Language!Where the language is used, how they are grouped, why distributed that way

Some Stats to Start with

The world has 7299 languages only 10 (including English) are spoken by at least 100 million people.

They include: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, Mandarin, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Japanese

500 Million People speak English and it is the official language of 50 countries

Mandarin has more speakers but is clustered mainly in China.

Why so many English Speakers?

British dominance since the 1600’s and colonization throughout the world: North America, United States and Canada Ireland, Scotland, Wales South Asia South Pacific Southern Africa

And then there’s American dominance South Pacific, Caribbean, Philippines

Dialect

Regional variations of a particular language

British vs. American English Spelling, Vocabulary, Pronunciation The “King’s English” known as British Received

Pronunciation Cockney English known as the working class language

Dialects in the US East Coast, South, Midwest Monolingual regions, Multilingual regions

EVERY LANGUAGE HAS SLANG

Cockney Rhyming Slang- English odd humorous use of code phrases “going up the apples”

Pidgin languages-simplified forms of a language that use key vocabulary and limited grammar

Pidgin languages can evolve into separate languages-French Creole which is French with African dialectal sounds and vocabulary Most former French colonies have a mixed language

of French and Indigenous called Patois

Lingua Franca?

French has historically been the bridge or utility language so it’s versatility coined the term “lingua franca”

Lingua Franca is used to describe any language that bridges peoples from around the world In the 21st century English is accepted as the global

“lingua franca”

Language Families

Indo-European (2.5 Billion)

Sino-Tibetan (1.4 Billion)

Afro-Asiatic (284 Million)

Austronesian (244 Million)

Dravidian (203 Million)

Niger-Congo (172 Million)

Altaic (128 Million)

Japanese (122 Million)

Korean (67 Million)

Language Families

Language Families Language Groups

Language Sub-Groups

For example: English comes from Indo-European family, Germanic sub-family, Western Germanic group.

Two Theories on European Language Development

Anatolian theory: states that some portion of prehistoric peoples from the Indian subcontinent migrated to what is modern day Turkey and then migrated further into Europe

Kurgan theory: states that some portion of prehistoric peoples from the Indian subcontinent migrated to central Asia and through the Eurasian steppe into Europe.

As a side: Genetic evidence proves that Europeans are descendants of prehistoric Aryan Indians