Table of main language families and groups. B

Languages ​​and peoples. Today, the peoples of the world speak more than 3,000 languages. There are about 4000 forgotten languages, some of them are still alive in the memory of mankind (Sanskrit, Latin). By the nature of the language, many researchers judge the degree of kinship between peoples. Language is most often used as an ethnic differentiating feature. The linguistic classification of peoples is the most recognized in world science. At the same time, language is not an indispensable feature that distinguishes one people from another. The same Spanish language is spoken by several different Latin American peoples. The same can be said about the Norwegians and Danes, who have a common literary language. At the same time, residents of Northern and Southern China speak different languages, but consider themselves to be the same ethnic group.

Each of the major literary languages ​​of Europe (French, Italian, English, German) dominates a territory that is linguistically much less homogeneous than the territory of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples (L. Gumilyov, 1990). The Saxons and Tyroleans hardly understand each other, and the Milanese and Sicilians do not understand each other at all. The English of Northumberland speak a language close to Norwegian, as they are descendants of the Vikings who settled in England. The Swiss speak German, French, Italian and Romansh.

The French speak four languages: French, Celtic (Bretons), Basque (Gascons) and Provençal. Linguistic differences between them can be traced from the beginning of the Romanization of Gaul.

Taking into account their intra-ethnic differences, the French, Germans, Italians, and British should be compared not with Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, but with all Eastern Europeans. At the same time, such systems of ethnic groups as the Chinese or Indians correspond not to the French, Germans or Ukrainians, but to Europeans as a whole (L. Gumilyov, 1990).

All languages ​​of the peoples of the world belong to certain language families, each of which unites languages ​​similar in linguistic structure and origin. The process of formation of language families is associated with the isolation of different peoples from each other in the process of human settlement across the globe. At the same time, peoples that were initially genetically distant from each other can enter into one language family. Thus, the Mongols, having conquered many nations, adopted foreign languages, and the blacks resettled by slave traders in America speak English.

Human races and language families. According to biological characteristics, people are divided into races. The French scientist Cuvier identified three human races at the beginning of the 19th century - black, yellow and white.

The idea that human races emerged from different centers was established in the Old Testament: “Can an Ethiopian change his skin and a leopard his spots.” On this basis, the theory of the “Nordic, or Indo-European chosen man” was created among English-speaking Protestants. Such a person was put on a pedestal by the French Comte de Gobineau in a book with the provocative title “Treatise on the Inequality of Human Races.” The word “Indo-European” was transformed over time into “Indo-Germanic”, and the ancestral home of the primitive “Indo-Germans” began to be sought in the area of ​​the North European Plain, which at that time was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In the 20th century ideas about racial and national elitism turned into the bloodiest wars in human history.

By the middle of the 20th century. Many classifications of human races have developed - from two (Negroid and Mongoloid) to thirty-five. Most scientists write about four human races with the following centers of origin: the Greater Sunda Islands - the homeland of the Australoids, East Asia - the Mongoloids, Southern and Central Europe - the Caucasoids, and Africa - the Negroids.

All these races, their languages ​​and centers of origin are correlated by some researchers with different original hominids. The ancestors of the Australoids are Javan Pithecanthropus, the Mongoloids are Sinanthropus, the Negroids are African Neanderthals, and the Caucasoids are European Neanderthals. The genetic connection of certain ancient forms with the corresponding modern races can be traced using morphological comparisons of craniums. Mongoloids, for example, are similar to Sinanthropus with a flattened face, Caucasians are similar to European Neanderthals with strongly protruding nasal bones, and the broad nose makes Negroids similar to African Neanderthals (V. Alekseev, 1985). In the Paleolithic, people were the same black, white, yellow as they are today, with the same differentiation of skulls and skeletons. This means that intercivilizational differences go back to ancient times, to the beginning of the human race. These should also include interlingual differences.

The oldest finds of representatives of the Negroid race were discovered not in Africa, but in Southern France, in the Grimaldi Cave near Nice, and in Abkhazia, in the Kholodny Grotto. An admixture of Negroid blood is found not only among Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, residents of the south of France and the Caucasus, but also among residents of the north-west - in Ireland (L. Gumilyov, 1997).

Classical Negroids belong to the Niger-Kordofanian language family, which began to populate Central Africa from North Africa and Western Asia quite late - somewhere at the beginning of our era.

Before the arrival of the Negroids (Fulani, Bantu, Zulus) in Africa, the territory south of the Sahara was inhabited by the Kapoids, representatives of a recently identified race, which included the Hottentots and Bushmen, belonging to the Khoisan language family. Unlike blacks, capoids are not black, but brown: they have Mongoloid facial features, they speak not while exhaling, but while inhaling, and are sharply different from both blacks and Europeans and Mongoloids. They are considered a remnant of some ancient race of the southern hemisphere, which was displaced from the main areas of its settlement by Negroids (L. Gumilyov, 1997). Then many Negroids were transported to America by slave traders

Another ancient race of the southern hemisphere is the Australoid (Australian family). Australoids live in Australia and Melanesia. With black skin, they have huge beards, wavy hair, and broad shoulders, and exceptional reaction speed. Their closest relatives lived in southern India and belong to the Dravidian language family (Tamil, Telugu).

Representatives of the Caucasoid (white race), belonging mainly to the Indo-European language family, inhabited not only, as now, Europe, Western Asia and the North of India, but also almost the entire Caucasus, a significant part of Central and Central Asia and Northern Tibet.

The largest ethnolinguistic groups of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance (French, Italians, Spaniards, Romanians), Germanic (Germans, English), Slavic (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Serbs). They inhabit North Asia (Russians), North America (Americans), South Africa (immigrants from England and Holland), Australia and New Zealand (immigrants from England), and a significant part of South America (Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Latin Americans).

The largest representative of the Indo-European family is the Indo-Aryan group of peoples of India and Pakistan (Hindustani, Bengalis, Marathas, Punjabis, Biharis, Gujjars). This also includes the peoples of the Iranian group (Persians, Tajiks, Kurds, Baluchis, Ossetians), the Baltic group (Latvians and Lithuanians), Armenians, Greeks, Albanians..

The most numerous race is the Mongoloids. They are divided into subraces belonging to different language families.

Siberian, Central Asian, Central Asian, Volga and Transcaucasian Mongoloids form the Altai language family. It unites the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu ethnolinguistic groups, each of which in turn is divided into ethnolinguistic subgroups. Thus, the Turkic Mongoloids are divided into the Bulgar subgroup (Chuvash), southwestern (Azerbaijanis, Turkmens), northwestern (Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs), southeastern (Uzbeks, Uighurs), northeastern (Yakuts) subgroups.

The most widely spoken language in the world, Chinese (over 1 billion people), belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is used in writing by North Chinese and South Chinese Mongoloids (Chinese or Han), who differ significantly from each other anthropologically and in colloquial speech. The Tibetan Mongoloids also belong to the same language family. The Mongoloids of Southeast Asia are classified into the Parataic and Austroasiatic language families. The peoples of the Chukchi-Kamchatka and Eskimo-Aleut language families are also close to the Mongoloids.

There are also subraces, with which groups of certain languages ​​are usually correlated, that is, the system of human races is arranged hierarchically.

Representatives of the listed races include 3/4 of the world's population. The remaining peoples belong to small races or microraces with their own language families.

At the contact of the main human races, mixed or transitional racial forms are encountered, often forming their own language families.

Thus, the mixing of Negroids with Caucasians gave rise to mixed-transitional forms of peoples of the Afroasiatic, or Semitic-Hamitic family (Arabs, Jews, Sudanese, Ethiopians). Peoples speaking languages ​​of the Ural language family (Nenets, Khanty, Komi, Mordovians, Estonians, Hungarians) form transitional forms between Mongoloids and Caucasians. Very complex racial mixtures formed into the North Caucasian (Abkhazians, Adygeans, Kabardians, Circassians, Chechens, Ingush peoples of Dagestan) and Kartvelian (Georgians, Mingrelians, Svans) language families.

Similar racial mixing occurred in America, only it was much more intense than in the Old World, and, in general, did not affect language differences.

The listing of languages ​​is accompanied by minimal geographical, historical and philological commentary.

I. INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

1. Indian group 1

(over 96 living languages ​​in total)

1) Hindi and Urdu(sometimes united under the common name Hindustani 2) - two varieties of one modern Indian literary language: Urdu is the state language of Pakistan, written on the basis of the Arabic alphabet; Hindi (the official language of India) - based on the Old Indian Devanagari script.
2) Bengali.
3) Punjabi.
4) Lahnda (lendi).
5) Sindhi.
6) Rajasthani.
7) Gujarati.
8) Mrathi.
9) Sinhalese.
10) Nepali(eastern Pahari, in Nepal)
11) Bihari.
12) Oriya.(otherwise: audrey, utkali, in eastern India)
13) Assamese.
14) Gypsy, emerged as a result of resettlement and migrations in the V - X centuries. AD
15) Kashmiri and others Dardic languages

Dead:
16) Vedic- the language of the most ancient sacred books of the Indians - the Vedas, formed in the first half of the second millennium BC. e. (recorded later).
17) Sanskrit. The “classical” literary language of the Indians from the 3rd century. BC. to the 7th century AD (literally samskrta means "processed", as opposed to prakrta "not normalized" spoken language); There remains a rich literature in Sanskrit, religious and secular (epic, drama); The first Sanskrit grammar of the 4th century. BC. Panini was redesigned in the 13th century. AD Vopadeva.
18) Pali- Central Indian literary and cult language of the medieval era.
19) Prakrits- various colloquial Central Indian dialects, from which modern Indian languages ​​originated; replicas of minor persons in Sanskrit drama are written in Prakrits.

1 About Indian languages, see: 3grapher G.A. Languages ​​of India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Nepal. M., I960.
2 See, for example, the title of the book by A.P. Barannikov "Hindustani (Urdu and Hindi)". D., 1934.

