What language groups exist in the world. What is a language family
There are a large number of language families and a wide variety of languages in the world. There are more than 6,000 of the latter on the planet. Most of them belong to the largest language families in the world, which are distinguished by lexical and grammatical composition, kinship of origin and by the common geographical location of their speakers. However, it should be noted that community of residence is not always an integral factor.
In turn, the language families of the world are divided into groups. They are distinguished in a similar way. There are also languages that do not belong to any of the selected families, as well as the so-called isolated languages. It is also customary for scientists to single out macrofamilies, i.e. groups of language families.
Indo-European family
The most fully studied is the Indo-European language family. It has been isolated since ancient times. However, relatively recently, work began on the study of the Proto-Indo-European language.
The Indo-European language family consists of groups of languages whose speakers live in vast areas of Europe and Asia. So, the German group belongs to them. Its main languages are English and German. Also large group is Romance, which includes French, Spanish, Italian and other languages. In addition, Eastern European peoples who speak languages of the Slavic group also belong to the Indo-European family. This is Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, etc.
This language family is not the largest in terms of the number of languages included in it. However, these languages are spoken by almost half of the world's population.
Afro-Asian family
The languages that represent the Afro-Asiatic language family are used by more than a quarter of a million people. It includes Arabic, Egyptian, Hebrew, and many others, including extinct languages.
This family is usually divided into five (six) branches. This includes the Semitic branch, Egyptian, Chadian, Cushite, Berber-Libyan and Omot. In general, the Afro-Asiatic family includes more than 300 languages. African continent and parts of Asia.
However, this family is not the only one on the continent. AT in large numbers, especially to the south, there are other languages in Africa that are not related to it. There are at least 500 of them. Almost all of them were not presented in writing until the 20th century. and used only orally. Some of them are still exclusively oral.
Nilo-Saharan family
The language families of Africa also include the Nilo-Saharan family. The Nilo-Saharan languages are represented by six language families. One of them is songhai-zarma. The languages and dialects of another - the Saharan family - are common in Central Sudan. There is also a family of mamba, whose carriers inhabit Chad. Another family, Fur, is also common in Sudan.
The most complex is the Shari-Nile language family. It, in turn, is divided into four branches, which consist of language groups. The last family - coma - is common in Ethiopia and Sudan.
The language families represented by the Nilo-Saharan macrofamily have significant differences among themselves. Accordingly, they present a great challenge for linguistic researchers. Into the languages of this macrofamily big influence rendered by the Afro-Asian macrofamily.
Sino-Tibetan family
The Sino-Tibetan language family has over a million native speakers of its languages. First of all, this became possible due to the large number of the Chinese population speaking Chinese, which is part of one of the branches of this language family. In addition to it, this branch includes the Dungan language. It is they who form a separate branch (Chinese) in the Sino-Tibetan family.
Another branch includes more than three hundred languages, which are distinguished as the Tibeto-Burmese branch. There are approximately 60 million native speakers of its languages.
Unlike Chinese, Burmese and Tibetan, most of the languages of the Sino-Tibetan family do not have a written tradition and are passed down from generation to generation exclusively orally. Despite the fact that this family has been studied deeply and for a long time, it still remains insufficiently studied and hides many secrets that have not yet been revealed.
North and South American languages
At present, as is known, the vast majority of North and South American languages belong to the Indo-European or Romance families. Settling New World European colonists brought with them their own languages. However, the dialects of the indigenous population of the American continent did not disappear altogether. Many monks and missionaries who came from Europe to America recorded and systematized the languages and dialects of the local population.
Thus, the languages of the North American continent north of present-day Mexico were represented in the form of 25 language families. In the future, some experts have revised this division. Unfortunately, South America has not been studied as well in terms of language.
Language families of Russia
All the peoples of Russia speak languages belonging to 14 language families. In total, there are 150 different languages and dialects in Russia. The basis of the country's linguistic wealth is made up of four main language families: Indo-European, North Caucasian, Altai, Ural. Wherein most of The population of the country speaks languages belonging to the Indo-European family. This part makes up 87 percent of the total population of Russia. Moreover, the Slavic group occupies 85 percent. It includes Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian, which make up the East Slavic group. These languages are very close to each other. Their carriers can almost easily understand each other. This is especially true for the Belarusian and Russian languages.
Altaic language family
The Altaic language family consists of the Turkic, Tungus-Manchurian and Mongolian language groups. The difference in the number of representatives of their carriers in the country is great. For example, Mongolian is represented in Russia exclusively by Buryats and Kalmyks. But the Turkic group includes several dozen languages. Among them are Khakass, Chuvash, Nogai, Bashkir, Azerbaijani, Yakut and many others.
The group of Tungus-Manchurian languages includes Nanai, Udege, Even and others. This group is under the threat of extinction due to the preference of their native peoples to use Russian on the one hand, and Chinese on the other. Despite the extensive and long study of the Altaic language family, it is extremely difficult for specialists to decide on the reproduction of the Altaic parent language. This is explained by the large number of borrowings of its speakers from other languages due to close contact with their representatives.
Ural family
Uralic languages are represented by two big families- Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic. The first of them includes Karelians, Mari, Komi, Udmurts, Mordovians and others. The languages of the second family are spoken by Enets, Nenets, Selkups, Nganasans. The carriers of the Ural macrofamily are to a large extent Hungarians (more than 50 percent) and Finns (20 percent).
The name of this family comes from the name of the Ural Range, where it is believed that the formation of the Ural proto-language took place. The languages of the Uralic family had some influence on their neighboring Slavic and Baltic languages. In total, there are more than twenty languages of the Uralic family both in Russia and abroad.
North Caucasian family
The languages of the peoples of the North Caucasus represent a huge difficulty for linguists in terms of their structuring and study. In itself, the concept of a North Caucasian family is rather arbitrary. The fact is that the languages of the local population are too little studied. However, thanks to the painstaking and deep work of many linguists studying this issue, it became clear how fragmented and complex many of the North Caucasian dialects are.
Difficulties relate not only to the actual grammar, structure and rules of the language, for example, as in the Tabasaran language - one of the most complex languages on the planet, but also pronunciation, which is sometimes simply inaccessible to people who do not speak these languages.
A significant obstacle for specialists studying them is the inaccessibility of many mountainous regions of the Caucasus. However, this language family, despite all the contradictions, is usually divided into two groups - Nakh-Dagestan and Abkhaz-Adyghe.
Representatives of the first group inhabit mainly the regions of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. These include Avars, Lezgins, Laks, Dargins, Chechens, Ingush, etc. The second group consists of representatives of kindred peoples - Kabardians, Circassians, Adyghes, Abkhazians, etc.
Other language families
The language families of the peoples of Russia are by no means always extensive, uniting many languages into one family. Many of them are very small and some are even isolated. Such nationalities primarily live in Siberia and the Far East. So, the Chukchi-Kamchatka family unites the Chukchi, Itelmens, and Koryaks. The Aleuts and Eskimos speak Aleut-Eskimo.
A large number of nationalities scattered over the vast territory of Russia, being extremely few in number (several thousand people or even less), have their own languages, which are not included in any known language family. As, for example, the Nivkhs inhabiting the banks of the Amur and Sakhalin, and the Kets, located near the Yenisei.
However, the problem of linguistic extinction in the country continues to threaten the cultural and linguistic diversity of Russia. Not only individual languages, but also entire language families are under the threat of extinction.
I. Indo-European language family (13 groups or branches)
1. Indian (Indo-Aryan) group Includes old, middle and new Indian languages. Over 96 living languages in total
1) Hindustani is a new Indian literary language. It has two varieties: Hindi (state language of India); Urdu (state language of Pakistan).
Dead: 2) Vedic - the language of the most ancient sacred books (Vedas) of the Aryans, who invaded India in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC; Sanskrit is the literary language of the ancient Indians from the 3rd century BC. BC. to the 7th century AD It has two forms: epic (the language of the "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana") and classical (formed in the 1st millennium AD).
2. Iranian group
1) Persian (Farsi), Pashto (Afghan) - the state language of Afghanistan, Tajik, Kurdish, Ossetian, Pamir - non-written languages of the Pamirs. Dead: 2) Old Persian - the language of cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenid era; Avestan - the language of the sacred book "Avesta", close to Sanskrit; Median, Parthian, Sogdian, Khorezmian, Scythian, Saka.
