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 All of the languages within a language family are【1】and all of them have a similar history. Let’s take a br
Language Families All of the languages within a language family are【1】and all of them have a similar history. Let’s take a br
admin
2010-07-19
39
问题
Language Families
All of the languages within a language family are【1】and all of them have a similar history. Let’s take a brief look at some of the largest language families.
English has become a world language because of its establishment as a【2】outside England. The Indo European language family includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, languages such as English, French, and【3】. The Afro-Asiatic family includes most languages in the area of【4】, such as【5】. Bantu includes most of the languages spoken in【6】Africa. A fourth large group of languages is the Sino-Tibetan Family which includes all【7】of Chinese. Japanese is【8】to the Sino-Tibetan family. The Polynesian languages are【9】languages. They are spread by【10】.
【4】
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 and noise)
OK. There are more than 3000 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 3000 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 deal of 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 languages 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 travellers 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
North Africa
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/JMlO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Weallknowthatprogramminglanguageisthesystemofsyntax,grammar,andsymbolsorwordsusedtogiveinstructionstoacomp
TheHistoryofAmericanIndiansWhenEuropeansdiscoveredtheWesternhemisphere,theydiscoveredaraceofpeople.【1】____
Inthewriter’sopinion,inEnglandalcoholandtobaccomay______.Whatopinionsdomostsocialreformershold?
WhatisthecauseoftheproblemthatpeoplelivingonpartsofthesouthcoastofEnglandface?Theexperts’studyontheprob
FromNamcheBazaar,theSherpacapitalat12,000feet,thelonglinethreadedsouth,dropping2,000feettothevalleyfloor,th
Theconflictbetweengoodandevilisacommonthemerunningthroughthegreatliteratureanddramaoftheworld,fromthetime
Ifpolicymakershopetomakefasterprogressinimprovingeconomicperformance,reducingpoverty,andslowing 【M1】______
ThecapitalofNewZealandis_____.
Travelingismoreimportantthanreadingbooksinordertounderstandthepeopleandtheworld.Doyouagreeordisagreewithth
随机试题
改革是中国的第二次革命。()
下列画线的句子翻译错误的是()
20世纪80年代以来,器官移植的成功率有显著提高,这主要归功于___________。
随着商品经济的繁荣,两宋时期的买卖、借贷、租赁、抵押、典卖、雇佣等各种契约形式均有发展。据此,下列哪一说法是错误的?(2017年卷一18题)
锚杆拉拔力试验,要求同组单根锚杆的锚固力()的设计值。
接收机门限电平测试是()设备的必测项目。
汇总付款凭证,是按库存现金科目、银行存款科目贷方分别编制,按与所设置科目相对应的借方科目加以归类、汇总填列。()
被称为世界上第一部研究教学法的书是()。
西方的法治,尽管并不排斥道德,但无疑在宣扬法律至上的同时有意无意地忽略了道德,西方社会普遍存在的情感危机与道德沦丧就是明证:传统的德治却是主张德主刑辅,法是德的附属,贬抑了法的作用,也与时代的发展不相适应。所以,对二者都要加以扬弃和改造,抽取各自的合理内核
在黑、蓝、黄、白四种由深至浅排列的涂料中,一种涂料只能被它自身或者比它颜色更深的涂料所覆盖。若上述断定为真,则以下哪一项确切地概括了能被蓝色覆盖的颜色?Ⅰ.这种颜色不是蓝色。Ⅱ.这种颜色不是黑色。Ⅲ.这种颜色不如蓝色深。
最新回复
(
0
)