2. Iranian group 1

(more than 10 languages; finds the greatest affinity with the Indian group, with which it unites into a common Indo-Iranian, or Aryan, group;
Arya is a tribal self-name in the most ancient monuments, from which Iran, and Alan is the self-name of the Scythians)

1) Persian(Farsi) - writing based on the Arabic alphabet; for Old Persian and Middle Persian, see below.
2) Dari(Farsi-Kabuli) is the literary language of Afghanistan, along with Pashto.
3) Pashto(Pashto, Afghan) - literary language, since the 30s. the official language of Afghanistan.
4) Balochi (Baluchi).
5) Tajik.
6) Kurdish.
7) Ossetian; adverbs: Iron (eastern) Digor (western). Ossetians are descendants of the Alans-Scythians
8) Talyshsky.
10) Caspian(Gilan, Mazanderan) dialects.
11) Pamir languages(Shugnan, Rushan, Bartang, Capykol, Khuf, Oroshor, Yazgulyam, Ishkashim, Wakhan) are the unwritten languages ​​of the Pamirs.
12) Yagnobsky.

Dead:
13) Old Persian- the language of cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenid era (Darius, Xerxes, etc.) VI - IV centuries. BC e.
14) Avestan- another ancient Iranian language, which came down in the Middle Persian copies of the sacred book "Avesta", which contains religious texts of the cult of the Zoroastrians, followers of Zoroaster (in Greek: Zoroaster).
15) Pahlavi- Middle Persian language III - IX centuries. n. e., preserved in the translation of the “Avesta” (this translation is called “Zend”, from which for a long time the Avestan language itself was incorrectly called Zend).
16) Median- a genus of northwestern Iranian dialects; no written monuments have survived.
17) Parthian- one of the Middle Persian languages ​​of the 3rd century. BC e. - III century n. e., distributed in Parthia to the southeast of the Caspian Sea.
18) Sogdian- the language of Sogdiana in the Zeravshan valley, first millennium AD. e.; ancestor of the Yaghnobi language.
19) Khorezmian- the language of Khorezm along the lower reaches of the Amu Darya; the first - the beginning of the second millennium AD.
20) Scythian- the language of the Scythians (Alans), who lived in the steppes along the northern shore of the Black Sea and east to the borders of China in the first millennium BC. e. and the first millennium AD e.; preserved in proper names in Greek transmission; ancestor of the Ossetian language.
21) Bactrian(Kushan) - the language of ancient Bakt along the upper reaches of the Amu Darya, as well as the language of Kushan at the beginning of the first millennium AD.
22) Saki(Khotanese) - in Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan; from V - X centuries. AD texts written in the Indian Brahmi script remained.

Note. Most modern Iranian scholars divide the living and dead Iranian languages ​​into the following groups:

A. Western
1) Southwestern: ancient and middle Persian, modern Persian, Tajik, Tat and some others.
2) Northwestern: Median, Parthian, Baluchi (Baluchi), Kurdish, Talysh and other Caspian.
B. Eastern
1) Southeast: Saka (Khotanese), Pashto (Pashto), Pamir.
2) Northeast: Scythian, Sogdian, Khorezmian, Ossetian, Yaghnobi.

1 About Iranian languages, see: Oransky I.M. Iranian languages. M, 1963. - Tatsky - Tats are divided into Muslim Tats and “Mountain Jews”

3. Slavic group

A. Eastern subgroup
1) Russian; adverbs: northern (Veliko) Russian - “oozing” and southern (Veliko) Russian - “accharging”; The Russian literary language developed on the basis of the transitional dialects of Moscow and its environs, where from the south and southeast the Tula, Kursk, Oryol and Ryazan dialects spread features that were alien to the northern dialects, which were the dialectal basis of the Moscow dialect, and displaced some of the features of the latter, as well as by mastering elements of the Church Slavonic literary language; in addition, into the Russian literary language in the 16th-18th centuries. various foreign language elements were included; writing based on the Russian alphabet, processed from the Slavic - “Cyrillic” under Peter the Great; the most ancient monuments of the 11th century. (they also apply to the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages); the state language of the Russian Federation, an interethnic language for communication between the peoples of the Russian Federation and adjacent territories of the former USSR, one of the world languages.
2) Ukrainian or Ukrainian A Insky; before the revolution of 1917 - Little Russian or Little Russian; three main dialects: northern, southeastern, southwestern; The literary language began to take shape in the 14th century; the modern literary language has existed since the end of the 18th century. on the basis of the Dnieper dialects of the south-eastern dialect; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet in its post-Petrine variety.
3) Belorussian; writing since the 14th century. based on the Cyrillic alphabet Dialects northeastern and southwestern; the literary language is based on Central Belarusian dialects.

B. Southern subgroup
4) Bulgarian- formed in the process of contact of Slavic dialects with the language of the Kama Bulgars, from which it received its name; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet; the most ancient monuments from the 10th century. AD
5) Macedonian.
6) Serbo-Croatian; The Serbs have a letter based on the Cyrillic alphabet, the Croats have a letter based on Latin; the most ancient monuments from the 12th century.
7) Slovenian;- writing based on the Latin alphabet; the most ancient monuments from the X - XI centuries.

Dead:
8) Old Church Slavonic(or Old Church Slavic) - the common literary language of the Slavs of the medieval period, which arose on the basis of Thessalonica dialects of the Old Bulgarian language in connection with the introduction of writing for the Slavs (two alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic) and the translation of church books to promote Christianity among the Slavs in the 9th-10th centuries . n. e.. Among the Western Slavs it was supplanted by Latin due to Western influence and the transition to Catholicism; in the form of Church Slavonic - an integral element of the Russian literary language.

IN. Western subgroup
9) Czech; writing based on the Latin alphabet; the most ancient monuments from the 13th century.
10) Slovak; Polish; writing based on the Latin alphabet; ancient monuments from the 14th century,
12) Kashubian; lost its independence and became a dialect of the Polish language.
13) Lusatian(abroad: Sorabian, Vendian); two variants: Upper Sorbian (or eastern) and Lower Sorbian (or western); writing based on the Latin alphabet.

Dead:
14) Polabsky- became extinct in the 18th century, was distributed along both banks of the river. Labs (Elbe) in Germany.
15) Pomeranian dialects- became extinct in the medieval period due to forced Germanization; were distributed along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in Pomerania (Pomerania).

4. Baltic group

1) Lithuanian; writing based on the Latin alphabet; monuments from the 14th century Latvian; writing based on the Latin alphabet; monuments from the 14th century
3) Latgalian 1 .

Dead:
4) Prussian- became extinct in the 17th century. in connection with forced Germanization; territory of former East Prussia; monuments of the XIV-XVII centuries.
5) Yatvingian, Curonian and other languages ​​on the territory of Lithuania and Latvia, extinct by the 17th-18th centuries.

1 There is an opinion that this is only a dialect of the Latvian language.

5. German group

A. North Germanic (Scandinavian) subgroup
1) Danish; writing based on the Latin alphabet; served as a literary language for Norway until the end of the 19th century.
2) Swedish; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
3) Norwegian; writing based on the Latin alphabet, originally Danish, since the literary language of the Norwegians until the end of the 19th century. was Danish. In modern Norway there are two forms of the literary language: Riksmål (otherwise: Bokmål) - bookish, closer to Danish, Ilansmål (otherwise: Nynorsk), closer to the Norwegian dialects.
4) Icelandic; writing based on the Latin alphabet; written monuments from the 13th century. ("sagas").
5) Faroese.

B. West German subgroup
6) English; literary English developed in the 16th century. AD based on the London dialect; V-XI centuries - Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), XI-XVI centuries. - Middle English and from the 16th century. - New English; writing based on the Latin alphabet (unchanged); written monuments from the 7th century; language of international significance.
7) Dutch (Dutch) with Flemish; writing on a Latin basis; In the Republic of South Africa live the Boers, immigrants from Holland, who speak a variety of the Dutch language, the Boer language (otherwise: Afrikaans).
8) Frisian; monuments from the 14th century
9) German; two dialects: Low German (northern, Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch) and High German (southern, Hochdeutsch); the literary language was formed on the basis of southern German dialects, but with many northern features (especially in pronunciation), but still does not represent unity; in the VIII-XI centuries. - Old High German, in the XII-XV centuries. -Middle High German, from the 16th century. - New High German, developed in the Saxon offices and translations of Luther and his associates; writing based on the Latin alphabet in two varieties: Gothic and Antiqua; one of the largest languages ​​in the world.
10) Yiddish(or Yiddish, New Hebrew) - various High German dialects mixed with elements of Hebrew, Slavic and other languages.

IN. East German subgroup
Dead:
11) Gothic, existed in two dialects. Visigothic - served the medieval Gothic state in Spain and Northern Italy; had a writing system based on the Gothic alphabet, compiled by Bishop Wulfila in the 4th century. n. e. for the translation of the Gospel, which is the most ancient monument of the Germanic languages. Ostrogothic is the language of the eastern Goths, who lived in the early Middle Ages on the Black Sea coast and in the southern Dnieper region; existed until the 16th century. in Crimea, thanks to which a small dictionary compiled by the Dutch traveler Busbeck has been preserved.
12) Burgundian, Vandal, Gepid, Herulian- languages ​​of ancient Germanic tribes in East Germany.

6. Roman group

(before the collapse of the Roman Empire and the formation of Romance 1 languages ​​- Italic)

1) French; the literary language had developed by the 16th century. based on the dialect of Ile-de-France centered in Paris; French dialects developed at the beginning of the Middle Ages as a result of crossing the folk (vulgar) Latin of the conquerors of the Romans and the language of the conquered native Gauls - Gallic; writing based on the Latin alphabet; the most ancient monuments from the 9th century. AD; Middle French period from the 9th to the 15th centuries, New French - from the 16th century. The French language acquired international significance before other European languages.
2) Provençal (Occitan); minority language of south-eastern France (Provence); as a literary one existed in the Middle Ages (lyrics of the troubadours) and survived until the end of the 19th century.
3) Italian; the literary language developed on the basis of Tuscan dialects, and in particular the dialect of Florence, which arose due to the crossing of vulgar Latin with the languages ​​of the mixed population of medieval Italy; written in the Latin alphabet, historically the first national language in Europe 3.
4) Sardinian(or Sardinian). Spanish; developed in Europe as a result of crossing folk (vulgar) Latin with the languages ​​of the native population of the Roman province of Iberia; writing based on the Latin alphabet (the same applies to Catalan and Portuguese).
6) Galician.
7) Catalan.
8) Portuguese.
9) Romanian; developed as a result of crossing folk (vulgar) Latin and the languages ​​of the natives of the Roman province of Dacia; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
10) Moldavian(a variety of Romanian); writing based on the Russian alphabet.
11) Macedonian-Romanian(Aromunian).
12) Romansh- language of a national minority; Since 1938 it has been recognized as one of the four official languages ​​of Switzerland.
13) Creole languages- crossed Romance languages ​​with local languages ​​(Haitian, Mauritian, Seychelles, Senegalese, Papiamento, etc.).