3. Slavic group The Slavic languages were formed on the basis of one common language, the collapse of which dates back to the middle of the 1st millennium AD.
1) Eastern subgroup: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian; 2) Southern subgroup: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian (the Serbs have a letter based on the Russian alphabet, among the Croats - based on the Latin). Dead: 3) Old Church Slavonic (Old Church Slavonic or Church Slavonic). 4) Western subgroup: Czech, Slovak, Polish, Kashubian, Serbal Lusatian (has two dialects - Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian). Dead: 5) Polabsky - was distributed on the banks of the river. Laby (Elbe) until the 17th century.
4. Baltic group
1) Lithuanian, Latvian, Latgalian. Dead: 2) Prussian - was common in East Prussia, due to the forced Germanization of the Prussians, went out of use at the end of the 18th century; 3) Curonian - the language of the population of Courland.
5. German group Includes 3 subgroups: northern, western and eastern (dead)
1) Northern (Scandinavian) subgroup: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Farroer; 2) West German subgroup: English, Dutch *, Flemish, German (formed in the 16th century), Yiddish (New Jewish).
- NOTE. After the text you are reading was posted on the Internet, the following letter was received by the editors of the site:
I would like to draw the attention of the authors of the site to the inaccuracy in the classification of languages. As a Diploma in Dutch, with full knowledge subject, I argue that it is unlawful to speak of "Dutch" and "Flemish" languages. The Dutch and Flemings have a common literary language - Dutch. All major philological reference books and dictionaries, including the Big dictionary of the Dutch language (Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal) is the fruit of the joint work of Dutch and Flemish linguists.
O. Biletsky, Amsterdam, [email protected]
6. Romanesque group
1) French, Italian, Sardinian (Sardian), Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Romanian, Moldavian, Romansh - the official language of Switzerland, Creole - crossed with French about. Haiti. Dead: 2) Medieval Vulgar Latin - vernacular Latin dialects of the early Middle Ages, which, when crossed with the languages of the Roman provinces, became the basis of modern Romance languages.
7. Celtic group
1) Irish, Scottish, Breton, Welsh (Welsh). Dead: 2) Gaulish.
8. Greek group
1) Greek (modern Greek). Dead: 2) Ancient Greek; Middle Greek (Byzantine).
9. Albanian group
1) Albanian.
10. Armenian group
1) Armenian.
Dead groups of the Indo-European language family: 11) Anatolian - Hittite, Luvian, Lydian (were common in Asia Minor); 12) Italian - Latin and Umbrian languages; 13) Tokhar - Karashahr, Kuchan (known from manuscripts of the 5th-7th centuries found during excavations in Chinese Turkestan in the 20th century).
II. Semitic-Hamitic (Afrasian) language family
1. Semitic group
1) Northern subgroup: Aysor. Dead: 2) Aramaic, Akkadian, Phoenician, Canaanite, Hebrew (Hebrew). In Hebrew in the II-I millennium BC. e. said the Jews of Palestine. The most important monument of the Hebrew language is the Old Testament (the oldest part - "The Song of Deborah" - refers to the XII or XII centuries BC, the rest of the text - to the IX-II centuries BC). From the beginning N. e. Hebrew, displaced from colloquial use by Aramaic, was the language of culture and religion. The beginning of the revival of Hebrew was laid by Jewish writers and journalists of the Haskalah (Enlightenment) period in the 18th-19th centuries. You can read more about this in the article by O.B. Cohen "From the history of the revival of the Hebrew language". In the XX century. Hebrew - the state language of Israel; 3) Southern group: Arabic; Amharic - the literary language of Ethiopia; tigre, tigrinya, harari, and others are the non-written languages of Ethiopia.
2. Cushitic group Includes the languages of Northeast Africa
1) Galla, Somali, Beja, etc.
3. Berber group
1) Tuareg, Kabil, etc. Dead: 2) Libyan.
4. Chadian group
1) House and others.
5. Egyptian group (dead)
1) Ancient Egyptian, Coptic - a cult language Orthodox Church in Egypt.
NOTE. Sometimes the Semitic-Hamitic family is divided into two groups: Semitic and Hamitic, which includes all non-Semitic languages. Some scholars believe that there is no relationship between Semitic and Hamitic languages.
III. Caucasian language family
1) Adyghe-Abkhazian group: Abkhazian, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian; 2) Nakh group: Chechen, Ingush; 3) Dagestan group (5 written languages, 22 non-written languages): Avar, Dargin, Lezgin, Lak, Tabasaran; 4) Kartvelian group: Megrelian, Georgian, Svan.
IV. Finno-Ugric language family
1. Ugric group
1) Hungarian (Magyar), Mansi, Khanty;
2. Finnish group
1) Baltic subgroup: Finnish (Suomi), Sami (Lapp), Estonian, Karelian, Izhora, Veps, Vod, Liv; 2) Permian group: Komi-Zyryansky, Komi-Permian; 3) Volga group: Udmurt, Mari, Mordovian (includes two independent languages - Erzya and Moksha).
V. Samoyed language family
1) Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup.
NOTE. Sometimes the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic language families are combined into a single Uralic language family with two groups: Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic.
VI. Turkic language family
1) Bulgar group: Chuvash; dead - Bulgarian, Khazar; 2) Oguz group: Turkmen, Gagauz, Turkish, Azerbaijani; Dead - Oguz, Pecheneg; 3) Kypchak group: Tatar, Bashkir, Karaim, Kumyk, Nogai, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Altai, Karakalpak, Karachay-Balkarian, Crimean Tatar. Dead - Polovtsian, Pecheneg, Golden Horde. 4) Karluk group: Uzbek, Uighur; 5) Eastern Xiongnu group: Yakut, Tuva, Khakass, Shor, Karagas. Dead - Orkhon, Old Uyghur.
VII. Mongolian language family
1) Mongolian, Buryat, Kalmyk, Mogul (Afghanistan), Mongolian (PRC), Dakhur (Manchuria).
VIII. Tungus-Manchu language family
1) Tungus group: Evenki, Evenk (Lamut), Negidal Nanai, Udei, Ulchi, Oroch; 2) Manchu group: Manchu; Dead - Chzhurzhensky, Sibo.
NOTE. The Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu language families are sometimes combined into the Altaic language family. The Altaic language family sometimes includes a Japanese-Korean group (branch) with Korean and Japanese languages.
IX. Sino-Tibetan language family
1) Chinese group: Chinese, Dungan; 2) Tibeto-Burmese group: Tibetan, Burmese, Izu, Hani, Lisu, Himalayan and Assamese languages.
X. Dravidian language family (languages of the pre-Indo-European population of the Hindustan peninsula)
1) Dravidian group: Tamil, Malalayam, Kannara; 2) Andhra group: Telugu; 3) Central Indian group: gondii; 4) Brahui language (Pakistan).
XI. Austroasiatic language family
1) Vietnamese group: Vietnamese; 2) Mon-Khmer group: Mon, Khasi, Khmer, Senoy, Semang, Nicobar; 3) Miao-yao group: miao, yao;
The enumeration of languages is accompanied by minimal geographical, historical and philological commentary.
I. INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
1. Indian group 1
(over 96 living languages in total)
1) Hindi and Urdu(sometimes referred to as Hindustani 2) - two varieties of one new Indian literary language: Urdu - the state language of Pakistan, has a written language based on the Arabic alphabet; Hindi (official language of India) - based on the Old Indian script Devanagari.
2) Bengal.
3)
Punjabi.
4) Lakhnda (landi).
5) Sindhi.
6)
Rajasthani.
7) Gujarati.
8) Mrathi.
9)
Sinhalese.
10) Nepal(Eastern Pahari, in Nepal)
11)
Bihari.
12) Oriya.(otherwise: audrey, utkali, in eastern India)
13) Assamese.
14) Gypsy, released as a result of resettlements and migrations in the 5th - 10th centuries. AD
15) Kashmiri and others Dardic languages
Dead:
16) Vedic- the language of the most ancient sacred books of the Indians - the Vedas, formed in the first half of the second millennium BC. e. (recorded later).
17) Sanskrit. The "classical" literary language of the Indians from the 3rd century BC. BC. to the 7th century AD (literally samskrta means "processed", as opposed to prakrta "not normalized" spoken language); rich literature, religious and secular (epos, dramaturgy), remained in Sanskrit; the first Sanskrit grammar of the 4th c. BC. Panini reworked in the 13th century. AD Vopadeva.
