Government College Kamoke

Sociolinguistics (ENG-305)

Submitted by:

Maryam Perveen Roll no. 06

Aqsa Laiqat Roll no. 25

Submitted to:

Ma’am Attia

Language Families

 A Language is a structured system of communication used by humans, based on speech

and gesture, sign, or often writing.
 Dialect is a form of language which is usually used by a local cultural group. A language
may have many dialect which differ considerably particularly in verbal expressions. For
the view point of spatial distribution the dialect tends to change even after 40 to 50
kilometers.
 A language family is a group of related language that develop from a common historic
ancestor, referred to as protolanguage (proto—means ‘early’ on Greek). The ancestral
language is usually not known directly, but it is possible to discover many of its features
by applying the comparative method that can demonstrate the family status of many
languages.

Language Families of world

 G.L. Trage (1067) has classified the language of the world into 7 linguistic phylum’s and
30 linguistics families. Linguistic families are future classified into sub-families of
language, which denote major languages.

1. Indo-European Family
2. Sino-Tibetan Family
3. Afro-asiatic Family
4. African Family
5. Ural-Altaic Family
6. Dravidian Family
7. Palaeo Asiatic Family

Indo-European Linguistic Family:

 The Indo-European Family of language is most dominant and widespread in the world.
 It is constituted by several sub-families including Indic (Indian), Iranian, Armenian,
Germanic, Latin, Hellenic, Albanian, Balto Slavic and Celtic languages.
 These Indo-European languages have a common ancestry. This family is derived from a
single original dialect (proto-language) spoken by Kurgans, whose homeland was in the
steppes region to the north of the Caspian Sea near the Volga River around 4300 B.C.
Kurgans had a pastoral economy.
 They migrated and conquered the different parts of Europe, Asia, North America, south
America, Australia and Africa and spread over a vast territory. The conquered people
were forced to adopt the language of Kurgans in order to survive.
 Due to geographical and cultural isolation, languages of the Indo-European family
became differentiated into several sub families.
 The entire Indo-European languages share some common words whose genetic origin
can be traced to a common linguistic root. In the Indo-European languages, the words
for same trees and animal have common roots.
1. Indo-Iranian Linguistic family: Indo-Iranian family is an important sub-family of Indo-
European Family. It includes more than one hundred individual languages spoken by
over 800 million people. It is divided into two major groups:
i. Indic or Indian languages: The residents of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
(Indian sub-continent) in majority speak an Indic Language. The Indic sub-family
of languages includes Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Kashmiri, Assmese, Gujarati,
Punjabi, Marathi, Oriya and Singhali etc.
ii. Iranian Languages: Iranian Languages include Persian, Kurdish, Pashto(Baluchi)
etc. These languages are written with Arabic letters. Persian is spoken in Iran,
Pashto in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Kurdish in Iran, Iraq and Turkey
2. Latin or Romanic Linguistic Family: the Latin linguistic group of languages is also known
as Romance or Italic languages. The Latin language includes Spanish, Portuguese, French,
Italian, Provencal, Catalan and Romanian.
 These languages were spread by the Roman Empire before Christ, so they are also
called the Romance languages. These regions of Latin languages are separated from
each other by high mountains, which serve as a strong barrier for communication between
people living in two such regions. Over 80 percent of the speakers of Spanish and Portuguese
live outside of Europe mainly in Latin America (south and Central America and Mexico). The
official language of the most countries of Latin America is Spanish except Brazil where official
language is Portuguese.

The concentration of Latin languages in Europe is in its South Western part such as Spain
(Spanish), Portugal (Portuguese), France (French), Italy (Italian) and Romania (Romanian).
French has also been adopted as a national language in Switzerland, Canada and Several
countries of Africa. Italian language has its major concentration in Italy, Sicily, Switzerland and
some Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Germanic Linguistic Family: It is the most important branch of the Indo-European linguistic
family. It includes German, English, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian languages.
 The Germanic family has three major, i.e., North Germanic, East Germanic and West Germanic.
 The Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese) are included in the group
of the North Germanic Languages. In the past the main Eastern Germanic language was Gothic,
but it is now extinct. The Languages of this group are no longer spoken in daily use by anyone in
the world. In past Gothic was used to be spoken in Ukraine (Crimea).
 The West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages includes German, English,
and Old Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, Yiddish and Flemish languages.

English, a member of West Germanic family of languages is the most important and most widely
used language of the modern World. English had its origin sometimes about 1600 years back.
English is a fusion of three streams of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons.

