Monday, 22 October 2018
I sem - Special English - Language Families
What is a language family?
Most languages belong to language families. A language family is a group of related languages that developed from a common historic ancestor, referred to as protolanguage (proto– means ‘early’ in Greek). The ancestral language is usually not known directly, but it is possible to discover many of its features by applying the comparative method that can demonstrate the family status of many languages. Sometimes a protolanguage can be identified with a historically known language. Thus, provincial dialects of Vulgar Latin are known to have given rise to the modern Romance languages, so the *Proto-Romance language is more or less identical to Latin. Similarly, Old Norse was the ancestor of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic. Sanskrit was the protolanguage of many of the languages of the Indian subcontinent, such as Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu. Further back in time, all these ancestral languages descended, in turn, from one common ancestor. We call this ancestor *Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Language families can be subdivided into smaller units called branches. For instance, the Indo-European family has several branches, among them, Germanic, Romance, and Slavic.
How many language families are there?
According to Ethnologue (16th edition), there are 147 language families in the world. This figure may not be precise because of our limited knowledge about many of the languages spoken in the most linguistically diverse areas of the world such as Africa. The actual number of families, once these languages are studied and relationships among them are established, will undoubtedly keep changing.
World’s largest language families
The largest language families (those with over 25 languages) are listed below (Ethnologue).
There are 6,523 languages in this group, and together they account for
close to 95 percent of all world languages (assuming that there are some
6,900 languages in the world). The remaining families account for only 5
percent of the world languages. In addition, there are 53 languages
considered unclassified.
439
languages
|
Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Maldives, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, USA, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Venezuela | |
Indo-European is a family of languages that first spread throughout Europe and many parts of South Asia, and later to every corner of the globe as a result of colonization. The term Indo-European is essentially geographical since it refers to the easternmost extension of the family from the Indian subcontinent to its westernmost reach in Europe. The family includes most of the languages of Europe, as well as many languages of Southwest, Central and South Asia. With over 2.6 billion speakers (or 45% of the world’s population), the Indo-European language family has the largest number of speakers of all language families as well as the widest dispersion around the world.
English language, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to Frisian, German, and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages. English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is also an official language of India, the Philippines, Singapore, and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. English is the first choice of foreign language in most other countries of the world, and it is that status that has given it the position of a global lingua franca. It is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion persons, now use English.
English languageMap showing the use of the English language as a national, primary, or widely spoken language in countries around the world.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
B.Ed. I Sem - Special English - NPE 1986
National Policy on Education (1986)
Development
of languages:
Regional Languages: The energetic development of Indian Languages and
literature is a sine qua non for educational and cultural development. Unless
this is done, the creative energies of the people will not be released,
standards of education will not improve, knowledge will not spread to the
people and the gulf between the intelligentsia and masses will remain if not
widen further. The regional languages are already in use as media of education
at the primary and secondary stages. Urgent steps should now be taken to adopt
them as media of education at the university stage.
Three-Language
Formula:
At the
secondary stage, the State Governments should adopt, and vigorously implement,
the three-language formula which includes the study of a modern Indian
language, preferably one of the southern languages, apart from Hindi and English
in the Hindi-speaking States, and of Hindi along with the regional
language
and English in the Non-Hindi-speaking States. Suitable courses in Hindi and/or English
should also be available in universities and colleges with a view to improving
the proficiency of students in these languages up to the prescribed university
standards.
Hindi
Every
effort should be made to promote the development of Hindi. In developing Hindi
as the link language, due care should be taken to ensure that it will serve, as
provided for in Article 351 of the Constitution, as a medium of expression for
all the elements of the composite culture of India. The establishment, in
non-Hindi States, of colleges and other institutions of higher education which
use Hindi, as the medium of education should be encouraged.
Sanskrit
Considering
the special importance of Sanskrit to the growth and development of Indian
languages and its unique contribution to the cultural unity of the country,
facilities for its teaching at the school and university stages should be
offered on a more liberal scale. Development of new methods of teaching the
language should be encouraged, and the possibility explored of including the
study of Sanskrit in those courses (such as modern Indian languages, ancient
Indian history, Indology and Indian philosophy) at the first and second degree
stages, where such knowledge is useful.
International
Languages:
Special
emphasis needs to be laid on the study of English and other international
languages. World knowledge is growing at a tremendous pace, especially in
science and technology. India must not only keep up this growth but should also
make her own significant contribution to it. For this purpose, study of English
deserves
to be specially strengthened
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