18) Pali- Central Indian literary and cult language of the medieval era.
19) Prakrits- various colloquial Middle Indian dialects, from which the new Indian languages \u200b\u200bcame; replicas of minor persons in Sanskrit dramaturgy are written on prakrits.
1 On Indian languages, see: 3grapher G.A. Languages of India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Nepal. M., I960.
2 See, for example, the title of the book by A.P. Barannikov "Hindustani (Urdu and Hindi)". D., 1934.
2. Iranian group 1
(more than 10 languages; finds the greatest proximity with the Indian group, with which it unites into a common Indo-Iranian, or Aryan, group;
arya - tribal self-name in the most ancient monuments, from it Iran, and Alan - self-name of the Scythians)
1) Persian(Farsi) - writing based on the Arabic alphabet; for Old Persian and Middle Persian, see below.
2) Dari(Farsi-Kabuli) is the literary language of Afghanistan, along with Pashto.
3) Pashto(Pashto, Afghan) - literary language, from the 30s. state language of Afghanistan.
4) Baloch (baluchi).
5) Tajik.
6)
Kurdish.
7) Ossetian; dialects: Iron (Eastern) Digor (Western). Ossetians - descendants of the Alans-Scythians
8) Talysh.
10) Caspian(Gilyan, Mazanderan) dialects.
11)
Pamir languages(Shugnan, Rushan, Bartang, Capykol, Khuf, Oroshor, Yazgulyam, Ishkashim, Vakhani) are the non-written languages of the Pamirs.
12) Yagnobsky.
Dead:
13) Old Persian- the language of cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenid era (Darius, Xerxes, etc.) VI - IV centuries. BC e.
14)
Avestan- another ancient Iranian language, which came down in the Middle Persian lists of the sacred book "Avesta", which contains the religious texts of the cult of the Zoroastrians, the followers of Zarathushtra (in Greek: Zoroaster).
15)
Pahlavi- Middle Persian language III - IX centuries. n. e., preserved in the translation of the "Avesta" (this translation is called "Zend", from where for a long time the Avestan language itself was incorrectly called Zend).
16) Median- a genus of northwestern Iranian dialects; written monuments have not been preserved.
17) Parthian- one of the Middle Persian languages \u200b\u200bof the 3rd century. BC e. - III century. n. e., common in Parthia to the southeast of the Caspian Sea.
18)
Sogdian- the language of Sogdiana in the Zeravshan valley, the first millennium AD. e.; ancestor of the Yaghnobi language.
19) Khwarezmian- the language of Khorezm along the lower reaches of the Amu Darya; the first - the beginning of the second millennium AD.
20)
Scythian- the language of the Scythians (Alans), who lived in the steppes Along the northern coast of the Black Sea and east to the borders of China in the first millennium BC. e. and the first millennium AD. e.; preserved in proper names in Greek transmission; ancestor of the Ossetian language.
21) Bactrian(Kushan) - the language of the ancient Bakt along the upper reaches of the Amu Darya, as well as the language of the Kushan beginning of the first millennium AD.
22) Saky(Khotanese) - in Central Asia and in Chinese Turkestan; from V - X centuries. AD texts written in the Indian Brahmi script remained.
Note. Most contemporary Iranian scholars subdivide the living and dead Iranian languages into the following groups:BUT. Western
1) Southwestern: ancient and middle Persian, modern Persian, Tajik, Tat and some others.
2) Northwestern: Median, Parthian, Balochi (Baluchi), Kurdish, Talysh and other Caspian.
B. Oriental
1) Southeastern: Saka (Khotanese), Pashto (Pashto), Pamir.
2) Northeastern: Scythian, Sogdian, Khorezmian, Ossetian, Yagnob.
1 On Iranian languages, see: Oransky I.M. Iranian languages. M, 1963. - Tat - Tats are divided into Muslim Tats and "Mountain Jews"
3. Slavic group
BUT. Eastern subgroup
1) Russian; adverbs: northern (great) Russian - "surrounding" and southern (great) Russian - "aking"; The Russian literary language developed on the basis of the transitional dialects of Moscow and its environs, where from the south and southeast the Tula, Kursk, Orel and Ryazan dialects spread features alien to the northern dialects, which were the dialectal basis of the Moscow dialect, and displaced some of the features of the latter, as well as by mastering the elements of the Church Slavonic literary language; in addition, in the Russian literary language in the XVI-XVIII centuries. included various foreign language elements; writing based on the Russian alphabet, reworked from the Slavic - "Cyrillic" under Peter the Great; ancient monuments of the 11th century. (they also apply to the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages); official language Russian Federation, an interethnic language for communication between the peoples of the Russian Federation and adjacent territories former USSR, one of the world's languages.
2) Ukrainian or Ukrainian a indian; before the revolution of 1917 - Little Russian or Little Russian; three main dialects: northern, southeastern, southwestern; the literary language begins to take shape from the 14th century, the modern literary language exists from the end of the 18th century. on the basis of the Podneprovsky dialects of the southeastern dialect; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet in its post-Petrine variety.
3) Belorussian; writing since the 14th century. based on Cyrillic Dialects North-Eastern and South-Western; literary language - on the basis of Central Belarusian dialects.
B. Southern subgroup
4) Bulgarian- formed in the process of contacting Slavic dialects with the language of the Kama Bulgars, from where it got its name; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet; ancient monuments from the 10th century. AD
5) Macedonian.
6)
Serbo-Croatian; the Serbs write on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, the Croats - on the basis of the Latin; ancient monuments from the 12th century.
7) Slovenian;- writing based on the Latin alphabet; the oldest monuments from the X - XI centuries.
Dead:
8) Old Church Slavonic(or Old Church Slavonic) - the common literary language of the Slavs of the medieval period, which arose on the basis of the Solun dialects of the ancient Bulgarian language in connection with the introduction of writing for the Slavs (two alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic) and the translation of church books to promote Christianity among the Slavs in the 9th-10th centuries . n. e.. Among the Western Slavs, it was supplanted by Latin in connection with Western influence and the transition to Catholicism; in the form of Church Slavonic - constituent element Russian literary language.
AT. Western subgroup
9) Czech; writing based on the Latin alphabet; ancient monuments from the 13th century.
10) Slovak; Polish; writing based on the Latin alphabet; ancient monuments from the 14th century,
12)
Kashubian; lost its independence and became a dialect of the Polish language.
13) Lusatian(abroad: Sorabian, Vendian); two options: upper Lusatian (or eastern) and lower Lusatian (or western); writing based on the Latin alphabet.
Dead:
14) Polabsky- died out in the 18th century, was distributed along both banks of the river. Labs (Elbes) in Germany.
15) Pomeranian dialects- died out in the medieval period due to forced Germanization; were distributed along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in Pomerania (Pomerania).
4. Baltic group
1) Lithuanian; writing based on the Latin alphabet; monuments from the 14th century. Latvian; writing based on the Latin alphabet; monuments from the 14th century.
3) Latgalian 1 .
Dead:
4) Prussian- died out in the 17th century. in connection with forced Germanization; the territory of the former East Prussia; monuments of the XIV-XVII centuries.
5) Yatvyazh, Curonian and other languages in the territory of Lithuania and Latvia, extinct by the 17th-18th centuries.
1 There is an opinion that this is only a dialect of the Latvian language.
5. German group
BUT. North Germanic (Scandinavian) subgroup1) Danish; writing based on the Latin alphabet; served as a literary language for Norway until the end of the 19th century.
2) Swedish; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
3) Norwegian; writing based on the Latin alphabet, originally Danish, since the literary language of the Norwegians until the end of the 19th century. was Danish. In modern Norway, there are two forms of the literary language: riksmol (otherwise: Bokmål) - bookish, closer to Danish, Ilansmol (otherwise: Nynorsk), closer to Norwegian dialects.
4) Icelandic; writing based on the Latin alphabet; written monuments from the 13th century. ("sagas").
5) Faroese.
B. West German subgroup
6) English; Literary English developed in the 16th century. AD based on the London dialect; 5th-11th centuries - Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), XI-XVI centuries. - Middle English and from the 16th century. - New English; writing based on the Latin alphabet (no changes); written monuments from the 7th century; language of international importance.
