5.3 Language Families of the World Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families....

5.3 Language Families of the World

Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

Major Language FamiliesPercentage of World Population

Fig. 5-11a: The percentage of world population speaking each of the main language families. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan together represent almost 75% of the world’s people.

Language Family Trees

Sino-Tibetan Language Family (20%)Branches:

• Sinitic - Mandarin (1075), - Cantonese (71),

• Austro-Thai (77) - Thai, Hmong

• Tibeto-Burman - Burmese (32)

Chinese languages based on 420 one syllable words with meaning infered from context and tone.

5.3 Language Families of the World

Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

Sino-Tibetan Language Family

Sinitic BranchChinese Ideograms

Fig. 5-13: Chinese languageideograms mostlyrepresent conceptsrather than sounds. The two basic characters at the top can be built intomore complex words.

Language Branch

Languages

Sino-TibetanLanguage Family

China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos2nd largest (26% of world)

SiniticAustro-ThaiTibetan-BurmanMandarinBurmeseThai

Language Branch

Languages

Sinitic Mandarin

Austro-Thai Thai

Tibetan-Burman

Burmese

Sino-TibetanLanguage Family

SiniticAustro-ThaiTibetan-BurmanMandarinBurmeseThai

Afro-Asiatic Language FamilyMain Branch:

Semitic

•Arabic (256)

Language of the Koran; spread by Islamic Faith and Islamic (Ottoman) Empires

•Hebrew (5)

Language of the old Testament (with Aramaic) completely revived from extinction in Israel, 1948.

Islamic World circa A.D. 1500

Language Branch

Languages

Afro-AsiaticLanguage Family

Middle East & North Africanext largest (6%)

SemiticArabicHebrew

Language Branch

Languages

Semitic Arabic & Hebrew

Afro-AsiaticLanguage Familynext largest (6%)

SemiticArabicHebrew

Languages

AltaicLanguage Family

Turkey to Mongolia (Central Asia)(3%)

TurkishUzbekKazakh

5.3 Language Families of the World

Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

UralicLanguage Family

Finland, Estonia, Hungary2nd largest language family in Europe

(NO Indo-European language is spoken in these countries)

5.3 Language Families of the World

Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

Language Families of AfricaFig. 5-14:

The 1,000 or more languages of Africa are divided among five main language families:

Niger-Congo (95%)

Nilo-SaharanKhoisanAustronesian

& Afro-Asiatic (Arabic)

Niger-Congo Diffusion: The Great Bantu Migration

• proto-Bantu peoples originated in Cameroon-Nigeria

• They spread throughout southern Africa AD 1 - 1000

• Bantu peoples were agriculturalists who used metal tools

• Khoisan peoples were hunter-gatherers and were no match for the Bantu.

• Pygmies adopted Bantu tongue and retreated to forest

• Hottentots and Bushmen retained the clicks of Khoisan languages

5.3 Language Families of the World

Fig. 5-11: Distribution of the world’s main language families. Languages with more than 100 million speakers are named.

Distribution of Language Families

1. Niger-Congo (95% of Africans speak: there are MANY languages in Africa due to the minimal interaction over the past 5000 years)

NIGERIA – lots of conflict due

to language diversity

2. Austronesia (SE Asia-Indonesia, also Madagascar. There is strong evidence of migration from SE Asia to Madagascar)

Language Families

Area spoken

African Language Families

Niger-CongoAustronesianKhoisanNilo-Saharan

Namibia & BotswanaSub-Saharan AfricaMadagascarChad & S. Sudan

Languages of Nigeria

Fig. 5-15: More than 400 languages are spoken in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa (by population). English, considered neutral, is the official language.

Ch 5.3 Review Questions