The place of geography in studying languages. Between geography of languages and linguistic geography

Abstract

The language as a socially shaped tool that serves communication between human beings is one of the main distinguishing features of our species, while at the same time being a basic medium for transmitting culture. While the main scientific discipline that studies languages are linguistics, there are other fields of knowledge that have their share in extending the knowledge about them. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the possibilities of studying languages from the perspective of geography, to find the limit between the areas of research of geography and linguistics, as well as to systematize the names of subdisciplines that study this „borderland area”. In the introduction, the functions of language and the problems with making clear distinctions between languages and dialects are outlined. In the following part of the article, the author tries to systemize the terminology related to research in the area of study between geography and linguistics by analyzing similarities and differences between such Polish terms as geografia języków (geography of languages), goegrafia lingwistyczna (linguistic geography) and geolingwistyka (geolinguistics), as well as their equivalents in English and French. This serves as the basis to determine in which fields geography and linguistics can complement each other, and where lies the limit between those disciplines. The final part of the paper consists of an attempt to outline the future prospects of geographical research on languages and answer the question whether geography should cooperate with linguistics in such research and if yes, to what extent.