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Ch. 5- Language

KI 3: Where are other language families distributed?. Ch. 5- Language. Classification of Languages. Indo-European (ex. English, 46%) Sino-Tibetan (ex. Mandarin, 21%- China) Afro-Asiatic (ex. Arabic, 6%- Middle East) Austronesian (ex. Javanese, 6%- Southeast Asia)

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Ch. 5- Language

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  1. KI 3: Where are other language families distributed? Ch. 5- Language

  2. Classification of Languages • Indo-European (ex. English, 46%) • Sino-Tibetan (ex. Mandarin, 21%- China) • Afro-Asiatic (ex. Arabic, 6%- Middle East) • Austronesian (ex. Javanese, 6%- Southeast Asia) • Niger-Congo (ex. Swahili, 6%- Africa) • Dravidian (ex. Telugu, 4%- India) • Altaic (ex. Turkish, 2%- Asia) • Austro-Asiatic (ex. Vietnamese, 2%- Southeast Asia) • Japanese (2%)

  3. Sino-Tibetan Family • Includes languages spoken in China and several smaller countries in East Asia • No single Chinese language—Mandarin is spoken by about ¾ of Chinese people • Cantonese is other very prominent language in china, but the government is pushing Mandarin countrywide • Structure of Chinese languages is different than any that we know • 420 one syllable words—use each sound to denote more than 1 thing

  4. Sino-Tibetan Family • Very distinct writing system—use ideograms • Represent ideas or concepts not specific pronunciations • Very intricate system (developing for over 4,000 years)—about 16% of people over age 16 cannot read or write more than a few characters

  5. Other East and Southeast Asian Language Families • Austronesian—mostly Indonesia, because so many islands, many different languages and dialects (722 actively used—Javanese is most spoken) • Austro-Asiatic—Vietnamese is most popular, uses Roman Alphabet with the addition of diacritical marks above vowels • Japanese—written with both Chinese ideograms and phonetic symbols like western languages, parts of Chinese cultural traits have diffused to Japan, but languages are different

  6. Languages of Middle East and Central Asia • Afro-Asiatic—Arabic, official language of 2 dozen countries in middle east, 200 million plus speakers, large percentage of world’s Muslims have some knowledge of Arabic because the Quran was written in it. • Also includes Hebrew, official language of Judeo-Christian Bible • Altaic—Turkish is main language • Uralic—spoken in Estonia, Finland, and Hungary—1st used by people living in Ural Mts, migrated to Europe—retained language as part of their cultural identity

  7. African Language Families • More than 1,ooo distinct languages and several thousands dialects have been documented, most lack a written tradition • Niger-Congo—includes Swahili—1st language of only 800,000 people and official language only in Tanzania, but is spoken by more than 30 million Africans

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