Dead (Italian):
14) Latin- literary state language of Rome in the republican and imperial era (III century BC - first centuries of the Middle Ages); the language of rich literary monuments, epic, lyrical and dramatic, historical prose, legal documents and oratory; the most ancient monuments from the 6th century. BC.; Varro's first description of the Latin language. I century BC.; classical grammar of Donatus - 4th century. AD; the literary language of the Western European Middle Ages and the language of the Catholic Church; along with ancient Greek, it is a source of international terminology.
15) Medieval Vulgar Latin- folk Latin dialects of the early Middle Ages, which, when crossed with the native languages ​​of the Roman provinces of Gaul, Iberia, Dacia, etc., gave rise to the Romance languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc.
16) Oscian, Umbrian, Sabelian and other Italian dialects were preserved in fragmentary written monuments of the last centuries BC.

1 The name “Romanesque” comes from the word Roma, as Rome was called by the Latins and currently by the Italians.
2 See chap. VII, § 89 - on the formation of national languages.
3 See ibid.

7. Celtic group

A. Goidelic subgroup
1) Irish; written monuments from the 4th century. n. e. (Ogham writing) and from the 7th century. (Latin based); is still literary today.
2) Scottish (Gaelic).

Dead:
3) Manx- the language of the Isle of Man (in the Irish Sea).

B. Brythonic subgroup
4) Breton; Bretons (formerly Britons) moved after the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons from the British Isles to the continent of Europe.
5) Welsh (Welsh).

Dead:
6) Cornish; in Cornwall, a peninsula in southwestern England.

B. Gallic subgroup
7) Gallic; extinct since the formation of the French language; was widespread in Gaul, Northern Italy, the Balkans and even Asia Minor.

8. Greek group

1) Modern Greek, from the 12th century

Dead:
2) Ancient Greek, X century BC. - V century AD;
Ionic-Attic dialects from the 7th-6th centuries. BC.;
Achaean (Arcado-Cypriot) dialects from the 5th century. BC.;
northeastern (Boeotian, Thessalian, Lesbian, Aeolian) dialects from the 7th century. BC.
and Western (Dorian, Epirus, Cretan) dialects; - the most ancient monuments from the 9th century. BC. (Homer's poems, epigraphy); from the 4th century BC. a common literary language, Koine, based on the Attic dialect, centered in Athens; the language of rich literary monuments, epic, lyrical and dramatic, philosophical and historical prose; from III-II centuries. BC. works of Alexandrian grammarians; along with Latin, it is a source of international terminology.
3) Middle Greek, or Byzantine,- the state literary language of Byzantium from the first centuries AD. until the 15th century; the language of monuments - historical, religious and artistic.

9. Albanian group

Albanian, written monuments based on the Latin alphabet from the 15th century.

10. Armenian group

Armenian; literary from the 5th century AD; contains some elements dating back to Caucasian languages; The ancient Armenian language - Grabar - is very different from the modern living Ashkharabar.

11. Hittite-Luwian (Anatolian) group

Dead:
1) Hittite (Hittite-Nessite, known from cuneiform monuments of the 18th-13th centuries. BC.; language of the Hittite state in Asia Minor.
2) Luwian in Asia Minor (XIV-XIII centuries BC).
3) Palayskiy in Asia Minor (XIV-XIII centuries BC).
4) Carian
5) Lydian- Anatolian languages ​​of ancient times.
6) Lycian

12. Tocharian group

Dead:
1) Tocharian A (Turfan, Karashar)- in Chinese Turkestan (Xinjiang).
2) Tocharian B (Kuchansky)- in the same place; in Kucha until the 7th century. AD Known from manuscripts around the 5th-8th centuries. n. e. based on the Indian Brahmi script discovered during excavations in the 20th century.

Note 1. For a number of reasons, the following groups of Indo-European languages ​​are closer together: Indo-Iranian (Aryan), Slavic - Baltic and Italo-Celtic.
Note 2. Indo-Iranian and Slavic-Baltic languages ​​can be combined into the section of satem languages, as opposed to others belonging to kentom languages; this division is carried out according to the fate of the Indo-European *g and */с midpalatals, which in the first gave anterior lingual fricatives (catam, simtas, съто - “one hundred”), and in the second remained posterior lingual plosives; in Germanic, due to the movement of consonants - fricatives (hekaton, kentom (later centum), hundert, etc. - “one hundred”).
Note 3. The question of whether Venetian, Messapian, obviously, the Illyrian group (in Italy), Phrygian, Thracian (in the Balkans) belongs to the Indo-European languages ​​can generally be considered resolved; the languages ​​Pelasgian (Peloponnese before the Greeks), Etruscan (in Italy before the Romans), Ligurian (in Gaul) have not yet been clarified in their relationship to the Indo-European languages.

II. CAUCASIAN LANGUAGES 1

A. Western group: Abkhaz-Adyghe languages

1. Abkhazian subgroup
Abkhazian; dialects: Bzybsky- northern and Abzhui(or Kadbrsky) - southern; writing until 1954 was based on the Georgian alphabet, now it is based on the Russian alphabet.
Abaza; writing based on the Russian alphabet.
2. Circassian subgroup
Adyghe.
Kabardian (Kabardino-Circassian).
Ubykh(The Ubykhs emigrated to Turkey under tsarism).

B. Eastern group: Nakh-Dagestan languages

1. Nakh subgroup
Chechen; have a written language based on Russian.
Ingush
Batsbiysky (Tsova-Tushinsky).

2. Dagestan subgroup
Avarsky.
Darginsky.
Laksky.
Lezginsky.
Tabasaran.
These five languages ​​are written on Russian basis. The remaining languages ​​are unwritten:
Andean.
Karatinsky.
Tindinsky.
Chamalinsky.
Bagvalinsky.
Akhvakhsky.
Botlikhsky.
Godoberinsky.
Tsezsky.
Betinsky.
Khvarshinsky.
Gunzibsky.
Ginukhsky.
Tsakhursky.
Rutulsky.
Agulsky.
Archinsky.
Buduheky.
Kryzsky.
Udinsky.
Khinalugsky.

3. Southern group: Kartvelian (Iberian) languages
1) Megrelian.
2) Lazsky (Chansky).
3) Georgian: writing in the Georgian alphabet from the 5th century. AD, rich literary monuments of the Middle Ages; dialects: Khevsur, Kartli, Imeretian, Gurian, Kakheti, Adjarian, etc.
4) Svansky.

Note. All languages ​​that have a written language (except Georgian and Ubykh) are based on the Russian alphabet, and in the previous period, for several years, on the Latin alphabet.

1 The question of whether these groups represent one family of languages ​​has not yet been resolved by science; rather, one might think that there are no family ties between them; the term "Caucasian languages" refers to their geographical distribution.

III. OUTSIDE THE GROUP - BASQUE LANGUAGE

IV. URAL LANGUAGES

1. FINNO-UGRIAN (UGRO-FINNISH) LANGUAGES

A. Ugric branch

1) Hungarian, writing on a Latin basis.
2) Mansi (Vogul); writing on a Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).
3) Khanty (Ostyak); writing on a Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).

B. Baltic-Finnish branch

1) Finnish (Suomi); writing based on the Latin alphabet.
2) Estonian; writing based on the Latin alphabet.
3) Izhora.
4) Karelian.
5) Vepsian.
6) Vodsky.
7) Livsky.
8) Sami (Sami, Lapp).

B. Perm branch

1) Komi-Zyriansky.
2) Komi-Permyak.
3) Udmurt.

G. Volga branch

1) Mari (Mari, Cheremissky), dialects: Nagornoe on the right bank of the Volga and Meadow - on the left.
2) Mordovian: two independent languages: Erzya and Moksha.

Note. Finnish and Estonian languages ​​are written using the Latin alphabet; among the Mari and Mordovians - has long been based on the Russian alphabet; in Komi-Zyryan, Udmurt and Komi-Permyak - on a Russian basis (since the 30s of the 20th century).

2. SAMODYAN LANGUAGES

1) Nenets (Yurako-Samoyed).
2) Nganasan (Tavgian).
3) Enets (Yenisei-Samoyed).
4) Selkup (Ostyak - Samoyed).

Note. Modern science considers the Samoyed languages ​​to be related to the Finno-Ugric languages, which were previously considered as an isolated family and with which the Samoyeds form a larger association - the Uralic languages.

V. ALTAI LANGUAGES 1

1. TURKIC LANGUAGES 2

1) Turkish(earlier Ottoman); writing since 1929 based on the Latin alphabet; until then, for several centuries - based on the Arabic alphabet.
2) Azerbaijani.
3) Turkmen.
4) Gagauzian.
5) Crimean Tatar.
6) Karachay-Balkarian.
7) Kumyk- used as a common language for the Caucasian peoples of Dagestan.
8) Nogaisky.
9) Karaite.
10) Tatar, with three dialects - middle, western (Mishar) and eastern (Siberian).
11) Bashkir.
12) Altai (Oirot).
13) Shorsky with the Kondoma and Mrass dialects 3.
14) Khakassian(with dialects Sogai, Beltir, Kachin, Koibal, Kyzyl, Shor).
15) Tuvinsky.
16) Yakut.
17) Dolgansky.
18) Kazakh.
19) Kyrgyz.
20) Uzbek.
21) Karakalpak.
22) Uyghur (New Uyghur).
23) Chuvash, a descendant of the language of the Kama Bulgars, written from the very beginning based on the Russian alphabet.

