages?

The Europeans did not only propagate their own languages in their colonies, but also contributed to the survival and expansion of some native languages. It took over three centuries for the Spaniards and Portuguese to diffuse their languages around all their American colonies.

How did European languages spread?

On this basis, researchers have concluded that more than a hundred languages across Europe and the Middle East, from Iceland to Sri Lanka, stem from a common ancestor. Some scholars think that Indo-European languages spread with farming techniques from Turkey across Europe and Asia 8,000–9,500 years ago.

What are the three cause of language change?

Traditional theories of historical linguistics identify three main types of change: systematic change in the pronunciation of phonemes, or sound change; borrowing, in which features of a language or dialect are altered as a result of influence from another language or dialect; and analogical change, in which the shape ...

How was language used as a tool of Spanish colonization?

It was prophetic, in that throughout the conquest of the Americas, and the centuries of colonialism, language was used by the Spanish as a tool for conquest: to consolidate political power, to spread the Catholic faith, and to unify the empire.

What is the impression of the settled portion of the American landscape, rural or urban, is one of disorder and inco?

The overall impression of the settled portion of the American landscape, rural or urban, is one of disorder and incoherence, even in areas of strict geometric survey. The individual landscape unit is seldom in visual harmony with its neighbour, so that, however sound in design or construction the single structure may be, the general effect is untidy. These attributes have been intensified by the acute individualism of the American, vigorous speculation in land and other commodities, a strongly utilitarian attitude toward the land and the treasures above and below it, and government policy and law. The landscape is also remarkable for its extensive transportation facilities, which have greatly influenced the configuration of the land.

What are the characteristics of American settlement?

Another special characteristic of American settlement, one that became obvious only by the mid-20th century, is the convergence of rural and urban modes of life. The farmsteads—and rural folk in general—have become increasingly urbanized, and agricultural operations have become more automated, while the metropolis grows more gelatinous, unfocused, and pseudo-bucolic along its margins.

How were townships laid out?

Townships were laid out as blocks, each six by six miles in size, oriented with the compass directions . Thirty-six sections, each one square mile, or 640 acres (260 hectares), in size, were designated within each township; and public roads were established along section lines and, where needed, along half-section lines. At irregular intervals, offsets in survey lines and roads were introduced to allow for the Earth’s curvature. Individual property lines were coincident with, or parallel to, survey lines, and this pervasive rectangularity generally carried over into the geometry of fields and fences or into the townsites later superimposed upon the basic rural survey.

How were farms connected to towns?

Successions of such farms were connected with one another and with the towns by means of a dense, usually rectangular lattice of roads, largely unimproved at the time. The hamlets, villages, and smaller cities were arrayed at relatively regular intervals, with size and affluence determined in large part by the presence and quality of rail service or status as the county seat. But, among people who have been historically rural, individualistic, and antiurban in bias, many services normally located in urban places might be found in rustic settings. Thus, much retail business was transacted by means of itinerant peddlers, while small shops for the fabrication, distribution, or repair of various items were often located in isolated farmsteads, as were many post offices.

What are the patterns of rural settlement?

Patterns of rural settlement indicate much about the history, economy, society, and minds of those who created them as well as about the land itself. The essential design of rural activity in the United States bears a strong family resemblance to that of other neo-European lands, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, or tsarist Siberia —places that have undergone rapid occupation and exploitation by immigrants intent upon short-term development and enrichment. In all such areas, under novel social and political conditions and with a relative abundance of territory and physical resources, ideas and institutions derived from a relatively stable medieval or early modern Europe have undergone major transformation. Further, these are nonpeasant countrysides, alike in having failed to achieve the intimate symbiosis of people and habitat, the humanized rural landscapes characteristic of many relatively dense, stable, earthbound communities in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

How did pre-European settlements affect the United States?

