Language geography

Language geography studies how languages and linguistic features are distributed across places and how geographic conditions shape their spread, contact, and variation.

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Dialect geography: The study of how dialect features vary across geographic areas. Its maps of pronunciation and vocabulary are a core model for studying linguistic variation across space.
Language contact: The interaction of speakers of different languages or varieties, often producing linguistic change. Contact transfers features across geographic boundaries and can create shared regional patterns.
Language documentation: The systematic recording and description of a language, especially one with few speakers or limited written records. Geographic surveys help locate language communities and identify where documentation is urgent.
Balkan sprachbund: A group of languages in the Balkans that share structural features acquired through long-term contact. It demonstrates how neighboring languages can converge without belonging to the same family.
Glottolog: A comprehensive online catalog of the world's languages, language families, and dialects. Its genealogical classification complements maps focused on where languages are spoken.
Isogloss: A boundary line marking the geographic limit of a linguistic feature. Isoglosses turn the distribution of a feature into a visible boundary on a language map.
Language shift: The process by which a community gradually adopts another language, often across generations. Shifts can redraw the geographic distribution of languages within a region.
Endangered language: A language at risk of losing speakers and ceasing to be transmitted across generations. Mapping speaker locations and neighboring languages helps assess patterns of endangerment.
South Asian linguistic area: A region where languages from several families share features associated with prolonged contact. It provides a major example of geographic convergence across distinct language families.
Linguistic typology: The comparison of languages by structural features, regardless of historical relationship. Typology compares structures; language geography asks how their distributions relate to place.