7)
Dutch (Dutch) with Flemish; writing in Latin; Boers live in the Republic of South Africa, immigrants from Holland who speak a variety of the Dutch language, the Boer language (in other words: Afrikaans).
8) Frisian; monuments from the 14th century.
9) Deutsch; two dialects: Low German (Northern, Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch) and High German (Southern, Hochdeutsch); the literary language developed on the basis of southern German dialects, but with many features of the northern ones (especially in pronunciation), but still does not represent unity; in the VIII-XI centuries. - Old High German, in the XII-XV centuries. -Middle High German, from the 16th century. - New High German, worked out in the Saxon offices and translations of Luther and his associates; writing based on the Latin alphabet in two varieties: Gothic and Antiqua; one of the largest languages in the world.
10)
Yiddish(or Yiddish, New Hebrew) - various High German dialects mixed with elements of Hebrew, Slavic and other languages.
AT. East German subgroup
Dead:
11)
Gothic, existed in two dialects. Visigothic - served the medieval Gothic state in Spain and Northern Italy; had a written language based on the Gothic alphabet, compiled by Bishop Wulfila in the 4th century. n. e. for the translation of the Gospel, which is the most ancient monument of the Germanic languages. Ostrogothic - the language of the Eastern Goths, who lived in the early Middle Ages on the Black Sea coast and in the southern Dnieper region; existed until the 16th century. in the Crimea, thanks to which a small dictionary compiled by the Dutch traveler Busbeck has been preserved.
12) Burgundian, Vandal, Gepid, Heruli- the languages of the ancient Germanic tribes in East Germany.
6. Romanesque group
(before the collapse of the Roman Empire and the formation of Romance 1 languages - Italian)
1) French; literary language developed by the 16th century. based on the Île-de-France dialect centered in Paris; French dialects were formed at the beginning of the Middle Ages as a result of the crossing of the popular (vulgar) Latin of the Roman conquerors and the language of the conquered native Gauls - Gallic; writing based on the Latin alphabet; the oldest monuments from the 9th century. AD; the middle French period from the 9th to the 15th centuries, the new French - from the 16th century. French became an international language earlier than other European languages.
2) Provencal (Occitan); minority language southeastern France (Provence); as a literary one existed in the Middle Ages (the lyrics of the troubadours) and survived until the end of the 19th century.
3) Italian; the literary language developed on the basis of the Tuscan dialects, and in particular the dialect of Florence, which arose due to the crossing of vulgar Latin with the languages \u200b\u200bof the mixed population of medieval Italy; written in the Latin alphabet, historically the first national language in Europe 3 .
4) Sardinian(or Sardinian). Spanish; formed in Europe as a result of crossing folk (vulgar) Latin with the languages of the native population of the Roman province of Iberia; writing based on the Latin alphabet (the same applies to Catalan and Portuguese).
6) Galician.
7) Catalan.
8)
Portuguese.
9) Romanian; formed as a result of crossing folk (vulgar) Latin and the languages of the natives of the Roman province of Dacia; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
10) Moldavian(a kind of Romanian); writing based on the Russian alphabet.
11)
Macedonian-Romanian(Aromunian).
12) Romansh- the language of the national minority; since 1938 it has been recognized as one of the four official languages of Switzerland.
13) Creole languages- Crossed Romance with local languages (Haitian, Mauritian, Seychelles, Senegalese, Papiamento, etc.).
Dead (Italian):
14) Latin- the literary state language of Rome in the republican and imperial era (III century BC - the first centuries of the Middle Ages); the language of rich literary monuments, epic, lyrical and dramatic, historical prose, legal documents and oratory; the oldest monuments from the VI century. BC.; the first description of the Latin language by Varro. 1st century BC.; classical grammar of Donat - IV century. AD; the literary language of the Western European Middle Ages and the language of the Catholic Church; along with ancient Greek - a source of international terminology.
15) Medieval Vulgar Latin- folk Latin dialects of the early Middle Ages, which, when crossed with the native languages of the Roman provinces of Gaul, Iberia, Dacia, etc., gave rise to Romance languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc.
16) Oscan, Umbrian, Saber and other Italian dialects are preserved in fragmentary written monuments of the last centuries BC.
1 The name "Romance" comes from the word Roma, as Rome was called by the Latins, and now by the Italians.
2 See Ch. VII, § 89 - on the formation of national languages.
3 See ibid.
7. Celtic group
A. Goidel subgroup1) Irish; written records from the 4th c. n. e. (Ogham script) and from the 7th century. (on a Latin basis); is literary and at the present time.
2) Scottish (Gaelic).
Dead:
3) Manx- the language of the Isle of Man (in the Irish Sea).
B. Brythonic subgroup
4) Breton; Bretons (formerly Britons) moved after the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons from the British Isles to the European continent.
5) Welsh (Welsh).
Dead:
6) Cornish; in Cornwall, a peninsula in southwestern England.
b. Gallic subgroup
7) Gallic; extinct since the formation of the French language; was distributed in Gaul, Northern Italy, the Balkans and even in Asia Minor.
8. Greek group
1) modern Greek, from the 12th centuryDead:
2) ancient greek, 10th century BC. - V c. AD;
Ionic-Attic dialects from the 7th-6th centuries. BC.;
Achaean (Arcade-Cypriot) dialects from the 5th c. BC.;
northeastern (Boeotian, Thessalian, Lesbosian, Aeolian) dialects from the 7th century. BC.
and western (Dorian, Epirus, Cretan) dialects; - the oldest monuments from the 9th century. BC. (poems by Homer, epigraphy); from the 4th century BC. common literary language koine based on the Attic dialect centered in Athens; the language of rich literary monuments, epic, lyrical and dramatic, philosophical and historical prose; from III-II centuries. BC. works of Alexandrian grammarians; along with Latin - a source of international terminology.
3) Middle Greek or Byzantine- the state literary language of Byzantium from the first centuries AD. until the 15th century; the language of monuments - historical, religious and artistic.
9. Albanian group
Albanian, written monuments based on the Latin alphabet from the 15th century.10. Armenian group
Armenian; literary since the 5th century. AD; contains some elements dating back to the Caucasian languages; the ancient Armenian language - Grabar - is very different from the modern living Ashkharabar.11. Hitto-Luvian (Anatolian) group
Dead:1) Hittite (Hittite-Nesite, known from cuneiform monuments of the 18th-13th centuries. BC.; the language of the Hittite state in Asia Minor.
2) Luvian in Asia Minor (XIV-XIII centuries BC).
3) Palai in Asia Minor (XIV-XIII centuries BC).
4) carian
5) Lydian- Anatolian languages of ancient times.
6) Lycian
12. Tocharian group
Dead:1) Tocharian A (Turfan, Karashar)- in Chinese Turkestan (Xinjiang).
2) Tocharsky B (Kuchansky)- there; in Kucha until the 7th century. AD Known from manuscripts around the 5th-8th centuries. n. e. based on the Indian Brahmi script discovered during excavations in the 20th century.
Note 1. For a number of reasons, the following groups of Indo-European languages converge: Indo-Iranian (Aryan), Slavs - Baltic and Italo-Celtic.
Note 2. The Indo-Iranian and Slavo-Baltic languages can be grouped under satem languages, as opposed to the other kentom languages; this division is carried out according to the fate of the Indo-European *g and */s of the middle palatals, which in the first gave front-lingual fricatives (catam, simtas, sto - "hundred"), and in the second remained back-lingual plosives; in German, thanks to the movement of consonants - fricatives (hekaton, kentom (later centum), hundert, etc. - "one hundred").
Note 3. The question of belonging to the Indo-European languages of the Venetian, Messapian, obviously, the Illyrian group (in Italy), Phrygian, Thracian (in the Balkans) as a whole can be considered resolved; Pelasgian languages (Peloponnese before the Greeks), Etruscan (in Italy before the Romans), Ligurian (in Gaul) have not yet been clarified in their relationship to the Indo-European languages.
II. CAUCASUS LANGUAGES 1
A. Western group: Abkhazian-Adyghe languages
1. Abkhaz subgroupAbkhazian; dialects: bzybsky- northern and Abjui(or Kadbrian) - southern; writing until 1954 on the basis of the Georgian alphabet, now - on the Russian basis.
Abaza; writing based on the Russian alphabet.
