Classification of african languages by joseph greenberg
What are the classifications of African languages?
In accordance with this classification the languages of the continent are exhaustively assigned to five families: Semitic, Hamitic, Bantu, Sudanese, and Bushman. The basis of classification is an analysis into linguistic types in which each linguistic family is distinguished by a set of structural characteris- tics.
Who first classified African languages into families?
Greenberg
Greenberg grouped the hundreds of African languages into four families, which he dubbed Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger–Congo, and Khoisan.
What are the classifications for languages?
The three basic classifications for languages of the world are: Genealogical. Typological.
What are the three main groups of African languages?
Most languages spoken in Africa belong to one of three large language families: Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan and Niger–Congo.
How many African language families are there?
The languages of Africa can be grouped into 6 major linguistic families. Each has a different history and geographic distribution on the continent. The four major families of AFRO-ASIATIC, NILO-SAHARAN, KHOISAN, and NIGER-CONGO are indicated on the map.
What is the oldest African language?
Egyptian
1. Egyptian – 2690 BC (circa. 4700 years old) The first known language ever was a proto-language on the African continent, and the first known proto-writing system was created in Nigeria. So, it is perhaps no surprise that the oldest language on this list is also from and used in Africa – Egyptian.
What is the origin of African languages?
Language originated 50,000 years ago, although some experts say it is at least 100,000 years old. New research suggests that language originated in southern Africa and that it evolved into different families — each developed unique characteristics.
How many language families are identified?
At least 135 languages families have been identified throughout the world, each of them belonging to a different linguistic family. The term language family is used to describe a number of related languages that are believed to share a same common ancestor, or proto-language.
How do language families develop?
The concept of language families is based on the historical observation that languages develop dialects, which over time may diverge into distinct languages. However, linguistic ancestry is less clear-cut than familiar biological ancestry, in which species do not crossbreed.
What are the 2 largest language families?
Although the Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan language families two of the largest in the world, linguists have categorized more than one hundred language families around the globe.
What are the 7 language families?
The six largest language families by language count are Niger-Congo, Austronesian, Trans-New Guinea, Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, and Afro-Asiatic. for at least one language in the family. Each of these families has at least 5% of the world’s languages, and together account for two-thirds of all languages.
How many types of languages are there?
According to Ethnologue, there are approximately 7,111 languages being spoken today, but this number is constantly fluctuating — and this does not include dialects either!
What are the four division of language?
There are four main components of language:
- Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech sounds. Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through words.
- Grammar involves two parts. …
- Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication.
Which is the smallest language family?
Afro-Asiatic
The Afro-Asiatic language family includes 381 languages, making it the smallest language family on this list. These languages are primarily spoken in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and several islands in Western Asia.
What is the largest language in the world?
English is the largest language in the world, if you count both native and non-native speakers. If you count only native speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the largest. Mandarin Chinese is the largest language in the world when counting only first language (native) speakers.
What is the oldest language family?
the Dravidian family
The Tamil language is recognized as the oldest language in the world and it is the oldest language of the Dravidian family. This language had a presence even around 5,000 years ago. According to a survey, 1863 newspapers are published in the Tamil language only every day.
What was the first written language?
The cuneiform script, created in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, ca. 3200 BC, was first. It is also the only writing system which can be traced to its earliest prehistoric origin.
What is the root of all languages?
The Proto-Indo-European language is the hypothesised mother language of all languages within the Indo-European family. This language is thought to have been spoken around 3500 BC by nomads living in what is present-day Ukraine.
What is the third largest language family?
Language families by speakers
| Language family | Approx. # of speakers | % of world population |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Indo-European | 2.562 billion | 44.78% |
| 2. Sino-Tibetan | 1.276 billion | 22.28% |
| 3. Niger-Congo | 358 million | 6.26% |
| 4. Afro-Asiatic | 340 million | 5.93% |
What is the mother of all languages?
Sanskrit
Sanskrit is the Holy and Divine language of India, written in Devanagari script which is also known for its clarity and beauty. Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European languages family.
Who created the first language?
Some scholars assume the development of primitive language-like systems (proto-language) as early as Homo habilis, while others place the development of symbolic communication only with Homo erectus (1.8 million years ago) or with Homo heidelbergensis (0.6 million years ago) and the development of language proper with …
What language did Adam and Eve speak?
The Adamic language
The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden.
Which language did God speak?
Similar to Latin today, Hebrew was the chosen language for religious scholars and the holy scriptures, including the Bible (although some of the Old Testament was written in Aramaic). Jesus likely understood Hebrew, though his everyday life would have been conducted in Aramaic.