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Which languages belong to the same language family?
What is a language family?
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Language families can be divided into smaller phylogenetic units, sometimes referred to as "branches" or "subfamilies" of the family; for instance, the Germanic languages are a subfamily of the Indo-European family.
Jul 22, 2020 · The best way to learn about language families is looking at the individual families that are out there. Each of them has their own engaging history, and each of them challenges our idea of what “language” and “family” is in their own way. Our All in the Language Family series goes into detail on how these families work.
Oct 19, 2023 · However, most languages spoken throughout the world belong to a language family. For example, languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and French, all belong to the language family known as “ romance languages.” The romance languages evolved from Latin, the language used in ancient Rome
- Indo-European. Speakers: 3.5 billion (46% of Earth's population) Languages: 583. Location of origin: Ukraine and southern Russia. Time of origin: 4,500 BCE.
- Sino-Tibetan. Speakers: 1.4 billion (18% of Earth's population) Languages: 501. Location of origin: northern China (Yellow River basin) Time of origin: 5,000 BCE.
- Afro-Asiatic. Speakers: 500 million (7% of of Earth's population) Languages: 379. Location of origin: Sudan or Ethiopia. Time of origin: 18,000–8,000 BCE. Culture of origin: African hunter-gatherers (pre-Neolithic)
- Niger-Congo. Speakers: 700 million (9% of Earth's population) Languages: 1,542. Location of origin: West Africa (speculative; Blench, 2006) Time of origin: 9,000–8,000 BCE (speculative; Blench, 2006)
A language family is a set of languages deriving from a common ancestor or "parent." Languages with a significant number of common features in phonology, morphology, and syntax are said to belong to the same language family. Subdivisions of a language family are called "branches."
Oct 3, 2023 · Language "families" are groups of related languages: One language gives rise to many dialects (probably spoken in different areas), those dialects become increasingly distinct, they become different enough to be called separate languages, each of those languages gives rise to its own dialects, and the cycle continues!
LANGUAGE FAMILY. A group of languages which are assumed to have arisen from a single source: ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, GREEK, PERSIAN, RUSSIAN, SANSKRIT, and WELSH are all members of the INDO-EUROPEAN language family, and are considered to have descended from a common ancestor.
