首页
登录
职称英语
Language Families There are over【1】languages th
Language Families There are over【1】languages th
游客
2025-01-02
17
管理
问题
Language Families
There are over【1】languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore, the grammar, vocabulary, sounds of related languages, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages are【2】.
Even though there are so many languages used today, there are only about 20 or 30 major language families.
Ⅰ. The【3】family. It includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, for example【4】.
Ⅱ. The【5】family. It includes most languages in the area of North Africa and the Middle East.
Ⅲ. The Bantu family. It includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern【6】.
Ⅳ. The【7】family. It includes all dialects of Chinese, the languages of southeast Asia. Of course, not all the languages of east Asia belong to this family, for example,【8】.
Ⅴ. The Polynesian family. The Polynesian languages are【9】. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Example of Polynesian languages:【10】.
These five language groups or language families are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more. [br] 【4】
Language Families
Good morning everyone. Today I’m going to talk about some large language families. I’ll start my talk with two questions. Do you know how many languages are used throughout the world today? How many major language families are there? [PAUSE]
OK, there are more than 3,000 languages used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore the grammar, vocabulary, and sounds of related languages are similar. In addition, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages is similar.
Even though there are over 3,000 languages that are used today, there are only about 20 to 30 major language families.
Let’s take a brief look at some of the largest language families. Each of these large families includes many individual languages.
The language that we are using now is English. As everybody knows, English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England. It’s spoken by 320 million people. English is a member of the Indo-European Language Family. This large language family includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, languages such as English, French, and Greek. Of course, nowadays many Indo-European languages are spoken in other parts of the world. For instance, Spanish, which is an Indo-European language, is spoken throughout South and Central America, but originally it was spoken only in Europe.
Another large language family is the Afro-Asiatic Family. I’ll spell it, A-F-R-O, A-S- I-A-T-I-C. The Afro-Asiatic family includes most languages in the area of North Africa. Languages such as Arabic, which is spoken throughout the Middle East, and many of the local languages of the Sahara Desert region such as Hausa are members of the same family.
Another large family is Bantu, B-A-N-T-U. Bantu includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern Africa. Languages such as Swahili, which has millions of speakers, and smaller languages, such as Zulu, which has close to a hundred thousand speakers, belong to the Bantu family. There are over 250 members of this family.
In the past few hundred years, there has been a great change in Africa, and outside languages, such as French, are now spoken in some areas of central Africa and southern Africa.
A fourth large group of language is the Sino-Tibetan Family. Sino-Tibetan includes all dialects of Chinese, which is perhaps the most widely used language in the world. There are nearly 800 million speakers of Chinese dialects. Sino-Tibetan also includes the languages of Southeast Asia, languages such as Vietnamese and Thai. Of course, not all the languages of East Asia belong to this family. Some languages such as Japanese seem to be completely unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan family.
Still another major language family is Polynesian. I’ll spell it, P-O-L-Y-N-E-S-I-A- N. The Polynesian languages are island languages. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, and on the many islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, and on the islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Hawaiian and Indonesian are examples of Polynesian languages. Apparently, these languages were spread by travelers from island to island, and then each group of islands developed its own individual language.
These five language groups, or language families, that we have mentioned here are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more. You should also note that each major language family has several smaller families within it.
选项
答案
English/French/Greek/Spanish
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3895101.html
相关试题推荐
EversincetheancientRomansimposedtheirlanguageonneighboringbarbaria
Asamatteroffact,whenallalanguagetakesfromanotheroneismerewords
Asamatteroffact,whenallalanguagetakesfromanotheroneismerewords
Asamatteroffact,whenallalanguagetakesfromanotheroneismerewords
Asamatteroffact,whenallalanguagetakesfromanotheroneismerewords
AdviceforFamiliesfromtheScottishCouncilforResearchinEducation."
LanguageFamiliesThereareover【1】languagesth
LanguageFamiliesThereareover【1】languagesth
LanguageFamiliesThereareover【1】languagesth
LanguageFamiliesThereareover【1】languagesth
随机试题
Therearetwobasicsortsofvisualperspective—aerialperspectiveandlinea
【B1】[br]【B7】[originaltext]Millionsofyoungpeoplearecreatingblogs.Mil
末端试水装置处的出水压力不应低于0.01MPa()
在总平面图中注写到小数点后()位。A.一 B.二 C.三 D.四
职业病防治法适用于()内的职业病防治活动。A.中华人民共和国领域内 B.中
运营隧道结构检查是隧道运营管理中的一项重要工作,通过结构检查,了解隧道土建结构技
山莨菪碱A.用于重症支气管哮喘的治疗B.用于解除消化道痉挛C.多用于急性青光眼的
CO2通过呼吸膜扩散的速率比O2快20倍,主要原因是CO2 A.为主动转运B
补充医疗保险主要包括()。A.企业年金 B.职工大额医疗费用补助 C.企业
社会评价的主要内容通常可归结为()。A.社会风险分析和社会可持续性分析
最新回复
(
0
)