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List Of Language Families
This article is a list of language families. This list only includes primary language families that are accepted by the current academic consensus in the field of linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...; for language families that are not accepted by the current academic consensus in the field of linguistics, see the article " List of proposed language families". List of language families Spoken language families File:Primary Human Languages Improved Version.png, Map of the main language families of the world File:Africa ethnic groups 1996.jpg, The language families of Africa File:Austronesia Map.jpg, Map of the Austronesian languages File:Dravidian subgroups.png, Map of major Dravidian languages File:Indo-European Language Family Branches in Eurasia.png, Dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics analogous to a family tree, or to phylogenetic trees of taxa used in evolutionary taxonomy. Linguists thus describe the ''daughter languages'' within a language family as being ''genetically related''. The divergence of a proto-language into daughter languages typically occurs through geographical separation, with different regional dialects of the proto-language undergoing different language changes and thus becoming distinct languages over time. One well-known example of a language family is the Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, and many others, all of which are descended from Vulgar Latin.Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.)''Ethnologue: Languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fur Languages
The Fur, Furan or For languages constitute a small, closely related family, which is a proposed member of the Nilo-Saharan family. Its members are: *Fur in western Sudan and eastern Chad with around 745,600 speakers in 2004. * Amdang (also called Mimi) in eastern Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ... with around 41,100 speakers in 2000. References Language families {{ns-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maban Languages
The Maban languages are a small family of languages which have been included in the hypothetical Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilo-Saharan language family. Maban languages are spoken in eastern Chad, the Central African Republic and western Sudan (Darfur). Languages The Maban branch includes the following languages: *Mimi of Nachtigal * Kenjeje language, Kenjeje (Yaali, Faranga) * Masalit: Surbakhal language, Surbakhal, Masalit language, Masalit * Aiki language, Aiki (Runga and Kibet, sometimes considered separate languages) * Mabang: Karanga language, Karanga, Marfa language, Marfa, Maba language, Maba The languages attested in two word lists labelled "Mimi language, Mimi", collected by Decorse (Mimi of Decorse, Mimi-D) and Nachtigal (Mimi of Nachtigal, Mimi-N), have also been classified as Maban, though this has been contested. Mimi-N appears to have been remotely related to Maban proper, while Mimi-D appears to have not been Maban at all, with the similarities due to language con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunama Languages
The Kunama languages are a family of languages traditionally considered dialects of a single language, spoken in western Eritrea and across the border in Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken .... They are included as a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. The languages are Kunama proper and Ilit. References *Blench, RogerNilo-Saharan languages list Language families Languages of Eritrea {{ns-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuliak Languages
The Kuliak languages, also called the Rub languages,Ehret, Christopher (2001) ''A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan'' (SUGIA, Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika: Beihefte 12), Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, . or Nyangiyan languages are a group of languages spoken by small relict communities in the mountainous Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda. Nyang'i and Soo are moribund, with a handful of elderly speakers. However, Ik is vigorous and growing. Word order in Kuliak languages is verb-initial.Beer, Sam, Amber McKinney, Lokiru Kosma 2009. ''The So Language: A Grammar Sketch''. m.s. Names The Kuliak languages are also called the Rub languages by Ehret (1981), since Ehret reconstructed "Rub" to mean 'person' in Proto-Kuliak. He suggests that "Kuliak" may actually be a derogatory term used by neighboring Nilotic-speaking peoples to disparage Kuliak speakers as "poor," hence his preference for using Rub instead. However, Kuliak continues to be the most wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kru Languages
The Kru languages are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the west of Ivory Coast. Classification According to Güldemann (2018), Kru lacks sufficient lexical resemblances and noun class resemblances to conclude a relationship with Niger-Congo. Glottolog considers Kru an independent language family. Etymology The term "Kru" is of unknown origin. According to Westermann (1952) it was used by Europeans to denote a number of tribes speaking related dialects. Marchese (1989) notes the fact that many of these peoples were recruited as "crew" by European seafarers; "the homonymy with crew is obvious, and is at least one source of the confusion among Europeans that there was a Kru/crew tribe". History Andrew Dalby noted the historical importance of the Kru languages for their position at the crossroads of African-European interaction. He wrote that "Kru and associated languages were among the first to be encountered by European voyagers on what was then known a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kresh-Aja Languages