Dead:
24) Orkhon- according to the Orkhon-Yenisei runic inscriptions, the language (or languages) of the powerful state of the 7th-8th centuries. n. e. in Northern Mongolia on the river. Orkhon. The name is conditional.
25) Pechenezhsky- the language of the steppe nomads of the 9th-11th centuries. AD
26) Polovtsian (Cuman)- according to the Polovtsian-Latin dictionary compiled by Italians, the language of the steppe nomads of the 11th-14th centuries.
27) Old Uyghur- the language of a huge state in Central Asia in the 9th-11th centuries. n. e. with writing based on a modified Aramaic alphabet.
28) Chagatai- literary language of the 15th-16th centuries. AD in Central Asia; Arabic graphics.
29) Bulgarian- the language of the Bulgarian kingdom at the mouth of the Kama; The Bulgar language formed the basis of the Chuvash language, part of the Bulgars moved to the Balkan Peninsula and, mixing with the Slavs, became a component (superstrate) of the Bulgarian language.
30) Khazar- the language of a large state of the 7th-10th centuries. AD, in the region of the lower reaches of the Volga and Don, close to the Bulgarian.

Note 1. All living Turkic languages, except Turkish, have been written since 1938-1939. based on the Russian alphabet, until then for several years - based on Latin, and many even earlier - based on Arabic (Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Tatar and all Central Asian, and foreign Uyghurs to this day). In sovereign Azerbaijan, the question of switching to the Latin alphabet has been raised again.
Note 2. The question of the grouping of Turkic-Tatar languages ​​has not yet been finally resolved by science; according to F.E. Korshu (see: Korsh F.E. Classification of Turkish tribes by languages, 1910.) - three groups: Northern, Southeastern and Southwestern; according to V.A. Bogoroditsky (see: Bogoroditsky V.A. Introduction to Tatar linguistics in connection with other Turkic languages, 1934.) - eight groups: North-Eastern, Abakan, Altai, West Siberian, Volga-Ural, Central Asian, South-Western ( Turkish) and Chuvash; according to W. Schmidt (See: Schmidt W. Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde, 1932.) - three groups: Southern, Western, Eastern, while W. Schmidt classifies Yakut as Mongolian. Other classifications were also proposed - V.V. Radlova, A.N. Samoilovich, G.I. Ramstedt, S.E. Malova, M. Ryasyanen and others. In 1952 N.A. Baskakov proposed a new scheme for the classification of Turkic languages, which the author thinks of as “periodization of the history of the development of peoples and Turkic languages” (see: “Izvestia of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Department of Literature and Language,” vol. XI, issue 2), where ancient divisions intersect with new and historical with geographical (see also: Baskakov N.A. Introduction to the study of Turkic languages. M., 1962; 2nd ed. - M., 1969).

1 A number of scientists are of the opinion about the possible distant relationship of three language families - Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu, forming the Altai macrofamily. However, in accepted usage, the term “Altaic languages” denotes a conditional association rather than a proven genetic grouping (V.V.).
2 Due to the fact that in Turkology there is no single point of view on the grouping of Turkic languages, we give them a list; At the end, various points of view on their grouping are given.
3 Currently, the Altai and Shor languages ​​use the same literary language based on Altai.

2. MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES

1) Mongolian; the writing was based on the Mongolian alphabet, derived from the ancient Uyghurs; since 1945 - based on the Russian alphabet.
2) Buryat; since the 30s XX century writing based on the Russian alphabet.
3) Kalmyk.

Note. There are also a number of smaller languages ​​(Dagur, Dong-Xian, Mongolian, etc.), mainly in China (about 1.5 million), Manchuria and Afghanistan; No. 2 and 3 have been around since the 30s. XX century writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.

3. TUNGU-MANCHUR LANGUAGES

A. Siberian group

1) Evenki (Tungus), with Negidal and Solonsky.
2) Evensky (Lamutsky).

B. Manchu group

1) Manchurian, is dying out, had rich monuments of medieval writing in the Manchu alphabet.
2) Jurchen- a dead language, known from monuments of the 12th-16th centuries. (hieroglyphic writing modeled on Chinese)

B. Amur group

1) Nanaisky (Goldian), with Ulch.
2) Udeysky (Udege), with Orochi.

Note. No. 1 and 2 have been since 1938-1939. writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.

4. SEPARATE LANGUAGES OF THE FAR EAST, NOT PART OF ANY GROUPS

(presumably close to Altai)

1) Japanese; writing based on Chinese characters in the 8th century. AD; new phonetic-syllabic writing - katakana and hiragana.
2) Ryukyu, obviously related to Japanese.
3) Korean; the first monuments based on Chinese hieroglyphs from the 4th century. AD, modified in the 7th century. AD; from the 15th century - Korean folk script "onmun" - alphabetic syllabic graphics system.
4) Ainsky, mainly on the Japanese Islands, also on Sakhalin Island; has now fallen out of use and been replaced by Japanese.

VI. AFRASIAN (SEMITO-HAMITIC) LANGUAGES

1. Semitic branch

1) Arab; international cult language of Islam; There are, in addition to classical Arabic, regional varieties (Sudanese, Egyptian, Syrian, etc.); writing in the Arabic alphabet (on the island of Malta - based on the Latin alphabet).
2) Amharic, official language of Ethiopia.
3) Tigre, Tigrai, Gurage, Harari and other languages ​​of Ethiopia.
4) Assyrian (Isorian), the language of isolated ethnic groups in the countries of the Middle East and some others.

Dead:
5) Akkadian (Assyrian - Babylonian); known from cuneiform monuments of the ancient East.
6) Ugaritic.
7) Hebrew- the language of the most ancient parts of the Bible, the cult language of the Jewish church; existed as a colloquial language before the beginning of our era; from the 19th century on its basis, Hebrew was developed, now the official language of the state of Israel (along with Arabic); writing based on the Hebrew alphabet.
8) Aramaic- the language of the later books of the Bible and the common language of the Near East in the era of the 3rd century. BC. - IV century AD
9) Phoenician- language of Phenicia, Carthage (Punic); dead BC; writing in the Phoenician alphabet, from which subsequent types of alphabetic writing originated.
10) Geez- former literary language of Abyssinia IV-XV centuries. AD; is now an iconic language in Ethiopia.

2. Egyptian branch

Dead:
1) Ancient Egyptian- the language of ancient Egypt, known from hieroglyphic monuments and documents of demotic writing (from the end of the 4th millennium BC to the 5th century AD).
2) Coptic- a descendant of the ancient Egyptian language in the medieval period from the 3rd to the 17th centuries. AD; the cult language of the Orthodox Church in Egypt; Coptic writing, alphabet based on the Greek alphabet.

3. Berber-Libyan branch

(North Africa and West Central Africa)

1) Ghadames, Siua.
2) Tuareg(tamahak, ghat, taneslemt, etc.).
3) 3enaga.
4) Kabyle.
5) Tashelhit.
6) Zenetian(reef, shauya, etc.).
7) Tamazight.

Dead:
8) Western Numidian.
9) Eastern Numidian (Libyan).
10) Guanche, existed before the 18th century. languages ​​(dialects?) of the aborigines of the Canary Islands.

4. Kushitic branch

(Northeast and East Africa)

1) Bedauye (beja).
2) Agavian(aungi, bilin, etc.).
3) Somalia.
4) Sidamo.
5) Afar, Saho.
6) Oromo (Galla).
7) Irakw, Ngomwia and etc.

5. Chadian branch

(Central Africa and West-Central Sub-Saharan Africa)

1) Hausa(belongs to the Western Chadic group) the largest language of the branch.
2) Other Western Chadians: gwandara, ngizim, bole, karekare, angas, sura and etc.
3) Central Chadian: tera, margi, mandara, kotoko and etc.
4) Eastern Chadian: mubi, sokoro and etc.

VII. NIGERO-CONGO LANGUAGES

(territory of sub-Saharan Africa)

1. Mande languages

1) Bamana (bambara).
2) Soninka.
3) Coco (susu).
4) Maninka.
5) Kpelle, Loma, Mende, etc.

2. Atlantic languages

1) Fula (fulfulde).
2) Wolof.
3) Serer.
4) Diola. Cognac.
5) Gola, dark, bull and etc.

3. Idjoid languages

Presented in isolated language Ijaw(Nigeria).

4. Kru languages

1) Seme.
2) Bethe.
3) Godie.
4) Crewe.
5) Grebo.
6) Wobe and etc.

5. Kwa languages

1) Akan.
2) Baule.
3) Adele.
4) Adangme.
5) Ewe.
6) Background and etc.

6. Dogon language

7. Gur languages

1) Bariba.
2) Senari.
3) Suppire.
4) Gurenne.
5) Gourmet.
b) Kasem, cabre, kirma and etc.

8. Adamauan-Ubangian languages

1) Longuda.
2) Tula.
3) Chamba.
4) Mumuye.
5) Mboom.
b) Gbaya.
7) Ngbaka.
8) Sere, mundu, zande and etc.

9. Benue-Congo languages

The largest family in the Niger-Congo macrofamily, it covers the territory from Nigeria to the east coast of Africa, including South Africa. It is divided into 4 branches and many groups, among which the largest is the Bantu languages, which in turn are divided into 16 zones (according to M. Ghasri).

1) Nupe.
2) Yoruba.
3) Ygbo.
4) Edo.
5) Jukun.
6) Efik, ibibio.
7) Kambari, birom.
8) Tiv.
9) Bamileke.
10) Com, lamnso, tikar.
11) Bantu(Duala, Ewondo, Teke, Bobangi, Lingala, Kikuyu, Nyamwezi, Togo, Swahili, Congo, Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Chokwe, Luba, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Yao, Mbundu, Herero, Shona, Sotho, Zulu, etc.).

10. Kordofanian languages

1) Kanga, miri, tumtum.
2) Katla.
3) Rere.
4) Morning
5) Tegem.
6) Tegali, tagbi and etc.

