1. How do imperialism and colonialism differ, and what role did each play in spreading religion and culture?

2. What religious changes occurred in Africa and North America as a result of European colonization?

1. How did relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion contribute to the spread of colonial languages?

2. Why do more people speak English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese outside their hearths than within them?

1. What role did trade and transportation networks play in spreading major world languages?

1. Why did Mandarin Chinese not diffuse globally despite China's historical power and influence?

2. What strategies is the Chinese government using to increase the number of Mandarin speakers worldwide?

1. What is a lingua franca and how has English become the world's most widely used lingua franca?

2. How have globalization, technology, and media contributed to English becoming a global lingua franca?

3. What concerns have been raised about the dominance of English as a global language?

1. How does slang become part of standard language, and what role has globalization played in this process?

1. What is a pidgin language and under what circumstances do pidgin languages develop?

1. How do creole languages differ from pidgin languages, and what historical circumstances led to their development in the Americas?

2. What is the significance of Haitian Creole as both a language and a source of cultural identity?

1. How did Swahili develop through language mixing, and what role does it play in contemporary East Africa?

2. Why do some proponents believe Swahili could help overcome the legacy of colonialism in Africa?

1. How have communication technologies and mass media influenced the diffusion of popular culture globally?

2. How has social media changed the patterns and speed of cultural diffusion compared to traditional corporate sources?

3. What is hierarchical diffusion via social media influencers, and how does it differ from traditional hierarchical diffusion?

1. What is time-space convergence and how have improvements in transportation and communication contributed to it?

2. How does time-space convergence affect cultural distinctiveness of places?

1. What is cultural convergence and what concerns does cultural homogenization raise for societies?

2. How can technology and social media help preserve languages and cultures threatened by cultural convergence?

3. What is cultural divergence and what geographic factors can slow or halt cultural diffusion?

1. What global forces have shaped the spread and change of languages throughout history?

1. What are the main theories about when human language began and how it diffused across the planet?

1. What is a language family and how do language trees help geographers understand language relationships?

2. How does the distribution of languages reflect patterns of human migration?

1. What is the Indo-European language family and why is it significant in terms of global population?

1. How did the Romance languages develop from Latin, and what caused their divergence?

2. What do similarities among Romance language words reveal about their historical connections?

1. What are isoglosses and how do they help geographers identify dialect boundaries?

2. How do dialects develop and what role can they play in the evolution of new languages?

1. How does language shape cultural identity and the cultural landscape of a place?

1. What are toponyms and what historical and cultural information can they reveal about a location?

1. What are the three categories of countries based on official language policies and what purposes do official languages serve?

2. Why is English the most common official language in the world?

1. What are the key differences between ethnic religions and universalizing religions?

2. How do ethnic religions and universalizing religions differ in their approach to recruitment and diffusion?

1. What are the core beliefs of Hinduism and how is it classified as both polytheistic and monotheistic?

2. What are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path in Buddhism, and what is the goal of following them?

3. What are the key characteristics of Sikhism and how does it differ from Hinduism and Buddhism?

1. What are the core beliefs of Judaism and what historical events shaped the Jewish Diaspora?

2. What are the core beliefs of Christianity and how did it spread from its hearth in the Middle East?

3. What are the Five Pillars of Islam and what is sharia?

4. What are the two major subdivisions of Islam and where are their largest populations concentrated?

1. How did Christianity and Islam spread from their hearths through conquest, colonization, and missionary work?

2. What is a pilgrimage and what role do pilgrimages play in major world religions?

1. What are the possible outcomes when cultures come into contact with each other?

1. What is acculturation and how does it differ from complete cultural replacement?

2. Why are many immigrants multilingual as a result of acculturation?

1. What is assimilation and why does complete assimilation rarely occur?

2. Why is religion often the last cultural trait to be abandoned during assimilation?

1. What is syncretism and under what circumstances does it occur?

2. How do glocalization and syncretism relate to each other in the context of global markets?

3. What are examples of syncretism in music, holidays, and cuisine?

1. What is multiculturalism and how does it differ from assimilation?

2. How does the diversity of foods in the United States demonstrate the benefits of multiculturalism?

1. What is nativism and how does it differ from xenophobia?

2. What historical and contemporary examples illustrate nativist attitudes toward immigrant and minority groups?

1. How does the scale of analysis affect the way geographers describe Spanish-speaking regions in the United States?

2. What geographic patterns explain why certain U.S. states have high percentages of Spanish speakers?

3. What trends show how English-language proficiency among U.S. Hispanics has changed over time?

1. How does New York City's linguistic diversity reflect its role as a global city and immigrant destination?

2. How does English function as a lingua franca in a multilingual city like New York?