Introduction
John A. Goldsmith
September 26, 2011
() September 26, 2011 1 / 42 Aspects of language explored by linguistics
Individual Social Synchronic (at a moment in time) Diachronic (change over time) Formal Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Relations to biology (species; individual development)
() September 26, 2011 2 / 42 Some basic language literacy
Language in the world today: How many? Ethnologue currently lists 6,909. Dialects Language families
() September 26, 2011 3 / 42 Ethnologue “language criteria”: not just a linguistic matter
1 Two related varieties are normally considered varieties of the same language [dialects] if speakers of each variety have inherent understanding of the other variety at a functional level (that is, can understand based on knowledge of their own variety without needing to learn the other variety). Ex: British/American/Australian etc. English
2 Where spoken intelligibility between varieties is marginal, the existence of a common literature or of a common ethnolinguistic identity with a central variety that both understand can be a strong indicator that they should nevertheless be considered varieties of the same language. Ex: Arabic
3 Where there is enough intelligibility between varieties to enable communication, the existence of well-established distinct ethnolinguistic identities can be a strong indicator that they should nevertheless be considered to be different languages. Ex: Norwegian/Swedish/Danish, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian...
() September 26, 2011 4 / 42 World language families
() September 26, 2011 5 / 42 Indo-European
() September 26, 2011 6 / 42 Indo-European
() September 26, 2011 7 / 42 Indo-European
() September 26, 2011 8 / 42 Indo-European
() September 26, 2011 9 / 42 Indo-European
() September 26, 2011 10 / 42 Indo-Iranian
() September 26, 2011 11 / 42 Languages of Afghanistan
() September 26, 2011 12 / 42 Languages of the Indian subcontinent
() September 26, 2011 13 / 42 Dravidian languages
() September 26, 2011 14 / 42 Uralic languages
() September 26, 2011 15 / 42 Altaic languages
() September 26, 2011 16 / 42 Turkic languages
() September 26, 2011 17 / 42 Languages of the Caucausus
() September 26, 2011 18 / 42 Languages of Africa
() September 26, 2011 19 / 42 Afro-Asiatic languages
() September 26, 2011 20 / 42 Sino-Tibetan languages
() September 26, 2011 21 / 42 Austroasiatic languages
() September 26, 2011 22 / 42 Austronesian languages
() September 26, 2011 23 / 42 Languages of Australia
() September 26, 2011 24 / 42 Papuan languages
That which is not Austronesian or Australian
The most linguistically diverse region in the world??
800+ languages in 20+ families
() September 26, 2011 25 / 42 Papuan languages – East & West New Britian
() September 26, 2011 26 / 42 Pre-contact languages of North America
() September 26, 2011 27 / 42 Pre-contact languages of North America
() September 26, 2011 28 / 42 Indigenous languages of Mexico
() September 26, 2011 29 / 42 Post-contact languages of South America
() September 26, 2011 30 / 42 Pre-contact languages of South America
() September 26, 2011 31 / 42 Languages of Amazonia
() September 26, 2011 32 / 42 Some famous language isolates
Basque (Spain, France) Burushaski (Pakistan) Ainu (Hokkaido, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands)
() September 26, 2011 33 / 42 Other language type often not on these maps
Pidgins and creoles Signed languages (ASL [American Sign Language], BSL, LSQ, etc.)
() September 26, 2011 34 / 42 Top 20 most-spoken languages, in millions of native speakers
1 Mandarin 845 German 90 11 2 Spanish 329 Javanese 85 12 3 English 328 Wu (Shanghaiese) 77 13 4 Hindi-Urdu 240 Telugu 70 14 5 Arabic 206 French 68 15 6 Bengali 181 Vietnamese 69 16 7 Portuguese 178 Korean 66 17 8 Russian 144 Tamil 66 18 9 Japanese 122 Italian 62 19 10 Punjabi 109 Yue (Cantonese) 56 20
() September 26, 2011 35 / 42 Languages of the World, again
() September 26, 2011 36 / 42 The end
() September 26, 2011 37 / 42 Distribution of major word order types
S, V, O: S(ubject), O(bject), V(erb)
How many ways might subject, object, and verb combine?
1 Sam likes raisins. (SVO) 2 Sam raisins likes. (SOV) 3 Likes Sam raisins. (VSO) 4 Likes raisins Sam. (VOS) 5 Raisins Sam likes. (OSV) 6 Raisins likes Sam. (OVS)
How often is each type attested? All maps and data from World Atlas of Language Structures database online.
() September 26, 2011 38 / 42 Distribution of major word order types
() September 26, 2011 39 / 42 Distribution of major word order types
() September 26, 2011 40 / 42 Distribution of major word order types
() September 26, 2011 41 / 42 Distribution of major word order types
() September 26, 2011 42 / 42