LANGUAGE AND ETHNIC GROUP

Introduction
An ethnic group is a group of human individuals who

share a common, unique self-identity. An ethnic group is also called a people group. Some words used to refer to a group as a separate ethnic group are: tribe, clan, nation, lineage, family, society, community and heritage.

Language and Culture

A common technical term for an ethnic group is

ethno-linguistic. The linguistic part indicates that language is always a part of ethnic identity. Language is a primary characteristic that separates groups of humans who speak different languages and identifies speakers of the same language as related in some way. But language is not always the determining factor between two different groups of people. There are many other factors that determine ethnicity or those are associated with ethnicity.

Self-Identity
The ethno in ethno-linguistic refers to other

aspects of culture that make up ethnicity. Some other common ethnic factors that define or distinguish a people are:
1. 2. 3.

4.
5. 6.

A common history Customs Family and clan identities, Marriage rules and practices Age-grades and other obligation covenants, and Inheritance patterns and rules.

How We Determine Ethnicity

Determining ethnicity is a process of discovery. There

are many factors involved in the concept of ethnicity. Each society or tribe of humans gives different value to the various aspects of relationships and social order. Sometimes we need one group name for several related peoples or their dialects. That name would refer to the largest grouping of individuals that still consider themselves related through actual kinship, a shared story, or similar customs and self-identity. They might speak one or more languages.

Some of the Main Factors that Make Up Ethnicity

Language and Location

A people group description includes at least one language and at least one location, such as a country, a district, or a town where they live. Religion Religion is one primary ethnic characteristic that may be so strong that it causes a definite boundary within a group of person that are otherwise identical.

Language and Ethnicity

The relationship between language and self-identity is sometimes hard to discover. There are some examples of the relationship between language and other cultural characteristics:
Multi-Lingual Ethnic Groups

Multi-Ethnic Language Groups

Multi-Lingual Ethnic Group

In an ethnic group, many languages exist
China ethnic group has, for example, Canton and

Shanghai language Arab ethnic group has, for example, Arab, Oman, and Yemen language

Multi-Ethnic Language Group

There are many ethnic groups use the same language
Batak, Sunda, Jawa, and other ethnic groups in

Indonesia use Indonesian besides their local language. Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups in Burundi and Rwanda share the same language. Ethnic groups in America use the same language: English, but with their own dialect.

Ethnic Groups and Variant of a Language

Ethnic groups in America use the same language:

English, but with their own dialect. Approach development of this situation: Use standard language-elimination of non-standard speech (non-standard dialect) Bidialectalism: those ethnic groups are regarded having two dilects only. This phase, the two dialects (black and white) are received and supported Appreciation of dialect differences: the black, in fact, consists of various dialect (not a single dialect as seen in bidialectalism). Respect to those differences is the soul of this approach.