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Explore the fascinating history of languages, from the origins of human communication to the development of major language families. Discover the diversity and complexity of languages around the world.
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You can call me Profe Tewell…or Entrenador Tewell… or Profe-Entrenador Tewell • It’s time to TALK a little about LANGUAGE…
History and Evolution • Scientists don’t know when language was first used by humans or their ancestors • Estimates range • 2 million years ago Homo habilis • 40 thousand years ago Cro-Magnon man • Writing came much later, so there’s not a lot of data • Oral tradition • There are an estimated 6,089 languages actively used in the world
Babel • Christian tradition • Babel (Babylon) was a city that united humanity, all speaking a single language and migrating from the east; it was the first city to be built after the Great Flood. The people decided their city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the heavens." Do you know how the story goes?
Culture Hearth • An area where a distinctive set of cultural traits develops • Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) • Nile River Valley (Modern Egypt, Ethiopia)
Indus Valley Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) Huong-Yellow River Meso- (Middle) America Ganges Plain Nile River Valley West Africa Andean America
The first person that I see touch their nose with their left index finger gets….. • To answer a question about this lesson… • If they get it right, man…it’s CANDY CITY!
Question • How many languages are there, roughly? • A. 4,000 • B. 5,000 • C. 6,000 • D. 7,000
Brothers, Sisters, Cousins • Just like our society, languages are grouped into families that have common ancestors • Who is the common ancestor of you and your mother or father? • Who is the common ancestor of you and your cousin? • What language is the common ancestor of French and Spanish? • From what language has English evolved?
Major Language Families • Indo-European Largest Family • 3 billion speakers • Roughly half the World’s population • Divided into 443 different languages • Most of the major languages of Europe, the Americas, and many Asian languages
Indo-European (cont’d) • Each of the following languages is an Indo-European language that has more than 100 million speakers • Bengali (India, Bangladesh) • English (scattered…why?) • French (scattered…why?) • German (scattered…why?) • Hindi (India) • Portuguese (scattered…why?) • Russian (Russia and former USSR) • Spanish (scattered…why?)
You thought the last one was complicated…get a gander at the next one!
Subfamilies of Indo-European Languages • Germanic • German • English • Dutch • Norwegian • Swedish • Danish • Others (Frisian, Afrikaans)
Subfamilies of Indo-European Languages • Romantic • Derived from Latin …Roman Empire • French • Spanish • Portuguese • Italian
Sino-Tibetan • 2nd largest in terms of the number of native speakers • 250 different languages • Major subfamily Chinese languages
Afro-Asiatic • 285 million native speakers • 240 different languages • Including: Arabic, Hebrew • North Africa • East Africa • Southwest Asia (Middle-East)
Tribal • Central and Southern African Languages • Were spread by the Bantu Tribe between 5 and 7 thousand years ago (5000 BC-3000BC) • The Bantu were forced to move southward because of invasion, drought, and possible internal strife
“Tribal” is the name that I have given to those languages originating with the Bantu Migration • Khosian • Niger-Congo • Nilo-saharan • Languages used primarily south of the Sahara Desert
Austronesian • Fewest number of native speakers • Largest number of languages… • Where From Madagascar to Easter Island
Why are there so few Austronesian language speakers, yet so many languages?
A “Created Language?” • Esperanto… • Compilation of different languages • Designed to make it easy for everyone to communicate • 1800s-early 1900s as many as 2 million people learned the language • No country adopted it, though • The Esperanto Alphabet: • a b c ĉ d e f g ĝ h ĥ i j ĵ k l m n o p r s ŝ t u ŭ v z
Most Widely Spoken Languages? • Mandarin Chinese (874 million, 16 countries) • Hindi (366 million, 17 countries) • English (341 million, 104 countries) • Spanish (322 million, 43 countries) • Bengali (207 million, 9 countries) • Portuguese (176 million, 33 countries) • Russian (167 million, 30 countries) • Japanese (125 million, 26 countries) • German (100 million, 40 countries) • Korean (78 million, 31 countries) • French (77 million, 53 countries)