Upload
camron-potter
View
221
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Key Issue #3Key Issue #3Where are other language families Where are other language families
distributed?distributed?
The Language Tree
Language family
# of langs.
% of world speakers
# of speakers
Indo-European
430 45% 5.9 billion
Sino-Tibetn
399 22% 1.2 billion
Niger-Congo
1,495 6% 358 million
Afro-Asiatic
353 6% 339 million
Austronesian
1,246 5% 311 million
Dravidian 73 4% 221 million
Classification of Languages
Indo- European family
Spoken by 45% of the world
Includes English
Sino-Tibetan family
Spoken by 22% of the world
mainly China
Includes Mandarin
Afro-Asiatic family
Spoken by 6% of the world
Mainly Middle East
Includes Arabic
Austronesian family
Spoken by 5% of the world
Mostly Southeast Asia
Niger-Congo family
Spoken by 6% of the world
Mainly in Africa
Dravidian family
Spoken by 4% of the world
Mainly in India
Altaic family
Spoken by 2% of the world
Mainly in Asia
Austro-Asiatic family
Spoken by 2%
Mainly in Southeast Asia
Japanese
Separate language family, 2% of world
Classification of Languages
Remaining 5% of world’s people speak a language belonging to one of the 100 smaller families
Distribution of Language Families
Sino-Tibetan 2nd largest language family
Spoken by 1/5th the world
Family
Encompasses languages spoken in the People’s Republic of China
And some SE Asia nations
No single Chinese languages
Mandarin most widely spoken
3/4ths of Chinese people
One of the six languages of the United Nations
Chinese government imposing
Strength
Small # of languages a source of national strength and unity
Consistent written form for all languages
Structure Based on 420 one-syllable words
Each sound can mean more than one thing
Writing Collection of thousands of
characters
Most are ideograms
Represents ideas or concepts, not pronunciations
Larger number of characters
Difficult to learn
16% of Chinese population can’t read or write more than a few characters
Distribution of Language Families
East and Southeast Asian Language Families Physical reason for
independent development Clustered on islands or
peninsulas
Austronesian Spoken by 6% of the world
Mostly in Indonesia Thousands of islands = lots of
languages
722 actively used Most widely spoken=
Javanese
Spoken by 85 million people
Also spoken in Madagascar migration
Austro- Asiatic Spoken by 2% of the world
Based in Southeast Asia
Vietnamese most widely spoken Written in Roman alphabet
Devised in 7th century by Roman Catholic Missionaries
Tai Kadai Spoken in Thailand and parts
of China Might have migrated from
Philippines
Distribution of Language Families
Japanese Uses ideograms and two
systems of phonetic symbols
Based off Chinese language
Korean Not written with ideograms Written system called
hankul Each letter represents a
sound (like Western languages)
Over ½ of vocabulary from Chinese words
Distribution of Language Families
Languages of the Middle East and Central Asia
Major language families in the Middle East and Central Asia
Afro-Asiatic Arabic the major language
Official language in 2 dozen countries of the Middle East
200 million + native speakers
The Quran helped spread of language
Family includes Hebrew
Altaic Thought to have originated in
the steppes between Tibet and China Present distribution covers an
8,000 kilometer band of Asia
Turkish most spoken Once written in Arabic letters
1928 Turkish government ordered it written in Roman alphabet
Suppressed during Soviet Union era
Uralic Spoken in Estonia, Finland, and
Hungary
Traced back to common language 7,000 years ago in Ural Mts
Distribution of Language Families
African Language Families No one knows the precise $
of languages spoken in Africa
Over 1,000 languages documented Most do not have a written
tradition
Great # of languages results from at least 5,000 years of minimal interaction
Arabic most widely spoken in North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is more
complex
Niger- Congo Spoken by 95% of Sub-
Saharan Africa Swahili
1st language for only 800,000
2nd language for 30 million
Developed from interaction among African groups and Arab traders
Nilo-Saharan Spoken in north-central Africa
Has six language branches
Khosian Distinct use of clicking sounds
Hottentot most important language