Prior to it the main language of Britain was Celtic which was later relegated to Scotland and Wales.
Germanic tribes of Anglo-Saxons had crossed the English Channel in the middle of the fifth century
and extended their rule on the Island of Britain. England was invaded by three tribes namely Angles,
Jutes and Saxons. Among them Angles were more powerful and influential and the name England is
Derived from the Angles.

Today English is an international language and has assimilated many thousands of words from other
languages of the world. At present, English is most important language of International
communication.

4. Balto-Slavic Linguistic Family: The languages of this linguistic family are most predominant in
Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. Slavic languages are divided into east, west and south
branches. The most important Slavic language is Russian which belongs to the Eastern Slavic
languages. Other two Eastern Slavic languages are Ukrainian and Belorussian (White Russian).
 The West Slavic language includes Polish, Czech and Slavic. The constituents of South Slavic
languages are Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian.
5. Celtic Linguistic Family: Are spoken in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. “Prior to the invasion of
British Isles by Angles and Saxon tribes, Celtic was the main language of the people, but later on
they were pushed to the remote areas of Scotland and Wales. Celtic languages include Irish,
Welsh, Scot, Gaelic, and Breton etc.
6. Hellenic Linguistic Family: Greek is the most important language of Hellenic family.

Sino-Tibetan Linguistic Family:

 The Sino-Tibetan family of languages includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Burmese
languages.
 There are five major, languages spoken in China, namely, Mandarin, Cantonese, Min, Wu and
Hakka. Mandarin is the largest spoken language of the world. It is spoken by 1000 million people
throughout the world but mainly by the people of eastern Chine.
 Tibeto-Burman is another branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, which is used mainly in South-east
Asia. Burmese (Myanmari) and Thai are two Main languages of this family.
 Japanese and Korean are the other important languages, which are limited to Japan, Korea and
the Pacific Islands. Japanese is spoken by About 125 million people.

African Linguistic Family:

The African linguistic family refers to the grouping of languages spoken across the African continent.
These languages are classified into major families based on shared linguistic features, historical roots,
and geographical distribution.Africa’s linguistic diversity is unparalleled, with an estimated 2,000
languages spoken, making it one of the richest linguistic regions in the world.

There are four primary linguistic families in Africa:

1. Afro-Asiatic Family:Regions include North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel and the
Middle East.Its languages are Arabic,Hausa,Amharic,Somali and Berber (Tamazight).

Characteristics:

 Includes over 300 languages.

 These languages often share consonantal roots and grammatical structures.

 Notable Feature: Home to Arabic, one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa and the
Middle East.

2. Niger-Congo Family:Regions includes Sub-Saharan Africa.Its Languages are Swahili (Bantu),

Yoruba,Zulu,Shona and Igbo.

Characteristics:

 The largest language family in Africa by number of languages and speakers, with over 1,500
languages.

 Includes Bantu languages, which cover much of southern and eastern Africa.

 Tonal languages (e.g., Yoruba and Igbo) are common.

 Notable Feature: Swahili, widely spoken in East Africa, serves as a lingua franca.

3. Nilo-Saharan Family:Regions includes Central and East Africa (Nile Valley, Sudan, and the
Sahara).Languages are Dinka, Luo, Kanuri and Nuer.

Characteristics:

 Comprises over 200 languages spoken by smaller populations.

 A more diverse family with less linguistic uniformity than others.

4. Khoisan Family: Regions includes Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa).Languages
are Khoekhoe,!Kung and Sandawe (sometimes considered part of a separate family).

Characteristics:

 Known for unique click consonants.

 The smallest family by the number of speakers and languages.

 Often associated with hunter-gatherer communities.

The Afro Asiatic Linguistic Family:

 The Afro-Asiatic family of language is also known as the Semito-Hameyic family. It is different and is
not related to the Indo-European family.

 Actually Semito-Hametic language originated before recorded time and were closely linked with the
religious faith as practiced by Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
 It includes a number of language spoken in North Africa and Middle East (South-West Asia). Among
them Arabic and Hebrew are most important.

 Arabic is the language of Holy Quran while Bible (Old Testament) is written in Hebrew. Thus, Arabic
and Hebrew enjoy special status.

 Arabic is the sixth largest language of the world spoken by 200 million people. It is the official
language of 20 countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, United Arab
Emirates in Asia and Morocco Chad, Egypt and other countries in North Africa.

