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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