Although the land that now constitutes the United States was occupied and much affected by diverse Indian cultures over many millennia, these pre-European settlement patterns have had virtually no impact upon the contemporary nation—except locally, as in parts of New Mexico. A benign habitat permitted a huge contiguous tract of settled land to materialize across nearly all the eastern half of the United States and within substantial patches of the West. The vastness of the land, the scarcity of labour, and the abundance of migratory opportunities in a land replete with raw physical resources contributed to exceptional human mobility and a quick succession of ephemeral forms of land use and settlement. Human endeavours have greatly transformed the landscape, but such efforts have been largely destructive. Most of the pre-European landscape in the United States was so swiftly and radically altered that it is difficult to conjecture intelligently about its earlier appearance.

When did the federal government map the territory of the colonists?

In sharp contrast to the slipshod methods of colonial land survey and disposal, the federal land managers expeditiously surveyed, numbered, and mapped their territory in advance of settlement, beginning with Ohio in the 1780s, then sold or deeded it to settlers under inviting terms at a number of regional land offices.

What were the early settlers in Pennsylvania?

The pioneer settlers in Pennsylvania's anthracite region (which encompasses Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and surrounding towns) were largely Irish and German Catholics who worked in the area's coal mines. Many Europeans—particularly Slavic and Italian immigrants—followed and contributed to the distinctive Coal Region culture and dialect.

What is the impact of Italian?

The impact of Italian is heard in the regional tendency to elongate words— turning Acme supermarket into "Ack-a-me. And when locals replace the "th" sound in words with a "t" sound—"three" becoming "tree" or "cathedral" becoming "cateedral"—you're hearing the influence of Polish and other Slavic languages.

What does the word "brogue" mean in English?

The English spoken by their descendants is colored by their mother tongues: The word brogue itself (to describe an Irish accent) originally meant a "stout coarse shoe worn formerly in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands," and insultingly implied that the Irish spoke English so poorly, it sounded like they had a boot in their mouths.

What was the goal of the colonists and their supporters in the sixteenth century?

The goal of the colonists and their supporters was to increase England's territorial hegemony and to enrich themselves. Little gold or silver was found in England's North American colonies, but colonists who came to America for a variety of reasons nonetheless accomplished that goal.

Why did the Puritans settle in Massachusetts?

The colony of Plymouth remained separate from Massachusetts until 1691. Puritans also settled Massachusetts for religious reasons. Charles I granted a charter in 1629 to the New England Company, which promptly changed its name to the Massachusetts Bay Company.

What was the name of the Dutch colony that separated New England and the Chesapeake?

The Dutch West India Company, formed in 1621, established a community at the tip of Manhattan Island, called New Amsterdam. The New Netherland territory was vast and effectively separated the New England and Chesapeake colonies.

How many colonists were there in the 1700s?

The colony attracted about 7,000 colonists by 1700, and its economy boomed with the introduction of rice cultivation, followed in the eighteenth century by the cultivation of indigo. Like tobacco, rice required a large labor force, resulting in a black majority in the colony by 1720.

How many colonists died in 1622?

Large plantations were needed for tobacco, which quickly damaged the soil. The need for more territory and population growth led to two major Indian attacks, with 347 colonists killed in 1622 and 500 killed in 1644.

What was the population of Connecticut in 1700?

By 1700, the population of Connecticut reached 30,000 . New Hampshire originated as the private estate of John Mason, who sold it to the Crown, while Maine was the property of Sir Fernando Gorges. To provide for defense, the United Colonies of New England was formed in 1643.

What was the economy of the New England colonies?

The economy of all the New England colonies was largely based on subsistence farming, the fur trade, fishing, and naval stores.

How did the Euro-Americans influence the settlement of South Carolina?

Although we cannot assert that Native American land use legacies directly caused the settlement location choices of Euro-Americans, the earliest Euro-Americans to settle the South Carolina Piedmont exhibited a preference for long term and late prehistoric Native American occupation sites above environmental characteristics including topographic position, slope, aspect, soil moisture, and solar radiation. Settlers were attracted to wide floodplains dominated by canebrakes (A. giganteana) that were most likely a legacy of Native American land use practices. We hypothesize that Euro-Americans were attracted to prehistoric Native American sites because they included land that was easier for travel, expedient to clear and plant, and because they were more productive. We attribute these qualities to localized ecological engineering activities of prehistoric Native Americans. Native Americans did not simply settle the most resource-rich environments, they altered them to suit agricultural land use; a process that took them multiple generations. Euro-Americans relying on maize and cattle took advantage of these previously engineered environments and were able to more quickly establish their agrarian economy.

