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Evolution of Languages: Hist. Linguistics & Language Families

Explore the birth, evolution, and death of languages along with the causes of language change and the concept of language families. Dive into historical linguistics and the distribution of major languages globally. Discover the fascinating world of linguistic evolution.

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Evolution of Languages: Hist. Linguistics & Language Families

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  1. Historical linguistics The birth, evolution, and death of languages

  2. Rank Language Population (in millions) % of world’s pop. 1 Chinese (Mandarin) 885 15 2 English 322 5.4 3 Spanish 266 4.5 4 Bengali 189 3.2 5 Hindi 182 3.0 6 Portuguese 170 2.8 7 Russian 170 2.8 8 Japanese 125 2.1 9 German 98 1.6 10 Chinese (Wu) 77 1.3 11 Javanese 76 1.2 12 Korean 75 1.2 13 French 72 1.2 14 Vietnamese 67 1.1 15 Telegu 66 1.1

  3. Polygenesis vs. monogenesis • Monogenesis prevails in biological evolution • Polygenesis prevails in cultural evolution: independent invention • Polygenesis seems to prevail in remote language origins

  4. Causes of language change • Random Drift • Phonetic Assimilation • Language contact: • Borrowing • Interference in acquisition of second language • Institutionalization of formerly aberrant forms.

  5. Change in animal systems? • Little evidence that call systems of other primates evolve through time • Data about the past are skimpy. • Linked to genes. Genetic evolution slower than cultural evolution • Whales: the possible exception

  6. Language families • No evidence for one common ancestor language • But languages can be grouped into families • The role of Sanskrit in the discovery of the Indo-European family

  7. Indo-European family • Probably originated in north-central Europe • Associated with “Aryan” warriors who were to conquer Europe, India, and parts of Asia • No literary remains • No archeological site can be firmly linked. • Has been hypothetically reconstructed

  8. Branches of Indo-European • Italic: Latin and Romance languages • Slavic: Russian, Polish etc/ • Celtic: Irish, Gallic, Welsh, Breton • Germanic: German, English, Swedish, et.al. • Indo-Iranian: Hindi, Bengali, Farsi, Pashto

  9. Map of Celtic Languages Today

  10. European language distribution, present

  11. Indo-European Expansion

  12. Indo-European languages in times past

  13. Indo-European languages around the world

  14. Language Families in Europe

  15. Indo-European branches in Europe today

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