Language Families

Why is English related to Other Languages? English = Indo-European language family A language family- a collection of langs related thru a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history. Indo-European is the language family with the most speakers (~3 bil).

Indo-European Branches W/in lang families are language branches A subfamily/language branch- a collection of langs related thru a common ancestor that existed thousands of years ago. differences are not as extensive/old as with lang. families archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family Indo-European is divided into 8 branches: Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Albanian, Celtic, and Armenian

Germanic Branch English = Germanic Language Branch  West Germanic Group A language group is a collection of langs w/in a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past, & display relatively few differences in grammar and vocab

West Germanic Group Includes the languages of German & English, Afrikaans, and Dutch High Sub-Group: German is spoken mainly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland Low Sub-Group: English is spoken on every continent (key places: Great Britain, United States, Canada, India, Japan, and Australia) Dutch in the Netherlands, Flemish in Belgium Afrikaans in South Africa & Namibia (like Dutch)

North Germanic Group Sometimes called Nordic North Germanic languages of Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Danish Derived from Old Norse English wordIcelandic word Spoken comparison appleepli listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo bookbók listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo high/hairhár listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo househús listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo mothermóðir listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo nightnótt listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo stonesteinn listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo thatþað listen (help·info)listenhelpinfo wordorð

Romance Branch The Romance Branch evolved from the Latin lang. spoken by Romans 2,000 years ago Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian The four most common Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian French and Spanish are two of the six official UN languages

Romance Branch Romanian Romanian in Romania and Moldova Only one spatially separated Romansh Catalan Others include Romansh (one of Switzerland’s 4 official languages), and Catalan (spoken in Spain, and the official language of Andorra) 4 more in Europe Haiti: French Creole is ex. of Rom. language spoken outside Eur.

Creole creolized language = mix of a colonial language and an indigenous lang Forms when a colonized grp adopts the lang of the dominant grp, but makes some Δs (usually vocab or grammar from native lang) Begins as pidgin lang  once a gen. is raised w/ it as native = creolized

History of the Romance Languages Latin was spread by the soldiers of the Roman Empire When they conquered a group of people, they taught them Latin The ppl spoke a different form of Latin called Vulgar Latin, or Latin of the People. Ex: The Latin word for horse is equus, but the Vulgar Latin word for horse was caballus. Italian: cavallor, Spanish: caballo, Portuguese: cavalo, and French: cheval

Spanish and Portuguese Both of these langs are impt around the world due to Spanish and Portuguese imperialism Spanish = official language in 18 Latin American countries Lingua franca of region Portuguese = official language of Brazil

Balto-Slavic Branch Roots are more Asian Due to isolation of diff grps when they arrived in E. Europe, diff langs emerged East*, West, South Slavic and Baltic GROUP Ukrainian, Russian Languages include: Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, and the Baltic langs

Balto-Slavic Branch Russian is most widely spoken lang, and is spoken by 80% of the Russians Russian is one of the 6 official languages of the UN Russification post-WWII Ukrainian and Belarusian next in # for East Slavic. The Eastern Baltic languages include Latvian and Lithuanian.

Balto-Slavic Branch Main W Slavic langs are Polish (Poland), Czech and Slovak (former Czechoslovakia) Speakers of Czech and Slovak can understand each other S Slavic- Slovene in Slovenia, Macedonian in Macedonia, and Serbo-Croatian is spoken by rest of Yugo. w/ conflicts, similarities are NOT being preserved Montenegrans & Serbs use Cyrillic alphabet

Indo-Iranian Branch The Indo-Iranian branch has the most speakers. It has over 100 langs w/ over 1 billion native speakers The branch includes the languages of Persian (Farsi), Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi

The Indic (eastern) Group Hindi 1/3 of Indians use Hindi Spoken many different ways, but there is 1 common written form of the language called Devanagari India’s constitution recognizes 18 official languages 4 diff lang. families present

The Indic (Eastern) Group Pakistan’s principal language is Urdu, and the written form is Arabic alphabet Bangladesh’s main language is Bengali English not official. Only 1% speak it But often common language, de facto lang.

The Iranian (Western) Group Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in Iran and neighboring countries Persian, or Farsi, is main lang in Iran. Other languages include Kurdish and Pashto (Pathan/Pashtun) All of these are written w/ Arabic alphabet.

Other Languages Greek, Albanian, Celtic, and Armenian are in the Indo-European family, but stand on their own Greek: 12 million native speakers. Armenian: 6 million native speakers. Albanian: 7.3 million native speakers Celtic: in UK (some France), 1.4 million Ex: S/I Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish

Gimbutas: war

Renfrew: agriculture

Now get out paper for notes on other delightful things

Language Diversity How many languages exist in the world? 6,909 (according to Ethnologue spoken by at least 100 million people 6,500 spoken by fewer than 1 million people each!