What did the settlers do on the South Carolina Piedmont?

Settlers clearly valued agriculturally productive fields and grazing commons over proximity to neighbors or defensive fortifications. Despite the dangers apparent on the South Carolina Piedmont frontier, settlers followed a dispersed pattern. If the Piedmont had been predominantly “wild”, settlers would have been smart to aggregate around particular toeholds as they domesticated the landscape. Instead, they were able to spread out, giving priority to sites previously occupied by Native Americans.

Why is it important to understand the history of land use?

Because Native American land use may have created an underlying architecture that guided Euro-American settlement, prehistoric niche construction activities likely continue to influence household to regional level land use patterns as well as landscape-level resource management and conservation efforts such as Sumter National Forest. This research on the long term socioecological dynamics of the Calhoun CZO is a first effort to shed light on long term anthropogenic factors underlying the soil and hydrological degradation that followed closely on the heels of Euro-American settlement. Refining the spatial and temporal scope and resolution of land use history is important for explaining the spatiotemporal heterogeneity inherent in critical zone processes.

How long did the colonial period last?

To do this, we grouped the samples into two periods: period 1 samples with grants issued during the colonial era spanning from 1749 to 1775 and period 2 samples with grants issued from 1784 to 1851. We modeled each period separately and report the respective results below. We ran multiple iterations of the model and variously culled predictor covariates that were insignificant. The data used in the model is available in the supporting information files ( S1 Table ).

When were land grants distributed?

In other words, where the area of a land grant was previously deeded, the surface area of the grant is only represented in the map where portion of the tract was not previously claimed. Our completed dataset includes 1,160 land grants each with year of survey, acreage granted, and the name of the grantee ( Fig 2 ). Grants were distributed between 1749 through 1851. We divide this range into two settlement periods, which demonstrate distinct characteristic. The first ranges from 1749 to the onset of the war in 1775, and the second begins with the end of the war in 1784 through 1851, when the last grant was assigned ( Fig 3 ).

When did South Carolina settle?

Settlement was slowed due to numerous conflicts with Native Americans. Eventually, a 1747 treaty with the Cherokee and a garrisoned fort at the confluence of the Broad and Congaree Rivers opened up the Broad, Enoree, and Tyger River watersheds for settlement [ 66, 67 ].

What was the first land grant in South Carolina?

Formalized legal agrarian settlement in British controlled portions of North America involved the institution of the “headright grant”, a process that transferred title of a specific parcel of land (the “land grant”) from the state to the individual [ 68 ]. During the colonial period in South Carolina (1663–1775), headrights were granted by the King of Great Britain. The first land grants for the watersheds included in this analysis were recorded in 1749. Grants ceased during the American War of Independence (1775–1783), but in 1784 the new State of South Carolina began to issue grants under the authority of the Governor. To receive a land grant, the settler obtained a warrant from the governor for a certain number of acres at a price of one half penny sterling silver per acre. Following this, the surveyor general measured and platted a tract of unclaimed land using the metes and bounds system [ 68, 69 ]. In contrast to the grid systems employed in the 19 th century settlement of the western United States, the earlier metes and bounds surveys fixed boundaries of tracts of various sizes and shapes based on compass bearings and the “Gunter chain” (1 chain = 20.1 meters) measure of distance. Early tracts, surrounded by vacant land, were located based on their relative proximity to named rivers and creeks. Later, where grants had already been made, their shape and location was indicated based on the cardinal direction by which they were “bounded” by neighboring lands (e.g. … bounded on the Northeast by Smith, on the Southwest by Johnson, etc.).

image
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9