2. Circassian subgroup
Adyghe.
Kabardian (Kabardino-Circassian).
Ubykh(Ubykhs emigrated to Turkey under tsarism).
B. Eastern group: Nakh-Dagestan languages
1. Nakh subgroupChechen; are written in Russian.
Ingush
Batsbi (tsova-tushinsky).
2. Dagestan subgroup
Avar.
Darginsky.
Laksky.
Lezginsky.
Tabasaran.
These five languages are written on the basis of Russian. Other languages are unwritten:
Andean.
Karatinsky.
Tyndinsky.
Chamalinsky.
Bagvalinsky.
Akhvakhsky.
Botlikh.
Godoberinsky.
Tsezsky.
Betinsky.
Khvarshinsky.
Gunzibsky.
Ginuhsky.
Tsakhursky.
Rutulsky.
Agulsky.
Archinsky.
Bududhekiy.
Kryzsky.
Udinsky.
Khinalugsky.
3. Southern group: Kartvelian (Iberian) languages
1)
Megrelian.
2) Laz (Chan).
3) Georgian: writing in the Georgian alphabet from the 5th century BC. AD, rich literary monuments of the Middle Ages; dialects: Khevsurian, Kartli, Imeretian, Gurian, Kakhetian, Adjarian, etc.
4) Svansky.
Note. All written languages (except Georgian and Ubykh) are based on the Russian alphabet, and in the previous period for several years - on Latin.1 The question of whether these groups represent one family of languages has not yet been resolved by science; rather, one can think that there are no family ties between them; the term "Caucasian languages" refers to their geographical distribution.
III. OUTSIDE THE GROUP - BASQUE
IV. URAL LANGUAGES
1. FINNO-UGRIAN (UGRIC-FINNISH) LANGUAGES
A. Ugric branch
1) Hungarian, written in Latin.2) Mansi (Vogul); writing on a Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).
3) Khanty (Ostyak); writing on a Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).
B. Baltic-Finnish branch
1) Finnish (Suomi); writing based on the Latin alphabet.2) Estonian; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
3) Izhora.
4) Karelian.
5) Vepsian.
6) Vodsky.
7) Livsky.
8) Sami (Saami, Lappish).
B. Perm branch
1) Komi-Zyryansky.2) Komi-Permyak.
3) Udmurt.
G. Volga branch
1) Mari (Mari, Cheremis), adverbs: upland on the right bank of the Volga and meadow - on the left.2) Mordovian: two independent languages: Erzya and Moksha.
Note. Finnish and Estonian are written based on the Latin alphabet; for the Mari and Mordovian - for a long time based on the Russian alphabet; in Komi-Zyryan, Udmurt and Komi-Perm - on the Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).
2. SAMOYED LANGUAGES
1) Nenets (Yuraco-Samoyed).2) Nganasani (Tavgian).
3) Enets (Yenisei-Samoyed).
4) Selkup (Ostyak-Samoyed).
Note. modern science considers the Samoyedic languages to be related to the Finno-Ugric languages, which were previously considered as an isolated family and with which the Samoyedic languages form a larger association - the Uralic languages.
V. ALTAI LANGUAGES 1
1. TURKIC LANGUAGES 2
1) Turkish(before Ottoman); writing since 1929 based on the Latin alphabet; until then for several centuries - based on the Arabic alphabet.2) Azerbaijani.
3) Turkmen.
4) Gagauz.
5) Crimean Tatar.
6) Karachay-Balkarian.
7) Kumyk- used as mutual language for the Caucasian peoples of Dagestan.
8) Nogai.
9) Karaite.
10) Tatar, with three dialects - middle, western (Mishar) and eastern (Siberian).
11) Bashkir.
12) Altai (Oirot).
13) Shorsky with the Kondom and Mrassky dialects 3 .
14) Khakassian(with dialects of Sogai, Beltir, Kachin, Koibal, Kyzyl, Shor).
15) Tuva.
16) Yakut.
17) Dolgansky.
18) Kazakh.
19) Kyrgyz.
20) Uzbek.
21) Karakalpak.
22) Uighur (New Uighur).
23) Chuvash, a descendant of the language of the Kama Bulgars, writing from the very beginning based on the Russian alphabet.
Dead:
24) Orkhon- according to the Orkhon-Yenisei runic inscriptions, the language (or languages) of the powerful state of the 7th-8th centuries. n. e. in Northern Mongolia on the river. Orkhon. The name is conditional.
25)
Pechenegsky- the language of the steppe nomads of the IX-XI centuries. AD
26)
Polovtsian (Cuman)- according to the Polovtsian-Latin dictionary compiled by Italians, the language of the steppe nomads of the XI-XIV centuries.
27)
Old Uyghur- the language of a huge state in Central Asia in the 9th-11th centuries. n. e. with writing based on a modified Aramaic alphabet.
28) Chagatai- literary language of the XV-XVI centuries. AD in Central Asia; Arabic graphics.
29) Bulgarian- the language of the Bulgar kingdom at the mouth of the Kama; the Bulgar language formed the basis of the Chuvash language, part of the Bulgars moved to the Balkan Peninsula and, having mixed with the Slavs, became an integral element (superstratum) in the Bulgarian language.
30) Khazar- the language of a large state of the 7th-10th centuries. AD, in the area of the lower reaches of the Volga and Don, close to the Bulgar.
Note 1. All living Turkic languages, except Turkish, have been written since 1938-1939. on the basis of the Russian alphabet, until then for several years - on the basis of Latin, and many even earlier - on the basis of Arabic (Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Tatar and all Central Asian, and foreign Uighurs still). In sovereign Azerbaijan, the question of switching to the Latin alphabet has been raised again.
Note 2. The question of the grouping of the Turko-Tatar languages has not yet been finally resolved by science; according to F.E. Korsh (see: Korsh F.E. Classification of Turkish tribes by language, 1910.) - three groups: Northern, Southeastern and southwestern; according to V.A. Bogoroditsky (see: Bogoroditsky V.A. Introduction to Tatar linguistics in connection with other Turkic languages, 1934.) - eight groups: northeastern, Abakan, Altai, West Siberian, Volga-Urals, Central Asian, Southwestern (Turkish) and Chuvash; according to V. Schmidt (See: Schmidt W. Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde, 1932.) - three groups: Southern, Western, Eastern, while V. Schmidt classifies the Yakut as Mongolian. Other classifications were also proposed - V.V. Radlova, A.N. Samoilovich, G.I. Ramstedt, S.E. Malova, M. Ryasyanen and others. In 1952, N.A. Baskakov proposed a new scheme for the classification of Turkic languages, which the author thinks of as "periodization of the history of the development of peoples and Turkic languages" (see: "Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Department of Literature and Language", vol. XI, issue 2), where ancient divisions intersect with new and historical with geographical (see also: Baskakov N.A. Introduction to the study of Turkic languages. M., 1962; 2nd ed. - M., 1969).1 A number of scientists are of the opinion about the possible distant relationship of the three language families - Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu, forming the Altai macrofamily. However, in the accepted usage, the term "Altaic languages" denotes rather a conditional association than a proven genetic grouping (V.V.).
2 In view of the fact that in Turkology there is no single point of view on the grouping of Turkic languages, we give them a list; at the end, different points of view on their grouping are given.
3 Currently, Altaic and Shor languages use the same literary language based on Altaic.
2. MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES
1) Mongolian; writing was based on the Mongolian alphabet, received from the ancient Uighurs; since 1945 - based on the Russian alphabet.2) Buryat; from the 30s 20th century writing based on the Russian alphabet.
3) Kalmyk.
Note. There are also a number of smaller languages (Dagurian, Tung-Xiang, Mongorian, etc.), mainly in China (about 1.5 million), Manchuria and Afghanistan; No. 2 and 3 have since the 30s. 20th century writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.
3. TUNGUS-MANCHUR LANGUAGES
A. Siberian group
1) Evenki (Tungus), with Negidal and Solon.2) Even (Lamut).
B. Manchurian group
1) Manchurian, dies out, had rich monuments of medieval writing in the Manchu alphabet.2) Jurchen- a dead language, known from the monuments of the XII-XVI centuries. (hieroglyphic writing modeled after Chinese)
B. Amur group
1) Nanai (Gold), with Ulch.2) Udei (Udege), with Oroch.