VIII. NILO-SAHARAN LANGUAGES

(Central Africa, zone of geographical Sudan)

1) Songhai.
2) Saharan: kanuri, tuba, zaghava.
3) Fur.
4) Mimi, mabang.
5) Eastern Sudanese: wilds, mahas, bale, suri, nera, ronge, tama and etc.
6) Nilotic: Shilluk, Luo, Alur, Acholi, Nuer Bari, Teso, Nandi, Pakot and etc.
7) Central Sudanese: kresh, sinyar, capa, bagirmi, moru, madi, logbara, mangbetu.
8) Kunama.
9) Bertha.
10) Kuama, Como, etc.

IX. KHOISAN LANGUAGES

(in South Africa, Namibia, Angola)

1) Bushman languages(Kung, Auni, Hadza, etc.).
2) Hottentot languages(Nama, Koran, San-Dave, etc.).

X. Sino-TIBETAN LANGUAGES

A. Chinese branch

1) Chinese- the first most spoken language in the world. Folk Chinese speech is divided into a number of dialect groups, which differ greatly, primarily phonetically; Chinese dialects are usually defined geographically. A literary language based on the northern (Mandarin) dialect, which is also a dialect of the capital of China - Beijing. For thousands of years, the literary language of China was Wenyan, which was formed in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. and existed as a developing, but inaudibly incomprehensible bookish language until the 20th century, along with the literary language of Baihua, which is closer to the colloquial language. The latter became the basis of the modern unified literary Chinese language - Putonghua (based on Northern Baihua). The Chinese language is rich in written monuments from the 15th century. BC, but their hieroglyphic nature makes it difficult to study the history of the Chinese language. Since 1913, along with hieroglyphic writing, a special syllabic-phonetic letter “zhu-an izimu” was used on a national graphic basis for pronunciation identification of the reading of hieroglyphs by dialect. Later, over 100 different projects for the reform of Chinese writing were developed, of which the project of phonetic writing on a Latin graphic basis has the greatest promise.
2) Dungan; The Dungans of the People's Republic of China have Arabic writing, the Dungans of Central Asia and Kazakhstan initially have Chinese (hieroglyphic), and later Arabic; from 1927 - on a Latin basis, and from 1950 - on a Russian basis.

B. Tibeto-Burman branch

1) Tibetan.
2) Burmese.

XI. THAI LANGUAGES

1) Thai- the official language of Thailand (until 1939, the Siamese language of the state of Siam).
2) Laotian.
3) Zhuangsky.
4) Kadai (Li, Lakua, Lati, Gelao)- a group within the Thai or an independent link between the Thai and Austronesian.

Note. Some scholars consider the Thai languages ​​to be related to Austronesian; in previous classifications they were included in the Sino-Tibetan family.

XII. MIAO-YAO LANGUAGES

1) Miao, with dialects Hmong, Hmu and etc.
2) Yao, with dialects mien, kimmun and etc.
3) Well.

Note. These little-studied languages ​​of Central and Southern China were previously included in the Sino-Tibetan family without sufficient grounds.

XIII. DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES

(languages ​​of the ancient population of the Indian subcontinent, presumably related to the Uralic languages)

1) Tamil.
2) Telugu.
3) Malayalam.
4) Kannada.
For all four there is a script based on (or type of) the Indian Brahmi script.
5) Tulu.
6) Gondi.
7) Brahui and etc.

XIV. OUTSIDE THE FAMILY - BURUSHASDI LANGUAGE (VERSHIKIAN)

(mountainous regions of North-West India)

XV. AUSTROASIATIC LANGUAGES

1) Languages munda: santal i, mundari, ho, birkhor, juang, sora, etc.
2) Khmer.
3) Palaung (rumai) and etc.
4) Nicobarsky.
5) Vietnamese.
6) Khasi.
7) Malacca group(semang, semai, sakayi, etc.).
8) Naali.

XVI. AUSTRONESIAN (MALAYAN-POLYNESIAN) LANGUAGES

A. Indonesian branch

1.Western group
1) Indonesian, got its name from the 30s. XX century, currently the official language of Indonesia.
2) Bataksky.
3) Cham(Cham, Jarai, etc.).

2. Javanese group
1) Javanese.
2) Sundanese.
3) Madura.
4) Balinese.

3. Dayak or Kalimantan group
Dayak and etc.

4. South Sulawesi group
1) Saddansky.
2) Buginese.
3) Makassar and etc.

5. Filipino group
1) Tagalog(Tagalog).
2) Ilocano.
3) Bikolsky and etc.

6. Madagascar group
Malagasy (formerly Malagasy).

Dead:
Kavi- Old Javanese literary language; monuments from the 9th century n. e.; By origin, the Javanese language of the Indonesian branch was formed under the influence of the languages ​​of India (Sanskrit).

B. Polynesian branch

1) Tonga and Niue.
2) Maori, Hawaiian, Tahiti and etc.
3)Sam6a, uvea and etc.

B. Micronesian branch

1) Nauru.
2) Marshallese.
3) Ponape.
4) Truk and etc.

Note. The classification of the Austronesian macrofamily is given in an extremely simplified form. In fact, it covers a huge number of languages ​​with an extremely complex multi-stage division, regarding which there is no consensus (V.V.)

XVII. AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES

Many minor indigenous languages ​​of central and northern Australia, the best known arant. Apparently they form a separate family Tasmanian languages on o. Tasmania.

XVIII. PAPUA LANGUAGES

Languages ​​of the central part of the island. New Guinea and some smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean. A very complex and not definitively established classification.

XIX. PALEOASIAN LANGUAGES 1

A. Chukotka-Kamchatka languages

1) Chukotka(Luorawetlanian).
2) Koryak(Nymylansky).
3) Itelmensky(Kamchadal).
4) Alyutorsky.
5) Kereksky.

B. Eskimo-Aleut languages

1) Eskimo(Yuitian).
2) Aleutian(Unanganese).

B. Yenisei languages

1) Ketsky. This language shows similarities with the Nakh-Dagestan and Tibetan-Chinese languages. Its bearers were not natives of the Yenisei, but came from the south and were assimilated by the surrounding people.
2) Kottsky, Arinsky, Pumpokolsky and other extinct languages.

G. Nivkh (Gilyak) language

D. Yukagir-Chuvan languages

Extinct languages ​​(dialects?): Yukaghir(previously - Odulsky), Chuvansky, Omoksky. Two dialects have been preserved: Tundra and Kolyma (Sakha-Yakutia, Magadan, region).

1 Paleo-Asian languages ​​- the name is conditional: Chukchi-Kamchatka represent a community of related languages; other languages ​​are included in Paleo-Asian languages ​​rather on a geographical basis.

XX. INDIAN (AMERINDIAN) LANGUAGES

A. Language families of North America

1) Algonquian(Menominee, Delaware, Yurok, Mi'kmaq, Fox, Cree, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Illinois, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Arapaho, etc., as well as the extinct ones - Massachusetts, Mohican, etc.).
2) Iroquois(Cherokee, Tuscarora, Seneca, Oneida, Huron, etc.).
3) Sioux(Crow, Hidatsa, Dakota, etc., along with several extinct ones - Ofo, Biloxi, Tutelo, Catawba).
4) Gulf(Natchez, Tunica, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, etc.).
5) Na-den(Haida, Tlingit, Eyak; Athapaskan: Nava-ho, Tanana, Tolowa, Hupa, Mattole, etc.).
6) Mosanskie, including Wakash (Kwakiutl, Nootka) and Salish (Chehalis, Skomish, Kalispell, Bella Coola).
7) Penutian(Tsimshian, Chinook, Takelma, Klamath, Miubk, Zuni, etc., as well as many extinct ones).
8) Jocaltec(Karok, Shasta, Yana, Chimariko, Pomo, Salinai, etc.).

B. Language families of Central America

1) Uto-Aztecan(Nahuatl, Shoshone, Hopi, Luiseño, Papago, Cora, etc.). This family is sometimes combined with the Iowa-Tano languages ​​(Kiowa, Piro, Tewa, etc.) within the Tano-Aztecan phylum.
2) Maya-Quiche(Mam, Qeqchi, Quiche, Yucatec Maya, Ixil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, Huastec, etc.). Before the arrival of Europeans, the Mayans reached a high level of culture and had their own hieroglyphic writing, partially deciphered.
3) Otomanga(Pame, Otomi, Popoloc, Mixtec, Trik, Zapotec, etc.).
4) Miskito - Matagalpa (Miskito, Sumo, Matagalpa, etc.). These languages ​​are sometimes included in the Chibchan languages.
5) Chibchansky (karake, frame, getar, guaimi, chibcha, etc.). Chibchan languages ​​are also common in South America.

B. Language families of South America

1) Tupi-Guarani(Tupi, Guarani, Yuruna, Tuparia, etc.).
2) Kechumara(Quechua is the language of the ancient Inca state in Peru, currently in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador; Aymara).
3) Arawak(chamikuro, chipaya, itene, huanyam, guana, etc.).
4) Araucanian(Mapuche, Pikunche, Pehueich, etc.) -
5) Pano-takana(Chacobo, Kashibo, Pano, Takana, Chama, etc.).
6) Same(canela, suya, xavante, kaingang, botocuda, etc.).
7) Caribbean(wayana, pemon, chaima, yaruma, etc.).
8) Language alakaluf and other isolated languages.

I think many of us have heard the famous legend about the construction of the Tower of Babel, during which people angered God so much with their quarrels and squabbles that he divided their single language into a great multitude, so that, not being able to communicate with each other, people could not swear. . This is how we spread throughout the world, each nation with its own linguistic dialect, its own culture and traditions.

According to official data, there are now from 2,796 to more than 7,000 languages ​​in the world. Such a big difference comes from the fact that scientists cannot decide what exactly is considered a language and what is a dialect or adverb. Translation agencies are often faced with the nuances of translation from rare languages.

In 2017, there are approximately 240 language groups, or families. The largest and most numerous of them is Indo-European, to which our Russian language belongs. A language family is a collection of languages ​​united by the sound similarity of word roots and similar grammar. The basis of the Indo-European family is English and German, which form the backbone of the Germanic group. In general, this language family unites peoples occupying the bulk of Europe and Asia.

This also includes such common Romance languages ​​as Spanish, French, Italian and others. The Russian language is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family, along with Ukrainian, Belarusian and others. The Indo-European group is not the most numerous in terms of the number of languages, but they are spoken by almost half of the world’s population, which gives it the opportunity to bear the title of “the most numerous”.

