Language Families
Use 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