Online Encyclopedia
Language families and languages
Most languages are known to belong to language families (called simply "families" for the rest of this article). An accurately identified family is a phylogenetic unit, i.e., all its members derive from a common ancestor. The ancestor is very seldom known to us directly, since most languages have a very short recorded history. However, it is possible to recover many of the features of the common ancestor of related languages by applying the comparative method -- a reconstructive procedure worked out by 19th-century linguist August Schleicher. It can demonstrate the family status of many of the groupings listed below.
Language families can be subdivided into smaller units, conventionally referred to as "branches" (because the history of a language family is often represented as a "tree" diagram).
The common ancestor of a family (or branch) is known as its "protolanguage". For example, the reconstructible protolanguage of the well-known Indo-European family is called Proto-Indo-European (not known from written records, since it was spoken before the invention of writing). Sometimes a protolanguage can be identified with a historically known language. Thus, provincial dialects of Latin ("Vulgar Latin") gave rise to the modern Romance languages, so the Proto-Romance language is more or less identical with Latin (if not exactly with the literary Latin of the Classical writers), and dialects of Old Norse are the protolanguage to Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic.
Languages that cannot be reliably classified into any family are known as language isolates.
Natural languages
Major language families (grouped geographically without regard to inter-family relationship)
In the following, each "bulleted" item is a known language family. The geographic headings over them are meant solely as a tool for grouping families into collections more comprehensible than an unstructured list of the dozen or two of independent families. Geographic relationship is convenient for that purpose, but these headings are not a suggestion of any "super-families" phylogenetically relating the families named.
Families of Africa and southwest Asia
- Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic) languages
- Niger-Congo languages
- Nilo-Saharan languages
- Khoisan languages
Families of Europe, and north, west, and south Asia
- Indo-European languages
- Dravidian languages (some include Dravidian languages in a larger Elamo-Dravidian language family.)
- Caucasian languages (generally thought to be two separate families, North Caucasian and South Caucasian)
- Altaic languages (disputed)
- Uralic languages
- Hurro-Urartian languages (extinct)
- Yukaghir languages (Some include Yukaghir in the Uralic family.)
- Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
- Yenisei-Ostyak languages
- Andamanese languages
Families of east and southeast Asia and the Pacific
- Austroasiatic languages
- Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) languages
- Sino-Tibetan languages (some include Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien in the Sino-Tibetan family)
- Tai-Kadai languages
- Hmong-Mien languages
- Australian Aboriginal languages (multiple families)
- Papuan languages (multiple families)
Families of the Americas
- See main article, Native American languages
- Alacalufan languages (South America) (2)
- Algic languages (including Algonquian) (North America)
- Arauan languages (South America) (8)
- Araucanian languages (South America) (2)
- Arawakan languages (South America, Caribbean) (60)
- Arutani-Sape languages (South America) (2)
- Aymaran languages (South America) (3)
- Barbacoan languages (South America) (7)
- Caddoan languages (North America)
- Cahuapanan languages (South America) (2)
- Carib languages (South America) (29)
- Chapacura-Wanham languages (South America) (5)
- Chibchan languages (Central America, South America) (22)
- Choco languages (South America) (10)
- Chon languages (South America) (2)
- Chumash languages (North America) (7)
- Harakmbet languages (South America) (2)
- Hokan languages (North America)
- Huavean languages (North America)
- Inuit-Aleut languages (North America)
- Iroquoian languages (North America)
- Jivaroan languages (South America) (4)
- Katukinan languages (South America) (3)
- Keres languages (North America) (2)
- Kiowa-Tanoan languages (North America) (6)
- Lule-Vilela languages (South America) (1)
- Macro-Ge languages (South America) (32)
- Maku languages (South America) (6)
- Mascoian languages (South America) (5)
- Mataco-Guaicuru languages (South America) (11)
- Mayan languages (North America), (Central America)
- Misumalpan languages (Central America)
- Mixe-Zoque languages (North America, Central America)
- Mosetenan languages (South America) (1)
- Mura languages (South America) (1)
- Muskogean languages (North America)
- Na-Dene languages (Athabascan) (North America)
- Nambiquaran languages (South America) (5)
- Oto-Manguean languages (Central America)
- Paezan languages (South America) (1)
- Panoan languages (South America) (30)
- Penutian languages (North America)
- Peba-Yaguan languages (South America) (2)
- Quechuan languages (South America) (46)
- Salishan languages (North America)
- Salivan languages (South America) (2)
- Siouan languages (North America)
- Tacanan languages (South America) (6)
- Tucanoan languages (South America) (25)
- Tupi languages (South America) (70)
- Uru-Chipaya languages (South America) (2)
- Uto-Aztecan languages (North America)
- Witotoan languages (South America) (6)
- Yanomam languages (South America) (4)
- Zamucoan languages (South America) (2)
- Zaparoan languages (South America) (7)
Proposed language super-families
- Austric
- Indo-Pacific
- Ural-Altaic
- Pontic
- Ibero-Caucasian
- Alarodian
- Amerind
- Macro-Siouan
- Kongo-Saharan
- Super-Families that would include Indo-European
- Eurasiatic
- Nostratic
- Proto-World
Creole languages, pidgins, and trade languages
- Bislamic languages
- Chabacano - A Spanish creole spoken in South of the Philippines.
- Chinook Jargon
- Hawaiian Creole English
- Haitian creole
- Hiri Motu
- Lingua franca
- Portuguese Creole languages
- Sango
Isolate languages
Sign languages
- American Sign Language (ASL)
- Auslan, used in Australia
- British Sign Language (BSL)
- Dutch Sign Language (NGT)
- Quebec Sign Language (LSQ)
- French Sign Language (LSF)
- Flemish Sign Language "Vlaamse Gebarentaal" (VGT)
- German Sign Language "Deutsche Gebärdensprache" (DGS)
- German-Swiss Sign Language "Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache" (DSGS)
- Irish Sign Language (ISL)
- Nicaraguan Sign Language (LSN)
- Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL)
Other natural languages of special interest
Languages other than natural languages
Besides the above languages that have arisen spontaneously out of the capability for vocal communication, there are also languages that share many of their important properties.
External links
- http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp
- http://www.unilang2.org/main/families.php
- http://gebaren.ugent.be