The next family of languages ​​includes more than 250,000 people: Afro-Asian a family that includes Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic and many other languages, including extinct ones. This group consists of more than 300 languages ​​of Asia and Africa, and is divided into Egyptian, Semitic, Cushitic, Omotian, Chadian and Berber-Libyan branches. However, the Afro-Asiatic family of languages ​​does not include about 500 dialects and dialects, which are often used in Africa only orally.

Next in terms of prevalence and complexity of study - Nilo-Saharan a family of languages ​​spoken in Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia. Since the languages ​​of these lands have significant differences among themselves, their study is not only of great interest, but also great difficulties for linguists.

Over a million native speakers include Sino-Tibetan a group of languages, but Tibeto-Burmese The branch includes more than 300 languages, spoken by as many as 60 million people around the world! Some of the languages ​​of this family still do not have their own written language and exist only in oral form. This makes them much more difficult to study and research.

The languages ​​and dialects of the peoples of Russia belong to 14 language families, the main of which are Indo-European, Uralic, North Caucasian and Altai.

• About 87% of the population of Russia belongs to the Indo-European language family, and 85% of it is occupied by the Slavic group of languages ​​(Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Ukrainians), followed by the Iranian group (Tajiks, Kurds, Ossetians), the Romance group (Gypsies, Moldovans) and Germanic group (Jews, Yiddish speakers, Germans).
• The Altai language family (approximately 6.8% of the Russian population) consists of the Turkic group (Altaians, Yakuts, Tuvinians, Shors, Chuvash, Balkars, Karachais), the Mongolian group (Kalmyks, Buryats), the Tungus-Manchu group (Evenks, Evens, Nanais) and the Paleo-Asian group of languages ​​(Koryaks, Chukchis). Some of these languages ​​are currently in danger of extinction, as their speakers are partly switching to Russian, partly to Chinese.
• The Uralic language family (2% of the population) is represented by the Finnish group of languages ​​(Komi, Margeans, Karelians, Komi-Permyaks, Mordovians), Ugric (Khanty, Mansi) and Samoyed groups (Nenets, Selkups). More than 50% of the Uralic language family are Hungarians and about 20% are Finns. This includes linguistic groups of peoples living in areas of the Ural Range.

The Caucasian language family (2%) includes the Kartvelian group (Georgians), the Dagestan group (Lezgins, Dargins, Laks, Avars), the Adyghe-Abkhazian (Abkhazians, Adygeis, Kabardians, Circassians) and the Nakh groups (Ingush, Chechens). The study of the languages ​​of the Caucasian family is associated with great difficulties for linguists, and therefore the languages ​​of the local population are still very little studied.

Difficulties are caused not only by the grammar or rules for constructing the language of a given family, but also by pronunciation, which is often simply inaccessible to people who do not speak this type of language. Certain difficulties in terms of study are also created by the inaccessibility of some mountainous regions of the North Caucasus.

Russia is a multinational country, and therefore multilingual. Linguistic scientists count 150 languages ​​- a language such as Russian, which is spoken by 97.72% of the population in Russia, and the language of the Negidal-Ievs, a small people (only 622 people!), living on the Amur River, are equally taken into account here.

Some languages ​​are very similar: people can each speak their own language and at the same time understand each other perfectly, for example, Russian - Belarusian, Tatar - Bashkir, Kalmyk - Buryat. In other languages, although they also have a lot in common - sounds, some words, grammar - it will still not be possible to come to an agreement: a Mari with a Mordovian, a Lezgin with an accident. And finally, there are languages ​​- scientists call them isolated - that are unlike any other. These are the languages ​​of the Kets, Nivkhs and Yukaghirs.

Most of the languages ​​of Russia belong to one of four language families: Indo-European, Altai, Uralic and North Caucasian. Each family has a common ancestor language - a proto-language. Ancient tribes who spoke such a proto-language moved, mixed with other peoples, and the once single language split into several. This is how many languages ​​arose on Earth.

Let's say Russian belongs to the Indo-European family. In the same family there are English and German, Hindi and Farsi, Ossetian and Spanish (and many, many others). Part of the family is the group of Slavic languages. Here, Czech and Polish, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian, etc. coexist with Russian. And together with closely related Ukrainian and Belarusian, it is included in the subgroup of East Slavic languages. Indo-European languages ​​are spoken in Russia by more than 87% of the population, but only 2% of them are not Slavic. These are Germanic languages: German and Yiddish (see the story “Jews in Russia”); Armenian (one makes up a group); Iranian languages: Ossetian, Tat, Kurdish and Tajik; Romance: Moldavian; and even modern Indian languages ​​spoken by gypsies in Russia.

The Altai family in Russia is represented by three groups: Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu. There are only two peoples who speak Mongolian languages ​​- Kalmyks and Buryats, but just the enumeration of Turkic languages ​​may surprise you. These are Chuvash, Tatar, Bashkir, Karachay-Balkar, Nogai, Kumyk, Altai, Khakass, Shor, Tuvan, Tofalar, Yakut, Dolgan, Azerbaijani, etc. Most of these peoples live in Russia. Turkic peoples such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, and Uzbeks also live in our country. The Tungus-Manchu languages ​​include Evenki, Even, Negidal, Nanai, Oroch, Orok, Udege and Ulch.

Sometimes the question arises: where is a separate language, and where are only dialects of the same language? For example, many linguists in Kazan believe that Bashkir is a dialect of Tatar, and the same number of specialists in Ufa are convinced that these are two completely independent languages. Similar disputes occur not only regarding Tatar and Bashkir.

The Uralic language family includes the Finno-Ugric and Samolian groups. The concept “Finnish” is conditional - in this case it does not mean the official language of Finland. It’s just that the languages ​​included in this group have related grammars and similar sounds, especially if you don’t parse the words and listen only to the melody. Finnish languages ​​are spoken by Karelians, Vepsians, Izhorians, Vods, Komi, Maris, Mordovians, Udmurts, and Sami. There are two Ugric languages ​​in Russia: Khanty and Mansi (and the third Ugric is spoken by Hungarians). The Samoyed languages ​​are spoken by the Nenets, Nganasans, Enets, and Selkups. The Yukaghir language is genetically close to Uralic. These peoples are very small in number, and their languages ​​cannot be heard outside the north of Russia.

The North Caucasian family is a rather arbitrary concept. Unless specialist linguists understand the ancient kinship of the languages ​​of the Caucasus. These languages ​​have very complex grammar and extremely difficult phonetics. They contain sounds that are completely inaccessible to people who speak other dialects.

Experts divide the North Caucasian languages ​​into Nakh-Lagestan and Abkhaz-Adyghe groups. The Vainakhs speak Nakh languages, which are mutually understandable - this is the common name for the Chechens and Ingush. (The group received its name from the self-name of the Chechens - Nakhchi.)

Representatives of approximately 30 nations live in Dagestan. “Approximately” - because not all the languages ​​of these peoples have been studied, and very often people determine their nationality precisely by language.

The Dagestan languages ​​include Avar, Andi, Iez, Ginukh, Gunzib, Bezhta, Khvarshin, Lak, Dargin, Lezgin, Tabasaran, Agul, Ru-Tul... We named the largest Dagestan languages, but did not list even half. It’s not for nothing that this republic was called the “mountain of languages.” And a “paradise for linguists”: the field of activity for them here is vast.

Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​are spoken by related peoples. In Adyghe - Kabardians, Adygeis, Circassians, Shapsugs; in Abkhazian - Abkhaz and Abaza. But not everything is so simple in this classification. Kabardians, Adyghe, Circassians and Shapsugs consider themselves a single people - Adyghe - with one language, Adyghe, and official sources call four Adyghe peoples.

In Russia there are languages ​​that are not included in any of the four families. These are primarily the languages ​​of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East. All of them are few in number. The Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen languages ​​speak the Chukchi-Kamchatka languages; in Eskimo-Aleutian - Eskimos and Aleuts. The languages ​​of the Kets on the Yenisei and the Nivkhs on Sakhalin and Amur are not included in any language family.

There are many languages, and in order for people to agree, they need a common one. In Russia, it became Russian, because Russians are the most numerous people in the country and they live in all its corners. It is the language of great literature, science and international communication.

Languages, of course, are equal, but even the richest country cannot publish, for example, books on all issues in the language of several hundred people. Or even several tens of thousands. In a language that is spoken by millions, this is feasible.

Many peoples of Russia have lost or are losing their languages, especially representatives of small nations. Thus, they have practically forgotten the native language of the Chu-lymys - a small Turkic-speaking people in Siberia. The list, unfortunately, is long. In Russian cities, Russian is becoming the common language for the multinational population. And most often the only one. However, recently national cultural and educational societies have taken care of their own languages ​​in large centers. They usually organize Sunday schools for children.

Most of the languages ​​of Russia before the 20s. XX century had no writing. Georgians, Armenians, and Jews had their own alphabet. Germans, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and Finns wrote in the Latin alphabet (Latin alphabet). Some languages ​​are still unwritten.

The first attempts to create a written language for the peoples of Russia were made even before the revolution, but they began to take this seriously in the 20s: they reformed the Arabic script, adapting it to the phonetics of the Turkic languages. It did not fit into the languages ​​of the peoples of the Caucasus. They developed a Latin alphabet, but there were not enough letters to accurately designate sounds in the languages ​​of small nations. From 1936 to 1941, the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia (and the USSR) were transferred to the Slavic alphabet (except for those that had their own, which was also ancient), superscripts were added, tall straight sticks to indicate guttural sounds, and combinations of letters that were strange to the Russian eye like "ь" and "ь" after vowels. It was believed that a single alphabet helped to better master the Russian language. Recently, some languages ​​have begun to use the Latin alphabet again. (For a detailed classification, see the volume “Linguistics. Russian Language” of the “Encyclopedia for Children”.)