New York tweets, by language

 Catalogue containing stats for almost 7,000 languages  Each year # of languages changes as some die  Extinct language: no longer spoken or read by anyone  516 nearly extinct  Gothic was last of East Germanic  EBLUL created to preserve 60 minority lanugages of EU

 Extinct language that was revived  Used only for Jewish ceremonies after 300 BCE Really dead, not extinct?  Aramaic replaced by Arabic  estab. of Israel, Hebrew became official language  Had to create new words for modern items (Eliezer Ben-Yehuda)

A street in Jerusalem was re-named New York after Sept. 11, The street name is shown in Hebrew, Arabic, and English

 Major language prior to Germanic invasion of British Isles  Spoken in Northern Europe and Italy as well  Gaelic (Goidelic)  Irish vs. Scottish  Brythonic (Britannic, Cymric)  Wales (Welsh), Brittany (Breton), Cornwall (Cornish)  Celts lost battles and rights to other languages  Forced to learn English to get jobs

 What has been done in Wales to increase number of Welsh speakers?  Welsh Lang. Society, Britain’s Education Act: taught in schools, BBC channel  What has been done in Ireland to increase number of Gaelic speakers?  Rock groups, TV station, road signs  Cornish went extinct in 1777  what about now?  Revival began in 1920s, taught in school  Battle of spellings

Road signs in Ireland are written in both English and Gaelic (Goidelic).

 Romance vs Germanic  Belgium: Walloons (French) vs Flemings (Flemish/Dutch) Estab. 2 official regions (Flanders & Wallonia) Brussels is bilingual  Switzerland: German, French, Italian, Romansh Peaceful b/c of decentralized govn’t

Fig. 5-16: There has been much tension in Belgium between Flemings, who live in the north and speak Flemish, a Dutch dialect, and Walloons, who live in the south and speak French.

The name of the bookstore is printed in both French (top) and Flemish (bottom).

Fig. 5-17: Switzerland remains peaceful with four official languages and a decentralized government structure.

 Isolated Language: unrelated to any other, most often not part of a family  Indo-European not only had common ancestor, but spread thru intense interaxn with conquests  Isolated results from inverse relation to interaxn  Basque- last of isolated in Europe  Northern Spain, SW France  Which mountains?  Icelandic-  Is related to North Germanic (Norwegian)  Norwegian changed, not Icelandic

 English- language of international communication  Pidgin language: result of two languages (one lingua franca) and simplifying it  Not a native language, just in addition  Main ones:  English, Swahili, Hindustani(?), Indonesian, Russian,  Arabic, Spanish  English often mandatory to learn as 2 nd language

Fig : English is still the largest language on the internet, but there has been rapid growth in many others, especially Chinese.

Fig 5-1.2: English and English-speaking countries still dominate e- commerce, but other languages are growing rapidly.

 Franglais  French Academy promotes replacing English words since 1635  banning franglais illegal  Where is the preservation of French most severe? Quebec  Spanglish (Cubonics)  Invents new words, modifies spelling, using both in one phrase  Denglish  Institute for German Language protests use of Denglish

Fig. 5-18: Although Canada is bilingual, French speakers are concentrated in the province of Quebec, where 80% of the population speaks French.

 What well-known Indo-European language is now extinct?  Gothic  What group did it belong to?  East Germanic

 What Afro-Asiatic language was once deemed extinct/dead and is now revived?  Hebrew  What year was Israel created?  1948

 What Indo-European branch has been endangered since the British Isles were first invaded?  Celtic  Name 3 Celtic languages  Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Cornish  How were Celts treated in Irish schools for speaking Celtic languages?  Tally Sticks

 What country is almost split evenly between speakers of two language branches?  Belgium  What are the names of people and what language do they speak?  Flemings  Flemish (Dutch, Germanic)  Walloons  French (Romance)  What country has 4 official languages?  Switzerland  What are they?  French, German, Italian, Romansh

 What group created a dialect in order to communicate in code?  African American slaves  Many of these dialectical differences turned into what English dialect?  Ebonics

 What are the two theories of the origin of the Indo-European language family?  Kurgan: War, cattle herders from steppes of Russia/Kazakhstan  Gimbutas  Anatolian: diffusion of agriculture  Renfrew  Most spoken language?  Mandarin  Largest language families?  Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan

 Largest language family in Sub-Saharan Africa?  Niger-Congo  Largest language family in North Africa?  Afro-Asiatic  Term for division lines between “coke”, “pop”, and “soda”  Isogloss

 A collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago  Language branch  A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocab.  Language group  A collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history.  Language family  A regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation.  Dialect