KEY ISSUE 2

W H Y I S E

N G L I SH R

E L A T E D TO O

T H E R

L A N G U A G E S ?

INDO-EUROPEAN BRANCHESEnglish is part of the Indo-

European language familyMost extensively spoken language

family, spoken by 48% of peopleNearly 3 billion people speak an

Indo-European language as their 1st language

INDO EUROPEAN BRANCHESLanguage Branch: collection of languages

related through a common ancestral language that existed thousands of years ago

Divided into 8 branchesMost spoken: Indo-Iranian, Romance,

Germanic and Balto SlavicLeast spoken: Albanian, Armenian, Greek

& Celtic

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY

Fig. 5-5: The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.

USING COLORED PENCILS, COLOR-CODE YOUR MAP

Indo-European Language Branches

Albanian Germanic 

Armenian Greek 

Balto-Slavic Indo-Iranian 

Celtic Romance

ON THE BACK OF YOUR MAPDivide your paper into 8 parts for each of the language

branches-take notes for each branch using Key Issue 2: Figure 5-5, 5-8, 5-12

More-Spoken Branches Less-Spoken BranchesIndo-Iranian Albanian

Germanic Armenian

Romance Greek

Balto-Slavic Celtic

GERMANIC BRANCHEnglish & German are closely related

-Germanic tribes that invaded England 1,500 years ago

-Other Germanic languages:-Dutch & Frisian (Netherlands)-Flemish (Belgium)-Afrikaans (South Africa)-Scandinavia: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic

GERMANIC BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEAN

Fig. 5-6: The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic groups. English is in the West Germanic group.

INDO-IRANIAN BRANCHMost spoken of Indo-European familyMore than 100 languages, 1 billion people

Eastern Group: Indic Western Group: Iranian

INDIC (EASTERN) GROUP OF INDO-IRANIAN BRANCH2nd largest language groupMostly common in India1/3 of Indians speak Hindi (Indic)

-Many ways to speak it-Only ONE way to write it: Devanagari (7th Century) -Until recently few speakers could read/write it

Pakistan: Urdu language-spoken like Hindi, but written in Arabic (Muslim)

INDIA4 language families represented in India

-IndoEuropean (North) -Dravidian (south)-Tibetan (NE) -Austro-Asiatic (central/Eastern highlands)

Independence, 1947Proposed official language: HindiDravidian speakers of South objectedConstitution recognizes 18 official languagesEnglish is often used for communication as a

“common language”

SOUTH ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LANGUAGE FAMILIES

Fig. 5-7: Indo-European is the largest of four main language families in South Asia. The country of India has 18 official languages.

IRANIAN (WESTERN) GROUP OF INDO-IRANIAN BRANCHIran & southwestern AsiaPersian (Farsi): IranPashto: E Afghanistan & W PakistanKurdish: W Iran, N Iraq, E TurkeyAll written in Arabic alphabet

BALTO-SLAVIC BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEANFormerly a single language7th Century AD, Slavs migrated from Asia to

E EuropeDifferent languages as a result of migrationFour major groups: East, West, South Slavic and Baltic

EAST SLAVIC AND BALTIC GROUPSMost widely spoken: Russian, 80% of

Russian peopleSoviet officials forced native speakers of

other languages to speak RussianForm a sense of national unity

After collapse of Soviet Union, eastern countries adopted other official languages-shows more cultural diversity

Russian still used for communication in countries formerly part of Soviet Union

Ukranian & Belarusan: 2 other important languages in East Slavic languages

WEST AND SOUTH SLAVIC GROUPSPolish: most spoken West Slavic languageFormer Czechoslovakia Czech and Slovak: understand each other's

languages-tried to balance the two languages (1/2 sport

game announcement in each)-Slovakia split from Czech Republic in 1993

Former Yugoslavia: language was Serbo-CroatianTwo alphabets: Roman alphabet & Cyrillic alphabetNow: Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: all very

similarSuppressing Nationalism in Yugoslavia

ROMANCE BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEANEvolved from Latin: spoken by Romans 2000 years

agoFour most spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, French and

ItalianMountains separate the countries: intervening

obstacles-barriers to communication Romanian: 5th most spoken: Romania & Moldova Other languages: 1) Romansh (Switzerland) and 2) Catalan (Andorra-Pyrenees and E Spain-

Barcelona) 3) Sardinian mixture of Spanish, Arabic & Italian

(Sardinia)

SPANISH VS CATALANCastillian Spanish Latin American

Spanish English

billete (m) boleto (m) ticket

ordenador (m) computadora (f) computer

tortilla (f) tortilla (f)

In Spain, a ‘tortilla’ is an omelette.

In Latin America, a ‘tortilla’ is a flat

bread.

melocotón (m) durazno (m) peach

patata (f) papa (f) potato

ORIGIN OF DIFFUSION OF ROMANCE LANGUAGESDiffusion of Latin language during

expansion of --Roman Empire over hundreds of years

Previous languages spoken mostly eliminated

Latin varied throughout empireMerged & evolved with previous

languages

ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES“Vulgar Latin” a spoken form of Latin, used throughout the

Roman Empire

Literary term: equus - equestrian, equine

Vulgar term: caballus caballo, cavalo, cheval

Collapse of Roman Empire, 5th Century

Communication between provinces decreased

-creating more variation in languages

ROMANCE LANGUAGE DIALECTSFrancien FrenchLanguage of Paris (capital/largest city), dominated local

dialects Became official language for France in 16th Century

North and South Dialects derive from different ways to say “yes” in Latin Yes

Latin Hoc illud estNorthern FranceLangue d’oilParis

o – il “wheel” “oui”

Southern FranceLangue d’oc

oc

ROMANCE LANGUAGE DIALECTSSpainCastilian, 9th century in Old Castile, North-

central SpainSpread southward15th Century, Spain united into present

countryCastilian became official languageRegional dialects only remained in

secluded rural areas

“Castilian” or “Spanish” is official language of Spain today

SPANISH & PORTUGUESE90% of speakers live outside EuropeDiffused to America by Spanish &

PortugueseLand divided by Pope Alexander VI 1493

Spanish Royal AcademyMeet weekly to clarify spelling, vocab,

pronunciation of “Spanish”

PORTUGUESE1994 language was standardizedLanguage more closely resembles

Brazilian PortugueseUpsets people in PortugalEliminates accent marks

CREOLE LANGUAGESDistinction between a dialect and a new language can be

difficultSpeakers like to classify their dialect as a distinct language

Creolized languages (origin of “creole” = slave born in master’s house)

A language that results from mixing of colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of people being dominated

French Creole in HaitiPortuguese Creole in Cape Verde islands of African coast

ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF INDO-EUROPEANGermanic, Romance, Balto Slavic

and Indo-Iranian languages Same language family: Indo-

EuropeanEvidence of a single ancestor

cannot be proved with certainty

KURGAN THEORY OF INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGIN

Fig. 5-9: In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7,000 years ago.

ANATOLIAN HEARTH THEORY OF INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGIN

Fig. 5-10: In the Anatolian hearth theory, Indo-European originated in Turkey before the Kurgans and diffused through agricultural expansion.