there are many different languages spoken throughout the world. these langauges all belong to a language family, and each language is a different branch.
there are approximately nine language families:
- Indo-European: spoken by 48% of the world’s total population
- Sino-Tibetan:spoken by 26%of world’s total population
- Afro-Asiatic:spoken by 6% of world’s total population
- Austronesian: spoken by 5% of world’s total population
- Dravidian: spoken by 4% of world’s total population
- Altic: spoken by 3% of world’s total population
- Niger: spoken by 3% of world’s total population
- Japanese: spoken by 2% of world’s total population
- remaining 3% of world population, speak a language that belongs to one of 100 smaller language families
INDO-EUROPEAN:
these languages are spoken in many countries, and are important in academic, as well as world organizations. the Indo-European family is believed to have originated in the forests north of the Black Sea, during the Neolithic period (circa 7000BC). these people began to migrate, spreading west to Europe, south to the mediterranian, north to Scandinavia, and east to India, all around 3500BC and 2500BC. this languge family is divided into 12 language branches which consists of:
1. Celtic Branch
- orginated in central europe, dominated West Europe around 400BC
- migrated across to british isles 2000 years ago
- when germanic speaking anglo-saxons arrived, celtic speakers were pushed into Wales (welsh), Ireland (irish gaelic), and scottland(scottish gaelic)
2. Germanic Branch
- originated from Old Norse and Saxon
- icelandic
- Dutch and German are closest major languages in this branch related to english
3. Latin Branch
- italian, portuguese are closest modern major languages to Latin
- Spanish was influenced by arabic and basque
4. Slavic Branch
- confined to eastern europe
- oldest language in this branch is Bulgarian. most important is russian.
- polish and kashubian (spoken in parts of poland)
- sorbian (spoken in eastern germany)
- Czech, Slovak,Slovene, Macedonian, Bosnian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian
5. Baltic Branch
- lithuanian
6. Hellenic Branch
- Modern Greek
7. Illyric Branch
- Albania
8. Thracian Branch
- armenian
9. Anatolian Branch
- lydian
10. Iranian Branch
- persian
- Kurdish
11. Indic Branch
- hindi
- nepali
- bengali
12. Tokharian
- turfanian
SINO-TIBETAN:
has 4 language branches
Sinictic Branch:
- manadrin
- wu
- amoy
- xiang
Tibeto-Burman Branch:
- Burmese
- tibetan
- yi
- moso
Tai Branch:
- thai
- lao
- chuang
Southern Branch ( Hmong-Mien):
- hmong
- yao
AFRO-ASIATIC:
has 5 language branches , mostly spoken in the middle east
Semictic Branch:
- arabic
- maltese
- hebrew
- tigre
- aramaic
Berber Branch:
spoken in the hills of North Africa by the Berbers
Cushitic Branch:
- spoken in ethiopia, eritrea,sudan, and somalia
Egyptian Branch:
- egytian, spoken in egypt
- coptic
Chadic Branch:
- hausa
AUSTROASIAN/AUSTRONESIAN:
scattered group of languages in asia, they are found from eastern india to vietnam
Viet-Muong Branch:
- veitnamese and muong, both languages spoken in vietnam
Viet-Khmer Branch:
- includes khmer, spoken in cambodia
- mon, spoken in parts of Burma, Thailand, China and Vietnam
- palaung, spoken in tribal language in the hills of Burma and Thailand
- so, spoken in laos and thailand
Munda Branch:
- found scattered in pockets of north India
DRAVIDIAN:
found in central india, western india, and the Indus Valley of southern Pakistan
Central Branch:
- Brahui
- Gondi
- Kurukh
- Kui
Southern Branch:
- Telugu
- Tamil
- Kannada
- Malayalam
- Tulu
ALTIC:
named after the Alti Mountains, in Central Asia
Turkic Branch:
- Azeri in Azerbaijan
- Turkmen in Turkmenia
- Kazakh in Kazakhstan
- Kirghiz in Kyrghystan
- Uzbec in Uzbekistan
- Uigur in Western China
Mongolian Branch:
- found in Mongolia
- northern china
Tungusic Branch:
- Eastern Siberia and Manchuria
Korean Branch:
- korean, spoken in korea
Japonic Branch:
- Japanese
- okinawan
NIGER-CONGO:
originated in West Africa. Migrations took the languages to eastern and southern Africa
Mande Branch:
- Malinke,spoken in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, and Ivory Coast
- Mende spoken in Sierra Leone
West Atlantic Branch:
- Fulani spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger,and Burkina Faso
- Wolof spoken in Senegal,and Gambia
Voltaic Branch:
- Mossi spoken in Burkina Faso
Kwa Branch:
- Twi spoken in Ghana
- Ewe spoken in Ghana, and Togo
Bantu Branch:
- swahili spoken in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Berundi, Zaire
- kongo spoken in Zaire, Congo, Angola
Efik Branch:
- efik
- ibibio
Adamawan Branch:
- mbum
Eastern Branch:
- Zamde
- banda spoken in congo
Ijo Branch:
- ijo
JAPANESE:
- Japanese, and owinawan, spoken in japan
