Historical Linguistics

1. Language Families
Historical Linguistics
Level-8

2. Introduction
A language family is a grouping of linguistically linked languages,
stemming from a common ancestral mother-language
called Protolanguage.
Most languages in the world belong to a specific family. Languages that
have no demonstrable relation with others, and cannot be classified
within a specific family, are generally known as language isolates.

3. Living languages
According to the 20th edition of Ethnologue (published
February 2017), there are currently 7,099 living languages or
we can say languages in existence in the world today.
A "living language" is simply one that is currently used as the
primary form of communication of a group of people. There
are also many dead languages, or languages which have no
native speakers living, and extinct languages, which have no
native speakers and no descendant languages.

4. Genetic or genealogical classification
• The classification of languages in groups of languages is called
genetic or genealogical classification where two or more languages
belonging to the same group are genetically linked.
• Languages evolve and change over time and they develop new traits
and characteristics, while keeping some traits of their ancestral
languages.
• This evolutionary process allows for what is known as genetic
classification or genealogical classification of human languages.

5. Genetic links
• If we compare, for instance, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian,
Romanian, we discover a surprising set of resemblances, which give to
these languages a “family likeness”. This “family likeness” does not
appear when comparing French to German. But if one compares German
to English, Dutch, Swedish or Danish, one finds another “family likeness”
between these languages.
• Linguists manage to set up genetic classifications by comparing
languages and trying to define constant rules about their similarities (and
differences). This method is called comparative linguistics.
•

6. • The basic idea is that those languages look alike because all of them
are different evolutions, “descendants” from a same former language
(also called “protolanguage”), which does not exist anymore.
• A proto-language or ancestral language (a single language that is
believed to exist, but is unattested), gave rise to several daughter
languages, which in turn became parent languages of further
daughter languages.
• A language family tree is a visual representation of the
languages and their relations which belong to a common family.
• To make these connections easier to understand at a glance,
linguists most often organize them in a visual aid known as a tree
diagram, an evolutionary tree, or simply a language family tree.

7. Misleading resemblances
However, one has to pay attention. Resemblances between two or several languages
may come from their genetic relationship (resembling shapes come from a common
former shape) but they also may have others origins:
– loans : the fact that the French word tomate looks like the Aztec word tomatl does
not prove that these two languages are connected, but rather that they have been in
contact. The name given to a new plant brought to Europe was the name people from
its homeland had given it. Therefore, French “borrowed” a word from another
language and adapted it to its vocabulary.
– random : languages have limited sounds systems to express thousands of complex
notions. If we choose randomly two languages spoken far away one from another, we
always find 3 or 4 words that look alike, in their shape and meaning.
Therefore, one can speak about a genetic relationship only if one finds a converging
set of resemblances, even partial, instead of a striking but isolated resemblance.

8. Discovery of Language Families
• Although we don't have any evidence of the original parent
language (the culture that spoke it did not possess writing),
we call the original language Proto-Language.
• An Englishman, Sir William Jones (1786) was the first to
notice that some languages were related to each other by
comparing words in Sanskrit (a very ancient I-E language)
with words in Greek, Latin and English.

9. SANSKRIT (Ancient language of India)
• Sanskrit has many similarities with European languages:
Sanskrit Latin Greek English
pitr pater pater father
matar mater matr mother
bhratr frater phrater brother
• All these languages and many other ones, all belong to
one “family” of related languages called the INDO-
EUROPEAN PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN family.

10. How Many Language Families Are There?
• It is difficult to definitively determine how many language families are in existence
today, or have been in existence since the dawn of language.
• This is due mostly to the fact that the history of human language predates recorded
history, so the existence of proto-languages can only be inferred, and not
concretely proven. Additionally, deciding which language families exist (and which
languages belong to which families) is still a matter of heated debate among
historical linguists.
• Though there is no definitive number of language families, *Ethnologue lists a
total of 145 language families, not including unclassified languages, constructed
languages, mixed languages, sign languages, isolates, pidgins, and creoles.
*Ethnologue: Languages of the World is an annual reference publication in print and
online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world.