Languages ​​of the peoples of Russia

1. Indo-European languages

o Slavic (namely East Slavic) - Russian (about 120 million speakers according to the 1989 census)

o Germanic languages ​​- Yiddish (Jewish)

o Iranian languages ​​- Ossetian, Talysh, Tat (the language of the Tats and Mountain Jews)

o Indo-Aryan languages ​​- Romani

2. Uralic languages

o Finno-Ugric languages

§ Mari

§ Sami

§ Mordovian languages ​​- Moksha, Erzya

§ Ob-Ugric languages ​​- Mansi, Khanty

§ Permian languages ​​- Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak, Udmurt

§ Baltic-Finnish - Vepsian, Votic, Izhorian, Karelian

o Samoyed languages ​​- Nganasan, Nenets, Selkup, Enets

3. Turkic languages- Altai, Bashkir, Dolgan, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Nogai, Tatar, Tofalar, Tuvan, Khakass, Chuvash, Shor, Yakut

4. Tungus-Manchu languages- Nanai, Negidal, Orok, Oroch, Udege, Ulch, Evenki, Even

5. Mongolian languages- Buryat, Kalmyk

6. Yenisei languages- Ket

7. Chukotka-Kamchatka languages- Alyutor, Itelmen, Kerek, Koryak, Chukchi

8. Eskimo-Aleut languages- Aleutian, Eskimo

9. Yukaghir language

10. Nivkh language

11. North Caucasian languages

o Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​- Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardino-Circassian

o Nakh-Dagetan languages

§ Nakh languages ​​- Batsbi, Ingush, Chechen

§ Dagestan languages

§ Avar

§ Andean languages ​​- Andean, Akhvakh, Bagvalin (Kwanadin), Botlikh, Godoberin, Karata, Tindin, Chamalin

On this page you will find information about interesting facts related to language families of the world, individual languages ​​or their number systems.

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The numbers after the names of the languages ​​indicate the number of speakers, according to Levin's book.

Indo-European family

The most studied and most widely spoken family of languages ​​in the world. Similarities between IE languages ​​have been noted since ancient times; but the realization that they were descended from a once-existing parent language, and the important connection with the Indo-Iranian languages, was first clearly stated by William Jones in 1786. Over the course of a century, scientists reconstructed the Proto-Indo-European language for the first time.
One of the striking distinctive features of PIJ is changes in root vowels in conjugation: rare cases of such remnants can be found in the forms of English verbs, for example: sing/sang/sung. PIEJA had a rich system of inflections, three numbers (singular/dual/plural) and three genders.

German group.

The earliest texts in Germanic languages ​​that survive today are the Gothic translations of the Bible in the 4th century. The earliest English texts date back to the 7th century. But English did not come from Old Germanic; rather, both of these languages ​​came from Proto-Germanic.

Italian group.

From several Italic languages ​​( Oscan, Umbrian and Faliscan), spoken in Italy since ancient times, only one Latin has survived. Some of them continued to exist in the 1st century AD, but all modern Romance languages ​​are descended from Latin. Earliest texts in Romance languages: French texts from the 9th century AD.
We have an array of texts in ; the earliest date from around 500 BC. There are many sayings in Latin that are still used today, such as: Venimus ad Galliam sed non currimus,“We are going to Gaul, but we are not fleeing,” or Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.AmarumetindecorumestaVesuviointerfici, “It is sweet and decent to die for one’s country. BitterlyAndindecentbeburiedatVesuvius» .

Celtic group.

Irish is one of the official languages ​​of Ireland. In Ireland, government agencies are also named in Irish.
The earliest evidence of writing in Celtic languages ​​dates back to the 1st century - these are inscriptions in the Gaulish language.
Celtic numbers are preserved in counting sets in English, called scores; they are used in counting sheep, stitches, and in children's games. Here's an example: yan, tan, tethera, petera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, covera, dik.

Greek group.

Mycenaean Greek era Linear B, dating back to the early 14th century BC, also belongs to this group, as proven by Michael Ventris in 1952. Linear B has nothing in common with , which was invented centuries later; the invented alphabet began to use syllabary.
Tocharian A and B are two extinct languages ​​that were once spoken in Xinjiang. Their existence became known only in the 1890s.
Albanian was one of the last languages ​​to be classified as part of the Indo-European family. It replaced a significant part of the Indo-European vocabulary.

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Baltic group.

Slavic group.

The earliest Slavic texts date back to the 9th century.

Anatolian group.

Texts in Hittite dating back to the 17th century BC are today the most ancient Indo-European texts, which were discovered only about a century ago. They represent the most obvious confirmation of historical-linguistic forecasting - namely, Saussure's postulation coefficientssonantiques. This is evidence for the existence of so-called laryngals in Proto-Indo-European, which had no evidence in any known IE language at that time, but which ended up in Hittite. On the other hand, the Hittite language turned out to be little similar to other IE languages, which led to the need to re-evaluate the parent language. Some believe that Hittite and Indo-European were branches of the earlier "Indo-Hittite" language.

Indo-Iranian group.

There are ancient inscriptions in Persian dating back to the 6th century BC, as well as Sanskrit texts dating back to around 1000 BC.

In the 18th century, having become acquainted with Sanskrit, European scientists identified its similarities with Greek and Latin. This marked the beginning of philological research, which ended with the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language (chauvinistically called Indogermanisch, because the research was mainly carried out by German scientists). It was previously believed that Sanskrit was closest to the parent language, but with the results of linguistic research, it turned out that this was not the case. Linguists retain respect for the precision of ancient Sanskrit grammars such as Panini (4th century BC).
Ardhamagadhi, one of the post-Sanskrit dialects. Prakrit is the language of Jain scripture.

Elamite language
In ancient times it was spoken in the southwestern part of Persia. The earliest inscriptions date back to the 25th century BC. There is no established connection with other languages, although Roulin, following McAlpine, classifies it as a Dravidian language.

Dravidian group

They are spoken mainly in the southern part of India, but there are regions further north, in particular Brahui, in Pakistan, where these languages ​​are also spoken. It is likely that the Dravidian languages ​​were once common throughout India, but were then supplanted Aryan(Indo-European) tribes three thousand years ago. Features of Dravidian languages ​​such as retroflex consonants, spread to Indian languages, and Sanskrit, in turn, had a huge influence on the Dravidian languages.
Nakhali
The genetic affiliation of the impudent people to one or another language family has not been determined. About 40% of the vocabulary is similar to the vocabulary Munda languages, and some linguists classify this language as belonging to this group. Of the numbers, 2-4 are borrowed from Dravidian languages, and 5-10 from Indian.
Burushaski
An isolated language that is spoken in a remote area of ​​the Pakistani part of Kashmir. The language is connected with the Caucasian languages ​​due to its four-gender system (masculine, feminine, living gender, other subjects), and with the Basque language, due to its ergative system and type of sentence construction - SOV, but such only typological similarities can hardly serve as a strong basis for establishing linguistic kinship.

Afro-Asian family

Semitic group

Semitic languages ​​are distinguished by inflections, which are characterized by changes in vowels, in relation to the triconsonantal root. For example, the Arabic root KTB produces verb forms such as kataba- “he wrote” katabat"she wrote" taktubu"you write", taka:taba"to correspond with each other" yukattibu“to make you write”; and nominal forms: kita:b"book", kutubi: "salesman", kita:b"writer", maktaba"library" and so on.
Semitic languages ​​also have one of most ancient writing systems, which dates back to the Akkadian period around 3000 BC. There are Canaanite inscriptions dating back to the 20th century BC. Hebrew Bible Tanakh was written between 1200 and 200 AD. BC.).
The earliest dates back to the 4th century AD. However, for example classical Arabic language is the Koran, the appearance of which dates back to the 7th century. In regions where Arabic is spoken, there is diglossia, when spoken and written languages ​​diverge greatly. Throughout the Arab world, the standard written language (which, by the way, is also used in formal speech) is classical Arabic, which no one speaks as a native language anymore - but it is necessarily taught in school. The spoken language has deviated greatly from this standard and varies from country to country. Uneducated Arabs from different parts of the Arab world can no longer understand each other. Egyptian the family of languages ​​boasts one of the oldest written records (from 3000 BC). This writing dates back 4500 years! Even Chinese writing only appeared ca. 2700 BC The modern Egyptian language is a descendant not of ancient Egyptian, but of ancient Arabic. Modern descendant of the language of the pharaohs - Coptic, is still used as the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. Nimbia, a dialect of the Guandara language belonging to the Chadian family, is known for its duodecimal number system. 12- " tùni", 13 - " tùnim`béda"— “12 + 1”, 30 — gùmebinìshídé– “24 + 6”, etc.

Sumerian language

Basque

Etruscan

Meroitic language

Meroitic was the language of Meroe, an ancient kingdom located south of Egypt.

Hurrian language

Caucasian family

Caucasian languages ​​(which many scholars divide into two or even four unrelated families) have a characteristic word order like SOV and an ergative case system - which indicates similarities with the Basque language. This similarity has led to numerous speculations and theories, but no evidence of a connection between these languages ​​has been obtained. Caucasian languages ​​are also characterized by a rather bizarre system of consonants - in the Ubykh language, for example, there are 82 consonant phonemes.

Nilo-Saharan family

Khoisan family

Unusual characters in the Khoisan languages ​​(spoken in southwest Africa) are clicking sounds, used as phonemes only in this group and some neighboring Bantu languages. Kung language (!Xu~ ), of this family differs from other languages ​​in that it has the largest number of phonemes: 141. In most languages, the number of phonemes varies between 20 and 40.

Kordofanian family

These languages ​​are usually grouped with the Niger-Congo languages ​​into the Niger-Kordofanian family.
The Niger-Congo family has not been fully studied (although some of its subfamilies, such as the Bantu, are well classified). There are no forms of reconstruction of the Proto-Niger-Congo language on a par with IE, Semitic, Austronesian, Algonquian, etc. languages.
Interesting fact about language krongo: Numbers are verbs. (The same thing is observed in some Amerind languages.)

