Diffusion
spread of culture outward from the most interconnected places or from centers of wealth and importance
Hierarchical Diffusion
area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops
Cultural Hearth
the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam
Sikhism
a cultural process where foreign influences are absorbed and integrated with local meanings (a type of syncretism)
Creolization
a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
Lingua Franca
the spread of a cultural trait by people who migrate and carry their cultural traits with them
Relocation Diffusion
composed of the shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors transmitted by a society.
Culture
A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.
Christianity
A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
Language Family
occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group moving to a new area adopts the values and practices of the larger group that has received them, while still maintaining major elements of their own culture
acculturation
the spread of cultural traits through direct or indirect exchange without migration
Expansion Diffusion
Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things
Distance Decay
A religion with a belief in one god. It originated with Abraham and the Hebrew people. Yahweh was responsible for the world and everything within it. They preserved their early history in the Old Testament.
Judaism
A 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 from the same family.
language branch
when an ethnic group can no longer be distinguished from the receiving group
assimilation
occurs when people in a culture adopt an underlying idea or process from another culture, but modify it because they reject one trait of it
Stimulus Diffusion
a line on a map representing boundary lines between places or regions that differ in a particular linguistic feature
Isogloss
A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), Paradise and Hell, and a body of law written in the Quran. Followers are called Muslims.
Islam
A family of languages consisting of most of the languages of Europe as well as those of Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia
Indo European
the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
Sequent Occupancy
occurs when a cultural traits spreads continuously outward from its hearth through contact among people
Contagious Diffusion
A blending of two or more cultural or religious traditions
Syncretism
A religion and philosophy developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms
Hinduism
A 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.
language group
symbols of regional culture and thus reflect the history, habitat and environment of a place
Toponyms