 Hebrew is a native language, spoken by about three million people, mainly in Israel. It is the
national language of Israel where Arabic and English is also spoken. Most of the Old Testament was
written in Hebrew.

Ural-Altai language family:

The Ural-Altai language family is a proposed grouping of languages that include both "Uralic"
and "Altaic" languages. The Ural-Altai hypothesis is debated among linguists. Some linguists
argue that Uralic and Altaic are separate, while others combine them as one family due to
similarities. The family includes languages spoken across Northern Eurasia, parts of Central Asia,
and Siberia.

The Uralic language family includes languages spoken in parts of northern Eurasia. The family is
believed to have originated in the Ural Mountains region, and its languages are mainly spoken
in northern and eastern Europe, and parts of Siberia.

1. Finno-Ugric: Finno-Ugric languages are a largest subfamily of the Uralic language family,
and are spoken in parts of Europe and Asia. It includes languages like Finnish, Hungarian,
Estonian, and the Ugric languages. Major Languages includes Finnish, Hungarian, Khanty
and Mansi (Ugric languages spoken in Siberia) and Mari and Chuvash (spoken in Russia).

2. Samoyedic: A smaller subfamily, spoken around the Ural Mountains, in northernmost

Eurasia and Siberia, including languages such as Nenets, Enets, and Selkup.

3. Turkic Languages:Turkic languages are a family of languages that originated in East Asia
and are part of the Altaic language group.These languages are spoken in Asia, Turkey, and
parts of Eastern Europe.Major Language include Turkish, Uzbek, Kazakh, Azerbaijani and
Uighur (spoken in the Xinjiang region of China).
4. Mongolic Languages: Mongolic languages are a family of languages that originated in the
Mongolian Plateau. The main language in the family is Mongolian, which is spoken by
ethnic Mongols and other related peoples in modern Mongolia and adjacent areas.Major
Languages includes Mongolian (the national language of Mongolia), Buryat (spoken in
Siberia) and Kalmyk (spoken in the Russian republic of Kalmykia).

5. Tungusic languages: Tungusic is a family of languages spoken in Manchuria and and parts
of the Russian Far East. Manchuk and tunguz are the main languages of this linguistics
family.

Dravidian language family:

The "Dravidian language family" is a major language family spoken primarily in South India and
Sri Lanka. There are also Dravidian-speaking communities in parts of Pakistan, Nepal, and
Bangladesh.

1. South Dravidian: This is the largest subfamily of Dravidian languages and includes some of the
most widely spoken Dravidian languages.Major languages include Tamil: ( Spoken in Tamil
Nadu(India) and Sri Lanka),Telugu: ( Spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (India), Kannada:
(Spoken in Karnataka (India).

2. Central Dravidian: This subfamily includes languages that are spoken in the central and
south-eastern parts of India.Major languages include Tulu ( Spoken in the coastal regions of
Karnataka and Kerala) and Konkani ( Spoken along the western coast of India (Goa,
Maharashtra, Karnataka).

3. Northern Dravidian: This subfamily is spoken in the northern part of the Dravidian linguistic
region, and its languages are less widespread compared to South and Central Dravidian
languages.Major languages include Badaga ( Spoken in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu) and
Brahui ( Spoken in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan).

Palaeo-Asiatic language family:

The Palaeo-Asiatic language family is a group of languages spoken in northern Asia, particularly
Siberia and parts of North-east Asia. The term "Palaeo-Asiatic" is often used to refer to a
diverse set of languages that are not easily classified into other established language families,
and they are typically considered "language isolates" or grouped into smaller, unproven
families.

1) Yukaghir languages: The Yukaghir languages are a small and isolated group of languages
spoken in northeastern Siberia, primarily in the Russian Far East. Major languages includes
Tundra ( Spoken in the tundra regions of Siberia and European Russia) and Kolyma( Spoken
in the northeast region of Siberia, Russia).

2) Chukchi-Kamchatkan (Chukchean) Languages: The Chukchi-Kamchatkan (also referred to

as Chukchean) language family is a group of languages spoken in the Russian Far East,
primarily in the Chukchi Peninsula and the Kamchatka Peninsula.Major languages includes
Chukchi: ( Spoken by the Chukchi people of the Chukchi Peninsula), Koryak: ( Spoken in
Kamchatka and the northernmost part of the Russian Far East), Itelmen: ( Spoken in
Kamchatka) and Alutor: ( Spoken in the Kamchatka Peninsula).