Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Language Networks and Social Life (8:26)

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.

Key Ideas

Think about the following questions as you watch the video


  1. 00:43 What is a language network?
  2. 04:35 What personal evidence does Sharika Crawford give that language shapes the way she experiences the world?
  3. 06:47 How, according to Crawford and the map you are shown, did the geography, climate, and history of Latin America shape how communities and networks formed around language?
  4. 08:16 Bob Bain tells a story about the Yiddish language. What does this story tell us about the ways languages can expand and decline in use?