Note. No. 1 and 2 have since 1938-1939. writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.
4. INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGES OF THE FAR EAST NOT INCLUDED IN ANY GROUPS
(presumably close to Altai)
1) Japanese; writing based on Chinese characters in the 8th century. AD; new phonetic-syllabic writing - katakana and hiragana.
2)
Ryukyuan, obviously related to Japanese.
3) Korean; the first monuments based on Chinese characters from the 4th century. AD, modified in the 7th century. AD; from the 15th century - folk Korean letter "onmun" - an alpha-syllabic system of graphics.
4) Ainu, mainly on the Japanese Islands, also on Sakhalin Island; now out of use and superseded by Japanese.
VI. AFRASIAN (SEMITE-HAMITE) LANGUAGES
1. Semitic branch
1) Arab; international cult language of Islam; there are, in addition to classical Arabic, regional varieties (Sudanese, Egyptian, Syrian, etc.); writing on Arabic alphabet(on the island of Malta - based on the Latin alphabet).2) Amharic, official language of Ethiopia.
3) Tigre, tigray, gurage, harari and other languages of Ethiopia.
4) Assyrian (Aysor), the language of isolated ethnic groups in the countries of the Middle East and some others.
Dead:
5) Akkadian (Assyrian - Babylonian); known from the cuneiform monuments of the ancient East.
6) Ugarit.
7)
Hebrew- the language of the most ancient parts of the Bible, the cult language of the Jewish Church; existed as a colloquial language until the beginning of our era; from the 19th century on its basis, Hebrew was formed, now the official language of the state of Israel (along with Arabic); writing based on the Hebrew alphabet.
8) Aramaic- the language of the later books of the Bible and the common language of the Near East in the era of the III century. BC. - IV century. AD
9) Phoenician- the language of Phoenicia, Carthage (Punic); dead BC; writing in the Phoenician alphabet, from which subsequent types of alphabetic writing originated.
10) Geez- the former literary language of Abyssinia IV-XV centuries. AD; now a cult language in Ethiopia.
2. Egyptian branch
Dead:1) ancient egyptian- the language of ancient Egypt, known from hieroglyphic monuments and documents of demotic writing (from the end of the 4th millennium BC to the 5th century AD).
2) Coptic- a descendant of the ancient Egyptian language in the medieval period from the 3rd to the 17th centuries. AD; the cult language of the Orthodox Church in Egypt; writing is Coptic, the alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet.
3. Berbero-Libyan branch
(North Africa and West Central Africa)
1) Ghadames, Sioua.
2) Tuareg(tamahak, ghat, taneslemt, etc.).
3) 3enaga.
4) Kabyle.
5) Tashelhit.
6) Zenetian(reef, shauya, etc.).
7) Tamazight.
Dead:
8) Western Numidian.
9) Eastern Numidian (Libyan).
10) Guanche, existed until the 18th century. languages (dialects?) of the natives of the Canary Islands.
4. Kushite branch
(North East and East Africa)
1) Bedauye (beja).
2) Agavian(aungi, bilin, etc.).
3) Somalia.
4) Sidamo.
5) Afar, saho.
6)
Oromo (galla).
7) Iraqw, Ngomvia and etc.
5. Chadian branch
(Central Africa and West Central Sub-Saharan Africa)
1) Hausa(belongs to the Western Chadian group) is the largest language of the branch.
2) Other Western Chadian: gvandara, ngizim, boleva, karekare, angas, sura and etc.
3) Central Chadian: tera, margi, mandara, kotoko and etc.
4) Eastern Chadian: mubi, sokoro and etc.
VII. NIGERO-CONGO LANGUAGES
(territory of sub-Saharan Africa)
1. Mande languages
1) Bamana (bambara).2) Soninka.
3) Coco (susu).
4) Maninka.
5) Kpelle, scrap, mende, etc.
2. Atlantic languages
1) Fula (fulfulde).2) Wolof.
3) Serer.
4) Diola. Cognacs.
5) Gola, dark, bull and etc.
3. Ijoid languages
Represented by isolated language ijo(Nigeria).4. Kru languages
1) Seme.2) Bethe.
3) Godier.
4) Crewe.
5) Grebo.
6) Wobe and etc.
5. Kwa languages
1) Akan.2) Baule.
3) Adele.
4) Adangme.
5) Ewe.
6) Background and etc.
6. Dogon language
7. Gur languages
1) Bariba.2) Senari.
3) suppire.
4) Gurenne.
5) Gourma.
b) Kasem, cabre, kirma and etc.
8. Adamawa-Ubangu languages
1) Longuda.2) Tula.
3) Chamba.
4) Mumue.
5) Mbum.
b) Gbaya.
7) Ngbaka.
8) Sere, Mundu, Zande and etc.
9. Benuecongo languages
The largest family in the Niger-Congo macrofamily covers the territory from Nigeria to the east coast of Africa, including South Africa. It is divided into 4 branches and many groups, among which the largest is the Bantu languages, which in turn are divided into 16 zones (according to M. Gasri).
1) Nupe.
2) Yoruba.
3) Ygbo.
4) Edo.
5) Jukun.
6) Efik, ibibio.
7) Kambari, birom.
8) Tiv.
9) Bamilek.
10) Kom, lamnso, tikar.
11) Bantu(Duala, Ewando, Teke, Bobangi, Lingala, Kikuyu, Nyamwezi, Togo, Swahili, Kongo, Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Chokwe, Luba, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Yao, Mbundu, Herero, Shona, Sotho, Zulu, etc.).
10. Kordofanian languages
1) Kanga, Miri, Tumtum.2) Katla.
3) Rere.
4) Morning
5) Tegem.
6) Tegali, tagbi and etc.
VIII. NILO-SAHARAN LANGUAGES
(Central Africa, geographic Sudan zone)
1) Songhai.
2) Saharan: kanuri, tuba, zagawa.
3)
Fur.
4) Mimi, mabang.
5) Eastern Sudanese: wilds, mahas, bale, suri, nera, ronge, tama and etc.
6) Nilotic: Shilluk, Luo, Alur, Acholi, Nuer Bari, Teso, Nandi, Pakot and etc.
7) Central Sudanese: kresh, sinyar, capa, bagirmi, moru, madi, logbara, mangbetu.
8)
Kunama.
9) Bertha.
10) Kuama, komo, etc.
IX. Khoisan languages
(on the territory of South Africa, Namibia, Angola)
1) Bushman languages(Kung, Auni, Hadza, etc.).
2) Hottentot languages(nama, quran, san-dave, etc.).
X. Sino-Tibetan languages
A. Chinese branch
1) Chinese is the world's largest spoken language. Folk Chinese is divided into a number of dialect groups that differ greatly primarily phonetically; Chinese dialects are usually defined geographically. Literary language based on the northern (Mandarin) dialect, which is also the dialect of the capital of China - Beijing. For thousands of years, the literary language of China was Wenyan, which was formed in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. and existed as a developing but incomprehensible bookish language until the 20th century, along with the more colloquial literary language Baihua. The latter became the basis of the modern unified literary Chinese- putonghua (based on northern baihua). The Chinese language is rich in written records from the 15th century. BC, but their hieroglyphic nature makes it difficult to study the history of the Chinese language. Since 1913, along with hieroglyphic writing, a special syllabo-phonetic letter "zhu-an izymu" was used on a national graphic basis for pronunciation identification of the reading of hieroglyphs by dialects. Later, more than 100 different projects for the reform of Chinese writing were developed, of which the project of phonetic writing on the Latin graphic basis has the greatest promise.2) Dungan; the Dungans of the People's Republic of China have an Arabic script, the Dungans of Central Asia and Kazakhstan are originally Chinese (hieroglyphic), later - Arabic; since 1927 - on a Latin basis, and since 1950 - on a Russian basis.
B. Tibeto-Burmese branch
1) Tibetan.2) Burmese.
XI. THAI LANGUAGES
1) Thai- the state language of Thailand (until 1939, the Siamese language of the state of Siam).2) Laotian.
3) Zhuang.
4) Kadai (li, lakua, lati, gelao)- a group of Thai or an independent link between Thai and Austronesian.
Note. Some scholars consider the Thai languages to be related to Austronesian; in former classifications they were included in the Sino-Tibetan family.
XII. LANGUAGES
1) miao, with dialects hmong, hmu and etc.2) yao, with dialects mien, kimmun and etc.
