Language FamiliesUse this powerpoint to supplement the information on the graphic organizer and to color code the global distribution of language families map.
Distribution of Language Families
• Indo-European = largest language family• 46% of the world’s population • Spread across globe through colonialism/migration
– most widely diffused language family
– See following maps!!!!
• Remember this family includes language branches associated with Europe (Germanic, Slavic, Romance etc.) but also branches in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran!
Indo-European
Indo-European (Indo-Iranian Branch)
Indo-European Distribution
Indo-European Distribution
Indo-European Distribution
Indo-European Distribution
Indo-European Distribution
Indo-European Distribution
Distribution of Language Families
• Classification of languages– Sino-Tibetan = 2nd largest language family
• 21% of the world’s population – Mandarin
» most speakers of a single native language in the world• written “Chinese” can be understood by speakers of many
“Chinese” languages/dialects, why?– Ideograms
» written characters which represent ideas or concepts not specific pronunciations.
» huge amount of characters, hard to learn hence high illiteracy rate in China
Sino-Tibetan Family
Distribution of Other Language Families • Africa
– extensive diversity• 1,000 distinct languages • + thousands of dialects
– Niger-Congo family• 95% of sub-Saharan • Originated in west/central
Africa (Cameroon/Nigeria)• Spread thru “Bantu
migration” beginning c. 1000 BCE
– Example = “Zulus”
Distribution of Other Language Families • Africa
– extensive diversity– Niger-Congo family– Khoisan
• Hunter/gatherers (San)– “Bushmen” = derogatory
• Pastoralists (Khoi)– “Hottentots” = derogatory
• “Clicking” languages– Oldest form of human
communication?
Languages of North Africa and Middle
East
• Afro-Asiatic (“Semitic”)– Arabic = most widely spoken
Semitic language• ironic since Arabs are often
accused of “anti-semitism”• spread thru diffusion of Islam• Other Arabic influence mainly
through Quran and trade– Swahili “people of the coast” =
Bantu + Arabic influence– Urdu = Hindi + Arabic/Persian
– Hebrew, Berber• Hebrew = once extinct, sacred
language revived with est. of the state of Israel
• Berber = language of indigenous N. Africans before “Arabization”.
Languages of Central Asia and the Middle East • Altaic or (Turkic) language family
• Turkish = most widely spoken language in family– Ottoman migration brings Turkic from Central Asia to “Turkey”
• Central Asia (Kazaks = “Kazakhstan”, Uzbekistan etc., Mongolian)
– Formerly suppressed under Russian Empire/USSR (Russification)
Distribution of Other Language Families – Uralic
• Significant Non-Indo-European family in Europe– Estonian, Hungarian (Magyar), and Finnish languages
– Basques? Unknown or nonexistent relation to other languages
• “Language isolate” = language cutoff from related languages by in-migration or unrelated to other languages.
– Basque speakers were cutoff and isolated by the waves of Indo-European speakers (Celts, Germanic tribes, etc.) migrating into Europe
Other Language Families• Austronesian (Malay-Polynesian)
– SE Asia, Philippines, Indonesia, Madagascar– Diffuses to Madagascar, involved the crossing of the Indian Ocean in outrigger
canoes (AWESOME!) • Dravidian: South Indian languages
– dated from before Aryan invasion (Indus Valley Civ.)– Dravidian Tamils vs. Indo-Euro Singhalese = Sri Lanka civil war
• Japanese and Korean– Both influenced by China– Korean possibly linked to Altaic (controversial)
• Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Khmer)– Vietnam and Cambodia and other non-contiguous areas in South and
Southeast Asia– Uses Latin alphabet (brought by missionaries in the 17th century)
• Nilo-Saharan = very small numbers• Caucasian
– Caucasus mountainous region = most lang. family diversity, why?– 4 language families, many religions
• Tai-Kadai = SE Asia (Thai and Lao)
• Other = 7,000 languages total, 50- 90% extinct by 2100
Other Language Families
Caucasus = region with most language family diversity
“Other” = mostly isolated
Voila! The Complete Map