Kresh is a small language group of South Sudan. It is generally considered to be a branch of the Central Sudanic languages. Boyeldieu (2010) judges that this has yet to be demonstrated satisfactorily, but Starostin (2016) finds convincing evidence, and that its closest relative within that family appears to be Birri. Kresh is generally considered a dialect cluster, but it is dialectically diverse. Blench (2000 ms) lists five Kresh languages, four of which (Kresh, Gbaya, Woro, and Dongo) ''Ethnologue'' counts among seven dialects of Kresh/Gbaya (or eight, counting Aja). Kresh and Gbaya, however, are merely exonym and endonym, not coherent languages; they are equivalent to five varieties listed by ''Ethnologue''. ''Ethnologue'' notes that the varieties are not mutually intelligible, but that Kresh-Ndogo (Gbaya-Ndogo) is universally understood as a prestige variety, and that Naka is also commonly understood as the most populous variety. Blench (2000) also includes Furu (Bagero) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koman Languages
The Koman languages are a small, close-knit family of languages located along the Ethiopia–Sudan border with about 50,000 speakers. They are conventionally classified as part of the Nilo-Saharan family. However, due to the paucity of evidence, many scholars treat it as an independent language family. Among scholars who do accept its inclusion within Nilo-Saharan, opinions vary as to their position within it. Koman languages in Ethiopia are in close contact with the Omotic Mao languages. In Ethiopia, some Koman-speaking groups also consider themselves to be ethnically Mao. Internal classification The Koman languages are: *Koman ** Uduk, or T’wampa, (formerly in South Sudan) — about 20,000 speakers, most at a large refugee camp at Bonga, near Gambela ** Kwama (Ethiopia) — about 15,000 speakers, mainly in Benishangul-Gumuz ** Komo (Sudan) — about 12,000 speakers mainly in An Nil al Azraq ** Opuuo (Opo), or Shita (Ethiopia) — spoken in 5 villages north of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khoe–Kwadi Languages
The Khoe–Kwadi languages are a family consisting of the Khoe languages of southern Africa and the poorly attested extinct Kwadi language of Angola. The relationship has been worked out by Tom Güldemann, Edward Elderkin, and Anne-Maria Fehn. History The Proto-Khoe-Kwadi homeland was likely in the middle Zambezi Valley, 2,000-3000 years ago. The early Kwadi people migrated westwards into Angola while the early Khoe moved southwards. Khoe speakers migrated towards the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert, where the harsh environment forced them to give up Pastoralism and return to being Hunter-gatherers. Other Khoe speakers followed much better watered routes, crossing the Limpopo River and entering the Bushveld in South Africa. in the Bushveld they met Bantu peoples for the first time, and "faced with competition from people having more productive mixed Iron Age economies, the Khoe veered off to the southwest." The Khoe eventually found two productive habitats that beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katloid Languages
The Katla languages are two to three closely related languages that form a small language family in the Nuba Hills of Sudan. Part of an erstwhile Kordofanian proposal, they are of uncertain position within the hypothetical Niger–Congo family. They do not share the characteristic morphology of Niger–Congo, such as the noun-class system. Thus Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ... classifies them as a divergent branch of Niger–Congo outside the Atlantic–Congo core. A similar situation holds for another Kordofanian family, Rashad; these are not closely related to Katla. See also * List of Proto-Katloid reconstructions (Wiktionary) References * Roger Blench. UnpublishedKordofanian and Niger–Congo: new and revised lexical evidence * Roger Ble ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kadu Languages
The Kadu languages, also known as Kadugli–Krongo or Tumtum, are a small language family of the Kordofanian languages, Kordofanian geographic grouping, once included in Niger–Congo. However, since Thilo C. Schadeberg, Thilo Schadeberg (1981), Kadu is widely seen as Nilo-Saharan. Evidence for a Niger-Congo affiliation is rejected, and a Nilo-Saharan relationship is controversial. A conservative classification would treat the Kadu languages as an independent family. Classification Blench (2006) notes that Kadu languages share similarities with multiple African language phyla, including Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan, suggesting a complex history of linguistic convergence and contact. However, more recently, Blench states that Kadu is almost certainly Nilo-Saharan, with its closest relationship being with Eastern Sudanic languages, Eastern Sudanic. Like the Nilotic languages, Nilotic, Surmic languages, Surmic, and Kuliak languages, Kuliak languages, Kadu languages have verb-initia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