11. Major Language Families
• Despite the fact that there are over one hundred attested language families in
existence, the rise of globalization has lead to certain families dominating others in
terms of numbers of speakers.
• The following is a table of the top ten major language families of the world, sorted by
number of speakers. (All statistics from Ethnologue, 20th edition).
1. Indo-European Languages (3,077,112,005 speakers)
2. Sino-Tibetan Languages (1,355,708,295 speakers)
3. Niger-Congo Languages (458,899,441 speakers)
4. Afro-Asiatic Languages (444,845,814 speakers)
5. Austronesian Languages (324,883,805 speakers)
6. Dravidian Languages (228,108,690 speakers)
7. Turkic Languages (172,371,468 speakers)
8. Japonic Languages (129,204,210 speakers)
9. Austroasiatic Languages (104,993,793 speakers)
10.Tai-Kadai Languages (80,886,958 speakers)

12. Course objective
In this paper of historical linguistics our main objective is to
focus on two major language families which are;
(define any one)
1. Indo-European language family
2. Afro-Asiatic language family

13. 1- Indo-European language family
With 443 languages, the Indo-European language family is
one of the largest language families in the world. It has ten
branches of living language, Germanic is one of the main
branch and three of which are primarily spoken in Asia:
1.Armenian
2.Iranian
3.Indo-Aryan (also called Indic)

14. Germanic
• The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language
family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly
in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa.
• The Ethnologue lists 48 different living Germanic languages, 41 of which belong to
the Western branch and six to the Northern branch;
• The West Germanic languages include the three most widely spoken Germanic
languages:
 English with around 360-400 million native speakers;
 German with over 100 million native speakers; and
 Dutch with 23 million native speakers.
• The main North Germanic languages are
Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish, which have a combined total
of about 20 million speakers.
• The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, all of which
are now extinct. The last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken until the late 18th
century in some isolated areas of Crimea.

16. Armenian
The Armenian language constitutes a separate branch of the Indo-
European language family. There are approximately 6 millions first
language speakers, a little over the half of which live in Armenia. The
rest live in 29 other countries around the world, with the largest groups
in Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and
Turkey. There are many different dialects, but they are all inherently
intelligible. There are two slightly different written varieties, East
Armenian, based on the dialect of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and
West Armenian, based on the dialect of Istanbul.

17. Iranian
The 84 Iranian languages are spoken in a vast continuous area from Pakistan and the
Xinjiang province of China in the east and into Turkey in the west, with Iran in the
middle. The six most important members of the group are:
Balochi (3 separate languages, mainly spoken in Pakistan, but also in neighboring countries:
Eastern Balochi, 1.8 million speakers; Western Balochi, 3.4 million speakers; Southern Balochi,
1.8 million speakers),
Kurdish (2 separate languages: Kurdi, more than 6 million speakers in Iran and Iraq; Kurmanji,
more 4 million speakers in Turkey, 1 million speakers in Syria, and smaller groups in Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Iran),
Osetin (or Ossete, Ossetic; approximately 600,000 speakers, out of which 164,000 in Georgia,
and the rest in neighboring countries),
Pashtu (3 separate languages: Northern Pashto, 10 million speakers, mainly in Pakistan;
Southern Pashto, 10 million speakers, mainly in Afghanistan; Central Pashto, in Pakistan, the
number of speakers is not known),
Persian (or Farsi; two main varieties: Western Persian, 22 million speakers in Iran and more than
2 million speakers around the world; Eastern Persian or Dari, approaching 6 million speakers in
Afghanistan and 1 million in Pakistan),and
Tajiki (3.5 million speakers in Tajikistan and 1 million in neighboring countries).

18. Indo-Aryan
The 210 Indo-Aryan
languages are primarily
spoken in the countries of
the Indian subcontinent, in
practically the whole
green area of MAP, with
the exception of the
Iranian-speaking areas of
western Pakistan.

19. Some major Indo-Aryan languages are:
• Assamese (more than 15 million speakers, primarily in the Indian states of Assam,
Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh, but also in Bangladesh and Bhutan),
• Bengali (207 million first language speakers, primarily in Bangladesh and in the
Indian state of West Bengal),
• Gujarati (45.5 millions in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and more than half a million speakers around the
world),
• Hindi (more than 180 million first language speakers throughout northern India:
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, northern Bihar, and
Himachal Pradesh. The total number of first language speakers around the world is
366 millions and more than 120 million second language speakers.
• Marathi (68 million first language speakers in the Indian state of Maharashtra and
adjacent states and 3 million second language speakers),
• Oriya (more than 32 million speakers in the Indian states of Orissa, Bihar, West
Bengal, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh. Also spoken in Bangladesh),

