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Languages of Asia Part 1: East and Southeast Asia

Languages of Asia Part 1: East and Southeast Asia. ASIAN 401 Spring 2009. Relationships Among Languages. Languages can be classified in different ways: Genetic (common ancestor) Typological (common features) Areal (common geography). Genetic Relationship.

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Languages of Asia Part 1: East and Southeast Asia

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  1. Languages of AsiaPart 1: East and Southeast Asia ASIAN 401 Spring 2009

  2. Relationships Among Languages • Languages can be classified in different ways: • Genetic (common ancestor) • Typological (common features) • Areal (common geography)

  3. Genetic Relationship • Languages descended from a common ancestor language belong to the same language familyand are genetically related • Example: The Romance languages are a family of languages descended from Latin

  4. Languages Families • There are five major language families of East and Southeast Asia • If we add North Asia, we get one (or several) more • There are also some language isolates

  5. Languages of Asia • There are hundreds of languages spoken in Asia, by over 2 billion people • You should memorize the major families, and at least two languages in each • You should also know isolates

  6. NORTH ASIA CENTRAL ASIA EAST ASIA SOUTH ASIA peninsular SOUTHEAST ASIA insular

  7. EAST ASIA China Korea Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.): Sino-Tibetan family Korean: Isolate Japan Japanese: Isolate Hmong, Mien: Hmong-Mien family

  8. SOUTHEAST ASIA China Burmese: Sino-Tibetan family Burma Thailand Vietnam Philippines Thai, Lao: Tai-Kadai Family Vietnamese, Khmer: Austroasiatic family Malaysian, Indonesian, Tagalog: Austronesian family Malaysia Indonesia

  9. NORTH ASIA Russia Mongolia Mongolian: Altaic family Uighur: Altaic family China

  10. Languages Families • Altaic: Mongolia, China, “stans” • Sino-Tibetan: China, Tibet, Burma, Himalayas • Hmong-Mien: China, Vietnam • Tai-Kadai: China, Thailand, Laos • Austroasiatic: Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, India • Austronesian: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hawaii …

  11. Sample Languages • Altaic: Mongolian, Uighur • Sino-Tibetan: Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese • Hmong-Mien: Hmong, Mien • Tai-Kadai: Thai, Lao, Zhuang • Austroasiatic: Khmer, Vietnamese, Munda • Austronesian: Malaysian, Indonesian, Tagalog

  12. Altaic • ~60 languages, ~350 million speakers • Consists of Mongolic, Tungusic, and Turkic languages; perhaps also Japanese and Korean • Mongolia, NW China, “stans”, Turkey • Simple syllables, vowel harmony

  13. Sino-Tibetan • >300 languages, >1 billion speakers • Sinitic (= Chinese) in China, hundreds of lgs in SE, W, S Asia • In E and SE Asia, these languages tend to be tonal and monosyllabic

  14. Hmong-Mien • ~35 languages, ~10 million speakers • Southern China, northern parts of SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Laos) • Tonal, many complex consonant clusters as in mpzha ‘ear’

  15. Tai-Kadai • ~60 languages, ~50 million speakers • Southern China, Thailand, Laos • Tonal

  16. Austroasiatic • >100 languages, ~100 million speakers • Spoken throughout peninsular SE Asia • Large numbers of vowels (> 20 in some lgs) • voice register distinctions

  17. Austronesian • ~1000 languages, ~300 million speakers • Spoken on Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Pacific islands • Inclusive/Exclusive 2nd person plural pronouns

  18. End

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