3) Well.
Note. These little-studied languages of Central and South China were formerly included in the Sino-Tibetan family without sufficient reason.
XIII. DRAVID LANGUAGES
(languages of the most ancient population of the Indian subcontinent, presumably related to the Uralic languages)
1) Tamil.
2) Telugu.
3) Malayalam.
4)
Kannada.
For all four, there is a script based on (or type of) the Indian Brahmi script.
5) Tulu.
6) Gondi.
7)
Brahui and etc.
XIV. OUTSIDE THE FAMILY - THE LANGUAGE OF BURUSHASDI (VERSHIKSKY)
(mountainous regions of Northwest India)
XV. AUSTRIASIAN LANGUAGES
1) Languages munda: santal i, mundari, ho, birkhor, juang, sora, etc.2) Khmer.
3) Palaung (rumai) and etc.
4) Nicobar.
5) Vietnamese.
6) Khasi.
7) Malacca group(semang, semai, sakai, etc.).
8) Naali.
XVI. AUSTRONESIAN (MALAY-POLYNESIAN) LANGUAGES
A. Indonesian branch
1. Western group1) Indonesian, has been named since the 1930s. XX century., Currently the official language of Indonesia.
2) Batak.
3) Cham(Chamsky, Dzharai, etc.).
2. Javanese group
1) Javanese.
2) Sundanese.
3) Madura.
4) Balinese.
3. Dayak or Kalimantan group
Dayak and etc.
4. South Sulawesian group
1) Saddansky.
2)
Buginese.
3) Makassarsky and etc.
5. Philippine group
1) Tagalog(Tagalog).
2)
Ilokan.
3) Bikolsky and etc.
6. Madagascar group
Malagasy (formerly Malagasy).
Dead:
Kawi- Old Javanese literary language; monuments from the ninth century. n. e.; by origin, the Javanese language of the Indonesian branch was formed under the influence of the languages \u200b\u200bof India (Sanskrit).
B. Polynesian branch
1) Tonga and Niue.2) Maori, Hawaiian, Tahiti and etc.
3)Sam6a, uvea and etc.
B. Micronesian branch
1) Nauru.2) Marshall.
3) Ponape.
4) Truk and etc.
Note. The classification of the Austronesian macrofamily is given in an extremely simplified form. In fact, it covers a huge number of languages with an extremely complex multi-stage subdivision, regarding which there is no consensus (V.V.)
XVII. AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES
Numerous minor indigenous languages of Central and Northern Australia, most prominently guarantee. Apparently, they form a separate family Tasmanian languages on about. Tasmania.XVIII. PAPUAN LANGUAGES
Languages of the central part of about. New Guinea and some smaller islands in the Pacific. A very complex and not definitively established classification.XIX. PALEOASIATIAN LANGUAGES 1
A. Chukchi-Kamchatka languages
1) Chukchi(Luoravetlansky).2) Koryak(Nymylan).
3) Itelmensky(Kamchadal).
4) Alyutorsky.
5) Kereksky.
B. Eskimo-Aleut languages
1) Eskimo(Yuite).2) Aleutian(Unangan).
B. Yenisei languages
1) Ket. This language reveals features of kinship with the Nakh-Dagestan and Tibetan-Chinese languages. Its bearers were not natives of the Yenisei, but came from the south and assimilated by the surrounding people.2) Kott, Arin, Pumpokol and other extinct languages.
D. Nivkh (Gilyak) language
E. Yukagiro-Chuvan languages
Extinct languages (dialects?): Yukagir(previously - odulian), Chuvan, Omok. Two dialects have been preserved: Tundra and Kolyma (Sakha-Yakutia, Magadan, region).1 Paleoasian languages - a conditional name: Chukchi-Kamchatka represent a community of related languages; the rest of the languages are included in Paleoasiatic rather on a geographical basis.
XX. INDIAN (AMERINDIAN) LANGUAGES
A. Language families of North America
1) Algonquian(Menomini, Delaware, Yurok, Mikmak, Fox, Cree, Ojibwa, Potowatomy, Illinois, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Arapaho, etc., as well as disappeared - Massachusetts, Mohican, etc.).2) Iroquois(Cherokee, Tuscarora, Seneca, Oneida, Huron, etc.).
3) Sioux(Crow, Hidatsa, Dakota, etc., along with several extinct ones - ofo, biloxi, tutelo, katawba).
4) gulf(natchez, tunic, chickasaw, choctaw, muskogee, etc.).
5) Na-dene(haida, tlingit, eyak; Athabaskan: nava-ho, tanana, tolova, hupa, mattole, etc.).
6) Mosan, including Vakash (Kwakiutl, Nootka) and Salish (Chehalis, Skomish, Kalispel, Bella Kula).
7) Penutian(Tsimshian, Chinook, Takelma, Klamath, Miubk, Zuni, etc., as well as many extinct ones).
8) hocaltec(karok, shasta, yana, chimariko, pomo, salina, etc.).
B. Language families of Central America
1) Yuto-Aztec(Nahuatl, Shoshone, Hopi, Luiseño, Papago, Bark, etc.). This family is sometimes combined with the Iowa-Tano languages (Kiowa, Piro, Tewa, etc.) within the Tano-Aztec phylum.2) maya quiche(Mam, Kekchi, Quiche, Yucatek Maya, Ixil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, Huastec, etc.). The Maya, before the arrival of Europeans, reached a high level of culture and had their own hieroglyphic writing, partially deciphered.
3) Ottoman(Pame, Otomi, Popolok, Mixtec, Trick, Zapotec, etc.).
4) Miskito - Matagalpa (Miskito, Sumo, Matagalpa, etc.). These languages are sometimes included in Chibchan.
5) Chibchanskiye (karake, rama, getar, guaimi, chibcha, etc.). The Chibchan languages are also spoken in South America.
B. Language families of South America
1) Tupi Guarani(tupi, guarani, yuruna, tuparia, etc.).2) Kechumara(Quechua is the language of the ancient state of the Incas in Peru, currently in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador; Aymara).
3) Arawak(chamicuro, chipaya, itene, uanyam, guana, etc.).
4) Araucanian(Mapuche, Picunche, Pehuiche, etc.) -
5) pano takana(chacobo, kashibo, pano, takana, chama, etc.).
6) same(Canela, Suya, Xavante, Kaingang, Botokudsky, etc.).
7) Caribbean(wayana, pemon, chaima, yaruma, etc.).
8) Language alakaluf and other isolated languages.
languages and peoples. Today, the peoples of the world speak more than 3,000 languages. Forgotten languages there are about 4000, some of them are still alive in the memory of mankind (Sanskrit, Latin). By the nature of the language, many researchers judge the degree of kinship between peoples. Language is most often used as an ethno-differentiating feature. The linguistic classification of peoples is most recognized in world science. At the same time, language is not an indispensable feature that distinguishes one people from another. The same Spanish language is spoken by several different Hispanic peoples. The same can be said about Norwegians and Danes, who have a common literary language. At the same time, the inhabitants of North and South China speak different languages, but identify themselves as belonging to the same ethnic group.
Each of the big literary languages Europe (French, Italian, English, German) dominates the territory, linguistically much less homogeneous than the territory of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples (L. Gumilyov, 1990). Saxons and Tyroleans hardly understand each other, and Milanese and Sicilians do not understand each other at all. The English of Northumberland speak a language close to Norwegian, as they are descendants of the Vikings who settled in England. The Swiss speak German, French, Italian and Romansh.
The French speak four languages: French, Celtic (Breton), Basque (Gascon) and Provençal. Linguistic differences between them can be traced from the beginning of the Romanization of Gaul.
Taking into account their intra-ethnic differences, the French, Germans, Italians, British should not be compared with Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, but with all Eastern Europeans at once. At the same time, such systems of ethnic groups as the Chinese or Indians do not correspond to the French, Germans or Ukrainians, but to Europeans in general (L. Gumilyov, 1990).
All languages of the peoples of the world belong to certain language families, each of which unites languages similar in linguistic structure and origin. The process of formation of language families is associated with the separation of various peoples from each other in the process of human settlement around the globe. At the same time, peoples that are initially genetically separated from each other can enter into one language family. So, the Mongols, having conquered many peoples, adopted foreign languages, and the Negroes resettled by slave traders in America speak English.
