首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Language Families There are over【1】languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong t
Language Families There are over【1】languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong t
admin
2011-01-02
52
问题
Language Families
There are over【1】languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore, the grammar, vocabulary, sounds of related languages, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages are【2】.
Even though there are so many languages used today, there are only about 20 or 30 major language families.
Ⅰ. The【3】family. It includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, for example【4】.
Ⅱ. The【5】family. It includes most languages in the area of North Africa and the Middle East.
Ⅲ. The Bantu family. It includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern【6】.
Ⅳ. The【7】family. It includes all dialects of Chinese, the languages of southeast Asia. Of course, not all the languages of east Asia belong to this family, for example,【8】.
Ⅴ. The Polynesian family. The Polynesian languages are【9】. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Example of Polynesian languages:【10】.
These five language groups or language families are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more.
【5】
Language Families
Good morning everyone. Today I’m going to talk about some large language families. I’ll start my talk with two questions. Do you know how many languages are used throughout the world today? How many major language families are there? [PAUSE]
OK, there are more than 3,000 languages used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore the grammar, vocabulary, and sounds of related languages are similar. In addition, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages is similar.
Even though there are over 3,000 languages that are used today, there are only about 20 to 30 major language families.
Let’s take a brief look at some of the largest language families. Each of these large families includes many individual languages.
The language that we are using now is English. As everybody knows, English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England. It’s spoken by 320 million people. English is a member of the Indo-European Language Family. This large language family includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, languages such as English, French, and Greek. Of course, nowadays many Indo-European languages are spoken in other parts of the world. For instance, Spanish, which is an Indo-European language, is spoken throughout South and Central America, but originally it was spoken only in Europe.
Another large language family is the Afro-Asiatic Family. I’ll spell it, A-F-R-O, A-S- I-A-T-I-C. The Afro-Asiatic family includes most languages in the area of North Africa. Languages such as Arabic, which is spoken throughout the Middle East, and many of the local languages of the Sahara Desert region such as Hausa are members of the same family.
Another large family is Bantu, B-A-N-T-U. Bantu includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern Africa. Languages such as Swahili, which has millions of speakers, and smaller languages, such as Zulu, which has close to a hundred thousand speakers, belong to the Bantu family. There are over 250 members of this family.
In the past few hundred years, there has been a great change in Africa, and outside languages, such as French, are now spoken in some areas of central Africa and southern Africa.
A fourth large group of language is the Sino-Tibetan Family. Sino-Tibetan includes all dialects of Chinese, which is perhaps the most widely used language in the world. There are nearly 800 million speakers of Chinese dialects. Sino-Tibetan also includes the languages of Southeast Asia, languages such as Vietnamese and Thai. Of course, not all the languages of East Asia belong to this family. Some languages such as Japanese seem to be completely unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan family.
Still another major language family is Polynesian. I’ll spell it, P-O-L-Y-N-E-S-I-A- N. The Polynesian languages are island languages. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, and on the many islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, and on the islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Hawaiian and Indonesian are examples of Polynesian languages. Apparently, these languages were spread by travelers from island to island, and then each group of islands developed its own individual language.
These five language groups, or language families, that we have mentioned here are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more. You should also note that each major language family has several smaller families within it.
选项
答案
Afro—Asiatic
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/HmeO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Someincidentshaddemonstrateditssecurityproblem.B、TheRoyalfamilyfounditnecessarytodoso.C、TheHouseofParliamen
______isNOTlookeduponasoneofthefeaturesofRenaissance.
______wasknownforhisfamousspeechIHaveaDream.
Americanthisyearwillswallow15,000tonsdrugsofaspirin,oneofsafestandmosteffectiveinventedbyman.
Whichofthefollowingstatementsisnotatypicalfeatureofimagism?
Manyobjectsindailyusehaveclearlybeeninfluencedbyscience,buttheirformandfunction,theirdimensionsandappearance,
新加坡报纸说,中国是世界四大文明古国之一,地大物博,拥有茂密的森林、壮丽的山河,如利剑直插云霄的高峰、雄伟壮丽的瀑布、秀丽的湖泊及富有中华文化光辉的名胜古迹,令世界各国人民神往。但是,更重要的是,中国具有五千多年的历史,遗留下无数的历史文物、珍珠宝藏、古迹
Westerntattooistsworkwithaspecialelectricalinstrument,somethinglikeadentist’sdrill.Itholdsanumberofveryfinen
ThomasJefferson,whodiedin1826,loomseverlargerasafigureofspecialsignificance.Americans,ofcourse,arefamiliarwi
A、earthquakeB、hurricaneC、fireD、terroristattackB
随机试题
下列症状和体征由左心衰引起的是()
患者因上牙合义齿基牙折断要求拔除,既往2个月前曾发生心肌梗死。检查:缺失,活动桥修复。折断,牙根断面低于牙龈2mm,不松动,无叩痛此患者理想的拔牙时间是
A.骨髓瘤B.骨巨细胞瘤C.骨样骨瘤D.骨软骨瘤E.黏液样纤维瘤属于恶性骨肿瘤的是
下列药物中不属于慢作用抗类风湿药的是
通过对施工质量的验收签证、设计变更控制及纠正施工中所发现的设计问题,采纳变更设计的合理化建议等,保证竣工项目的各项施工结果与设计文件(包括变更文件)所规定的标相一致,这是( )的质量控制目标。
一批由广州外贸公司职工组成的旅游团来青海观光游览。该团原计划于7月30日离开青海乘火车去宁夏继续游览。7月29日该团在土族民俗村游览时,团内一对夫妇偶遇多年未见的大学好友,这位好友盛情邀请他们到家里住几天,这对夫妇欣然答应,并找到地陪小李,请其协助办理相关
我国基础教育新课程改革关于课程结构的变革体现为()。
ADO的含义是
Peopleoftenfocusonthejobandincomepotentialthatcomeswithacollegedegree.However,acollegedegreecanactuallyhav
A、Workhardertofindoutthethreat.B、Stopworkingbecauseofthefear.C、Tryhardtoregulateemotions.D、Actpositivelytor
最新回复
(
0
)