20. • Punjabi (or Panjabi; 27 million speakers of Eastern Punjabi in the northwestern
India, primarily in Punjab, but also in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Jammu and
Kashmir; probably around 45 million speakers of Western Punjabi in the Punjab
area of Pakistan),
• Urdu (very close to Hindi, but with a formal vocabulary borrowed from Arabic and
Persian, while Hindi is de-Persianized and de-Arabicized, and borrows form a
vocabulary from Sanskrit; more than 11 million first language speakers in Pakistan,
48 millions in India (Jammu and Kashmir and Muslims throughout the country), and
a few millions around the world; close to 45 million second language speakers).
• In addition, we should mention Sinhalese (more than 13 million speakers in Sri
Lanka).

21. 2- Afro-Asiatic language family
• The Afro-Asiatic language family has the following
five branches of living languages, all of which are:
1.Berber
2.Chadic
3.Cushitic
4.Omotic
5.Semitic.

22. Berber
The 26 Berber languages are distributed all over North Africa, from the Siwa Oasis in
Egypt in the east to Senegal in the west, from Algeria in the north to Mali in the south.
The most important Berber languages are:
• Taqbaylit (or Kabyle; 2.5 million speakers in the Kabylia region of Algerie and half
a million in other countries),
• Tamasheq (may be four different languages: Tamahaq, 62 000 speakers in
southern Algeria and adjacent areas; Tamajaq, 640 000 speakers in Niger and
adjacent areas; Tamajeq, 250 000 speakers in Niger; Tamasheq, more than 25
000 in Mali),
• Tamazight (3.5 million speakers in the Middle Atlas of Morocco and adjacent
areas),
• Tarifit (or Rifi; 2 million speakers, mainly in northern Morocco), and
• Tashelhiyt (or Shilha; 3.5 million speakers, mainly in southwestern Morocco).

23. Chadic
There are altogether 195 Chadic languages, which are primarily
spoken in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan,
Cameroon, and parts of Togo, Benin, and Ghana; cf. MAP 9. More than
85% of all those who speak Chadic languages speak Hausa, which is
spoken by 25 million first language speakers (20 million in Nigeria, 5
million in Niger, half million in Sudan) and 15 million second language
speakers.

24. Cushitic
• The 47 Cushitic languages are spoken in the Horn of Africa and along the Red
Sea. The most important ones are:
• Somali (more than 7 million speakers in Somalia, 3 millions in Ethiopia, and
smaller groups in Djibouti and Kenya),
• Oromo (more than 3.6 million speakers in the South Oromo Region in Ethiopia and
smaller groups in Somalia and Kenya),
• Sidamo (1.8 million speakers in south central Ethiopia),
• Bedawi (or Beja; probably around 1 million speakers in northwestern Sudan, along
the Red Sea coast, and 120 000 in Eritrea).

25. Omotic
The 28 Omotic languages are spoken in
southwestern Ethiopia. The most important ones are
Wolaytta (1.2 million speakers),
Gamo-Gofa-Dawro (1.2 million speakers), and
Kafa (570 000 speakers).

26. Semitic
The living Semitic languages can be divided into two main branches, North-west
Semitic and South Semitic, but there is no general agreement about all details in the
classification.
NORTH-WEST SEMITIC
The most important North-west Semitic languages are:
• Arabic, with a large number of regional varieties, is spoken in Morocco, Algeria,
Mauritania, Tunisia, Malta, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Jordan, Syria,
Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. The number of first language speakers
exceeds 200 million. Modern Standard Arabic is the written form used in all these
countries except Malta.
• Aramaic has several varieties, the most important of which is Assyrian Neo-
Aramaic, with 30 000 speakers in Iraq and 80 000 speakers in 25 countries around
the world.
• Hebrew, in its modern revived form, is spoken by around 5 million people, primarily
in Israel.

27. SOUTH SEMITIC
South Semitic comprises South Arabian and Ethio-Semitic.
• Among the South Arabian languages are Soqotri (70 000 speakers, mainly in
Soqotra Island) and Mehri (58 000) in Yemen.
• The Ethio-Semitic languages are spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The most
important ones are Amharic (more than 17 million first language speakers and 5
million second language speakers in Ethiopia) and
• Tigrinya (3.2 million speakers in Ethiopia and 2 million speakers in Eritrea).
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