Human races and language families. By biological characteristics people are divided into races. The French scientist Cuvier singled out at the beginning of the 19th century three human races - black, yellow and white.
The idea that the human races came from different centers was established in the Old Testament: "Can an Ethiopian change his skin and a leopard his spots." On this basis, among the English-speaking Protestants, the theory of the "Nordic, or Indo-European God's chosen man" was created. Such a man was put on a pedestal by the French Comte de Gobineau in a book with the provocative title A Treatise on Inequality human races". The word "Indo-European" eventually transformed into "Indo-Germanic", and the ancestral home of the primitive "Indo-Germans" began to be sought in the region of the North European plain, which at that time was part of the kingdom of Prussia. In the XX century. ideas about racial and national elitism turned into the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind.
By the middle of the XX century. There were many classifications of human races - from two (Negroid and Mongoloid) to thirty-five. Most scientists write about four human races with such centers of origin: the Greater Sunda Islands - the birthplace of the Australoids, East Asia - the Mongoloids, South and Central Europe - the Caucasians and Africa - the Negroids.
All these races, their languages and centers of origin are related by some researchers to different original hominids. The ancestors of the Australoids are the Javanese Pithecanthropes, the Mongoloids are the Sinanthropes, the Negroids are the African Neanderthals and the Caucasians are the European Neanderthals. The genetic connection of certain ancient forms with the corresponding modern races can be traced with the help of morphological comparisons of cranial boxes. Mongoloids, for example, are similar to Sinanthropus with a flattened face, Caucasians approach European Neanderthals with strongly protruding nasal bones, and broad-nosedness makes Negroids related to African Neanderthals (V. Alekseev, 1985). In the Paleolithic, people were as black, white, yellow as they are today, with the same differentiation of skulls and skeletons. This means that differences between civilizations date back to ancient times, to the beginning of the human race. These include interlingual differences.
The oldest finds of representatives of the Negroid race were discovered not in Africa, but in Southern France, in the Grimaldi cave near Nice, and in Abkhazia, in the Kholodny grotto. An admixture of Negroid blood is found not only among Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, residents of the south of France and the Caucasus, but also among residents of the north-west - in Ireland (L. Gumilyov, 1997).
Classical Negroids belong to the Niger-Kordofanian language family, which began to populate Central Africa from North Africa and Western Asia quite late - somewhere at the beginning of our era.
Before the arrival of the Negroids (Fulbe, Bantu, Zulus) in Africa, the territory south of the Sahara was inhabited by the Capoids, representatives of a recently isolated race, which includes the Hottentots and Bushmen, belonging to the Khoisan language family. Unlike Negroes, capoids are not black, but brown: they have Mongoloid facial features, they speak not on exhalation, but on inhalation, and differ sharply from both Negroes and Europeans and Mongoloids. They are considered the remnant of some ancient race. southern hemisphere, which was ousted from the main areas of its settlement by Negroids (L. Gumilyov, 1997) .. Then many Negroids were transported to America by slave traders
Another ancient race of the southern hemisphere is the Australoid (Australian family). Australoids live in Australia and Melanesia. They have huge beards, wavy hair, and broad shoulders, exceptional speed of reaction. Their closest relatives lived in southern India and belong to the Dravidian language family (Tamils, Telugu).
Representatives of the Caucasoid (white) race, belonging mainly to the Indo-European language family, inhabited not only, as now, Europe, Asia Minor and North India, but also almost the entire Caucasus, a significant part of Central and Central Asia and Northern Tibet.
The largest ethnolinguistic groups of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance (French, Italians, Spaniards, Romanians), Germanic (Germans, English), Slavic (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Serbs). They populate North Asia(Russians), North America (Americans), South Africa(immigrants from England and Holland), Australia and New Zealand(immigrants from England), a significant part South America(Hispanic and Portuguese-speaking Latinos).
The largest representative of the Indo-European family is the Indo-Aryan group of the peoples of India and Pakistan (Hindustani, Bengalis, Marathas, Punjabs, Biharis, Gujars). This also includes the peoples of the Iranian group (Persians, Tajiks, Kurds, Balochs, Ossetians), the Baltic group (Latvians and Lithuanians), Armenians, Greeks, Albanians ..
The most numerous race is the Mongoloids. They are divided into sub-races belonging to different language families.
Siberian, Central Asian, Central Asian, Volga and Transcaucasian Mongoloids form the Altaic language family. It unites the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu ethnolinguistic groups, each of which, in turn, is divided into ethnolinguistic subgroups. Thus, the Turkic Mongoloids are divided into the Bulgar subgroup (Chuvash), southwestern (Azerbaijanis, Turkmens), northwestern (Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs), southeastern (Uzbeks, Uighurs), northeastern (Yakuts) subgroups.
The most widely spoken language in the world, Chinese, belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family (over 1 billion people). It is used in writing by North Chinese and South Chinese Mongoloids (Chinese or Han), who differ significantly in anthropological and colloquial speech. Tibetan Mongoloids belong to the same language family. The Mongoloids of Southeast Asia belong to the Paratai and Austroasiatic language families. The peoples of the Chukchi-Kamchatka and Eskimo-Aleut language families are also close to the Mongoloids.
There are also sub-races with which groups of certain languages usually correspond, that is, the system of human races is arranged hierarchically.
Representatives of the listed races include 3/4 of the population the globe. The rest of the peoples belong to small races or micro-races with their own language families.
At the contact of the main human races, mixed or transitional racial forms are encountered, often forming their own language families. 
Thus, the mixing of Negroids with Caucasians gave rise to mixed-transitional forms of the peoples of the Afroasian, or Semitic-Hamitic family (Arabs, Jews, Sudanese, Ethiopians). The peoples speaking the languages of the Uralic language family (Nenets, Khanty, Komi, Mordovians, Estonians, Hungarians) form transitional forms between Mongoloids and Caucasoids. Very complex racial mixtures have developed into the North Caucasian (Abkhazians, Adyghes, Kabardians, Circassians, Chechens, Ingush peoples of Dagestan) and Kartvelian (Georgians, Mingrelians, Svans) language families.
Similar racial mixing took place in America, only it went much more intensively than in the Old World, and, in general, did not affect linguistic differences.
language family
language family
The language family is the largest unit of classification of peoples (ethnic groups) on the basis of their linguistic kinship - common origin their languages from the intended base language. Language families are divided into language groups.
The largest in number is the Indo-European language family, which includes language groups:
- Romanesque: French, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Moldavians, Romanians, etc.;
- Germanic: Germans, British, Scandinavians, etc.;
- Slavic: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, etc.
The second largest is the Sino-Tibetan language family, with the largest Chinese language group.
The Altaic language family includes a large Turkic language group: Turks, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Kirghiz, Yakuts, etc.
The Uralic language family includes the Finno-Ugric group: Finns, Estonians, Hungarians, Komi, etc.
The Semitic group belongs to the Semitic-Hamitic language family: Arabs, Jews, Ethiopians, etc.
Synonyms: family of peoples
See also: Ethnoses Languages
Finam Financial Dictionary.
See what the "Language Family" is in other dictionaries:
Language systematics is an auxiliary discipline that helps to organize the objects studied by linguistics - languages, dialects and groups of languages. The result of this ordering is also called the taxonomy of languages. The taxonomy of languages is based on ... ... Wikipedia
See language family... Handbook of etymology and historical lexicology
language family- a set of languages \u200b\u200bthat goes back to a single parent language that can be reconstructed ... Physical Anthropology. Illustrated explanatory dictionary.
The largest unit of classification of peoples on the basis of linguistic proximity. The Biggest Me" p. Indo-European, the languages of this family are used by 2.5 billion people. It includes Romance, Germanic, Slavic and other language groups. In the second on ... ... Geographic Encyclopedia
Otho Mang languages Taxon: family Status: generally recognized Range: Mexico (all regions), formerly Mesoamerica and Central America Classification ... Wikipedia
Indo-European taxon: family Ancestral home: Indo-European ranges of Kentum (blue) and Satem (red). The estimated original area of satemization is shown in bright red. Range: the whole world ... Wikipedia
Caucasian languages is a conventional name for the languages of the Caucasus that are not included in any of the known language families distributed outside the Caucasus (Indo-European, Altaic or Semitic). Contents 1 Classification 2 External Relations 3 ... Wikipedia
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