Niger-Congo family

Most of the languages ​​of Africa (from about the southern border of the Sahara) belong to this large family. This is a real test for the Latin alphabet: most of the languages ​​of this family not only distinguish between open and closed sounds e And O(in the letter they are depicted as e And e , O And O ), but also tonality. Some languages ​​have words with a "floating tone", which is not associated with any syllable in the word, but is implemented in the whole word!
The numerical system of the Niger-Congo languages ​​is based primarily on the quinary system. The numbers "6-9", for example, often look like "5 + 1-4". Sometimes changes in sound make the origin of a word unclear (cf. the Spanish word once= 10 + 1) or borrowing (for example, in the Swahili language 6-9 are borrowed from Arabic). Other word formation methods are also possible. Sometimes a separate word is used to denote the number “8” (it itself apparently formed from “two fours”), and “9” = 8 + 1; also, to express the number “7”, the word for the number “6” is used. The numbers "9" and sometimes "8" can be expressed as "10 minus 1 (or 2)".
For more complex numbers, Bantu languages ​​tend to use tens, while Western languages ​​tend to use twenties.
The Yoruba number system is characterized by its use of subtraction, for example: 19 ookandinlogun = 20 — 1, 46 = 60 — 10 — 4, 315 orindinnirinwoodinmarun = 400 — (20 * 4) — 5.
The word "7" in Kumbundu (Bantu language), sambuari, is a derivative of "6 + 2" - serving as a euphemism, replacing the original word for "7", which itself is taboo.
As can be seen from Johnston's study of the Tanzanian language in the 1919 and 1970s, compound words for the numbers "6-9" have been replaced in many languages ​​by numbers borrowed from Swahili (which in turn were borrowed from Arabic).

Ural family

About existence Ural family was already known in the 18th century. The earliest evidence of Finnish languages ​​is an inscription in Karelian from the 13th century; inscriptions in Ugric and Hungarian date back to 1200. In view of the obvious typological similarities with the Altaic languages, a connection between these families cannot be ruled out.

Altai family

The present genetic classification of the Altaic languages ​​raises strong doubts: the complexity of the issue lies in the fact that these languages ​​​​existed in mutual contact for several thousand years, so it is not easy to separate borrowings from genetic relatedness.

Korean

The relationship of the Korean language with any other language has not been established. There may be a distant connection with Japanese and Altaic languages.

Japanese

Sino-Tibetan family

Chinese languages ​​are tonal, like Thai languages ​​and languages Hmong- but they are not closely related. Tibeto-Burman languages ​​are generally not tonal. in Chinese date back to the 17th century BC; in Tibetan - by the 7th century. AD; in Burmese - by the 12th century. AD
Chang (Dzorgai) languages. Information on this branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family has only recently come to the attention of Western scholars, thanks to Chinese research in the 80s and 90s. The now dead Tangut or Si Xia language belongs to this family, which is clearly represented in the logographic form of an 11th century inscription.

Miao-yao

Tai-Kadai languages

Thai languages ​​were once common in southern China as far as the Yangtze River. The Tai-Kadai and Chinese languages ​​have had a strong influence on each other, so that it is not so easy to determine which was borrowed from where. Previously, it was believed that the Thai and Chinese languages ​​are related to each other, but now this is in great doubt, since the similarity is due to borrowings.

Austroasiatic languages

Yumbri is the first language I came across where no numbers at all. There are words meaning “little” and “many”. It is noteworthy that neremoy, seems to correspond to the concept of "one" in other Austroasiatic languages, e.g. Rengao mói'?

Ainu language

Austronesian family

The Austronesian family is the largest language family in the world, numbering about 1000 individual languages. The Proto-Austronesian language has been partially reconstructed.
People often think that linguists classify languages ​​into families based on similar-sounding words. In fact, they take as a basis regular sound matches in languages, whether the words sound the same or not. A good example is the eastern group of Santo languages: words iedh(Sakao language) and tharr(Shark Bay language) sound completely different, just like the word * vati(language of proto-Vanuatu). But in fact, they are all words with the same root, indicating the connection between these languages.
Linguist Jacques Guy reconstructed the changes in words as follows. In both languages, labiolabial consonants have changed to dental consonants before front vowels, with the loss of final vowels: * vati —> *thati —> *that.
In addition, a complex shift in vowels was observed in the Sakao language, after which almost all consonants became weakened: voiceless plosives and voiced fricatives, fricatives and approximants (frictional sonorants) appeared: * that —> *thet —> *yedh.
Finally, in Shark Bay, final -t changed to vibrating: * that —> *tharr. Q.E.D.

Chukotka-Kamchatka languages

Yukaghir

Yenisei

Gilyatsky

Indo-Pacific macrofamily

The Indo-Pacific macrofamily is a poorly understood group of 60 or more small language families in New Guinea. Genetic connections between these languages, if any, cannot be precisely determined until grammatical and lexical interpenetrations on a large scale have been carefully analyzed.

Australian languages

A classification of the Australian languages ​​into small families has been made, but assembling them into a larger family has proven extremely difficult. R.M.U. Dixon believes the language family tree model is not entirely appropriate for Australia. Here, most likely, the situation is as follows: hundreds of languages ​​existed in a dynamic equilibrium, grammatical features and lexemes transferred from one language to another in different regions or throughout the continent.
Many Australian languages ​​have a limited range of numbers. (This does not mean that these are simple languages ​​- these languages ​​are quite complex). Some number words do not represent a specific number, but a range of numbers.
The following examples are thought-provoking, taken from the Yir Yoront language, where there is a full range of numbers, but counting in most Australian languages ​​stops at 2, 3 or 4. As in many languages, the words in Yir Yoront for numbers are refer directly to the process of counting on hands: 5 = “whole hand”, 7 = “whole hand + two fingers”, 10 = “two hands”.

Amerind languages

In Indo-European languages ​​we are accustomed to numbers whose roots cannot be further analyzed. In other families, number names may be derived words, often associated with the process of counting with fingers and toes - for example, in the Choctaw language "5" = talhlhaapih“the first (hand) is over”; Bororo "7" - ikerametúyapogedu- “my hand, and my friend’s”; Klamath "8" - ndan-ksahpta“3 fingers that I bent”; unalite "11" - atkahakhtok"down to your feet"; Shasta "20" - tsec“man” (a person is considered to consist of 20 countable limbs).

Na-den

Navajo is one of the Amerindian languages ​​with the largest number of speakers in the United States, with approximately 100,000 speakers.
Greenberg combined all the Amerind languages ​​below (that is, excluding the Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene languages) into a single family, Amerindian. His conclusions are based only on "mass comparison" and not on the method of comparative analysis, which is not accepted by some linguists.
North American languages ​​are fairly well studied, and many families are well classified, with reconstructed forms of proto-languages ​​available. However, in South America the situation is different. Let's see what happens in fifty years.

Almosan languages

Algonquian languages

Cree is one of the Native American languages ​​with the largest number of speakers in Canada, with approximately 80,000 speakers.

Keres

Sioux

Azteco-Tanoan macrofamily

Nahuatl (Aztec) is a language known for its base-20 number system: for example, “37” is campoallioncaxtolliomome"20 + 17". There is also a special word for "400" tzontli(literally “hair”, figuratively “abundance”). The numbers 1 to 19 are grouped in groups of five (for example, "17" is caxtolliomome“15 and 2”), so the system can more accurately be called the “5-20 system”.

Otomang languages

The northern dialect of the Pama language is interesting for its octal number system.

Penuti language

Many languages ​​of Mexico, Central America and California have a number of number systems based on the number 20 rather than 10. This is not always obvious with numbers from 11 to 19, because some of which may be compound words, as in the decimal system. However, numbers above 19 provide clarity: for example, 100 is “five times twenty,” etc.
The Mayan languages ​​have a developed writing system that was only fully deciphered in this century. This writing system has a separate symbol for the number zero.

Chibchan languages

Some Amazonian languages, such as Yanomami, have only roots for the numbers 1 through 3. This does not mean (as some observers are quick to conclude) that people can only count to 3. They have fingers and toes, and they know how to use them for counting. If a Yanomami Indian leaves you 20 arrows and leaves, and when he returns he is missing at least one, woe to you. Perhaps the lack of names for numbers allows you to come up with special names each time depending on the situation.

Andean languages

Quechua is one of the most widely spoken Amerindian languages, spoken by more than 7 million people. It was this language that was the language of the Inca Empire, and also spread thanks to the missionary work of Spanish-speaking colonialists.
The Incas exchanged account information using kipu s (literally "knots"), bundles of knots in the form of strings. One or more numbers were written on each line, and the lines were grouped into colored bundles, sometimes accompanied by a final score, as in a table. The numeric code was decimal; each number was represented by a number of nodes from 0 to 9; the knots were made in different ways, so several numbers could be encoded on one line.
The Urarina language (Ruhlen included this language in this group, but other linguists consider this language to be an isolate) has two very unusual features among all languages ​​of the world: it does not have the /r/ sound (for example, the word pusaq"8" was borrowed from the form fusa-), the word order in a sentence in this language is OVS (object-verb-subject).

Equatorial group

Guarani can be considered the most effective modern Amerindian language. It is spoken by the majority (88%) of the population of Paraguay - the bulk of which are mestizos, not pure Indians. This may be why the language has gained popularity in Paraguayan society. In Paraguay, both Spanish and Guarani can be spoken.

Hepano-Caribbean languages

The Bakairi language has a binary number system: numbers above 2 ( ahage) are formed by combining words meaning “1” and “2” (although such a count ends at 6, and after that the word is repeated mera"this"). Computer geeks will argue that a binary system should only have words for “0” and “1,” but for example, our own decimal number system doesn’t work that way either: we have a word for the number “ten.”
IN Cherente language word meaning number "2" ( ponhuane), literally translated as “deer footprint” (apparently due to the cloven imprint of a deer hoof).

Pidgin and Creole languages

Although the languages ​​in this section are almost all based on Western European languages, there are pidgin and creole languages ​​that are based on languages ​​from other families. Two of them are Amerindian languages: Chinook jargon And mobile language of commerce. Other examples: pidgin hammer(based on the Omoto Hamer language), hiri motu(based on Austronesian language motu), kituba(based on Congolese languages), and fanagalo(another Bantu pidgin).
The Michif language is difficult to understand: (too simplified), the nouns, pronouns and numerals (except 1) are French, the verbs are from Cree - quite complex verbs, by the way. This language cannot be considered a pidgin. Most likely, this language developed in a bilingual environment.

There are also artificial languages, information about which will be no less interesting. But about them - in the following articles.