language tree. Genealogical tree of Indo-European languages: examples, language groups, features. A. Indonesian branch
The enumeration 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 referred to as Hindustani 2) - two varieties of one new Indian literary language: Urdu - the state language of Pakistan, has a written language based on the Arabic alphabet; Hindi (official language of India) - based on the Old Indian script Devanagari.
2) Bengal.
3)
Punjabi.
4) Lakhnda (landi).
5) Sindhi.
6)
Rajasthani.
7) Gujarati.
8) Mrathi.
9)
Sinhalese.
10) Nepal(Eastern Pahari, in Nepal)
11)
Bihari.
12) Oriya.(otherwise: audrey, utkali, in eastern India)
13) Assamese.
14) Gypsy, released as a result of resettlements and migrations in the 5th - 10th centuries. AD
15) Kashmiri other 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. BC. to the 7th century AD (literally samskrta means "processed", as opposed to prakrta "not normalized" spoken language); rich literature, religious and secular (epos, dramaturgy), remained in Sanskrit; the first Sanskrit grammar of the 4th c. BC. Panini reworked in the 13th century. AD Vopadeva.
18) Pali- Central Indian literary and cult language of the medieval era.
19) Prakrits- various colloquial Middle Indian dialects, from which the new Indian languages \u200b\u200bcame; replicas of minor persons in Sanskrit dramaturgy are written on prakrits.
1 On 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 proximity with the Indian group, with which it unites into a common Indo-Iranian, or Aryan, group;
arya - tribal self-name in the most ancient monuments, from it Iran, and Alan - 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, from the 30s. state language of Afghanistan.
4) Baloch (baluchi).
5) Tajik.
6)
Kurdish.
7) Ossetian; dialects: Iron (Eastern) Digor (Western). Ossetians - descendants of the Alans-Scythians
8) Talysh.
10) Caspian(Gilyan, Mazanderan) dialects.
11)
Pamir languages(Shugnan, Rushan, Bartang, Capykol, Khuf, Oroshor, Yazgulyam, Ishkashim, Vakhani) are the non-written 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 lists of the sacred book "Avesta", which contains the religious texts of the cult of the Zoroastrians, the followers of Zarathushtra (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 where for a long time the Avestan language itself was incorrectly called Zend).
16) Median- a genus of northwestern Iranian dialects; no written monuments have been preserved.
17) Parthian- one of the Middle Persian languages \u200b\u200bof the 3rd century. BC e. - III century. n. e., common in Parthia to the southeast of the Caspian Sea.
18)
Sogdian- the language of Sogdiana in the Zeravshan valley, the first millennium AD. e.; ancestor of the Yaghnobi language.
19) Khwarezmian- 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 coast 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 the ancient Bakt along the upper reaches of the Amu Darya, as well as the language of the Kushan beginning of the first millennium AD.
22) Saky(Khotanese) - in Central Asia and in Chinese Turkestan; from V - X centuries. AD texts written in the Indian Brahmi script remained.
Note. Most contemporary Iranian scholars subdivide the living and dead Iranian languages into the following groups:AND. Western
1) Southwestern: ancient and middle Persian, modern Persian, Tajik, Tat and some others.
2) Northwestern: Median, Parthian, Balochi (Baluchi), Kurdish, Talysh and other Caspian.
B. Oriental
1) Southeastern: Saka (Khotanese), Pashto (Pashto), Pamir.
2) Northeastern: Scythian, Sogdian, Khorezmian, Ossetian, Yagnob.
1 About Iranian languages see: Oransky I. M. Iranian languages. M, 1963. - Tat - Tats are divided into Muslim Tats and "Mountain Jews"
3. Slavic group
AND. Eastern subgroup
1) Russian; adverbs: northern (great) Russian - "surrounding" and southern (great) Russian - "aking"; 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 alien to the northern dialects, the former dialectal basis of the Moscow dialect, and displacing some of the features of the latter, as well as by mastering the elements of the Church Slavonic literary language; in addition, in the Russian literary language in the XVI-XVIII centuries. included various foreign language elements; writing based on the Russian alphabet, reworked from the Slavic - "Cyrillic" under Peter the Great; ancient monuments of the 11th century. (they also apply to the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages); official language Russian Federation, an interethnic language for communication between the peoples of the Russian Federation and adjacent territories former USSR, one of the world's languages.
2) Ukrainian or Ukrainian a indian; before the revolution of 1917 - Little Russian or Little Russian; three main dialects: northern, southeastern, southwestern; the literary language begins to take shape from the 14th century, the modern literary language exists from the end of the 18th century. on the basis of the Podneprovsky dialects of the southeastern dialect; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet in its post-Petrine variety.
3) Belorussian; writing since the 14th century. based on Cyrillic Dialects North-Eastern and South-Western; literary language - on the basis of Central Belarusian dialects.
B. Southern subgroup
4) Bulgarian- formed in the process of contacting Slavic dialects with the language of the Kama Bulgars, from where it got its name; writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet; ancient monuments from the 10th century. AD
5) Macedonian.
6)
Serbo-Croatian; the Serbs write on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, the Croats - on the basis of the Latin; ancient monuments from the 12th century.
7) Slovenian;- writing based on the Latin alphabet; the oldest monuments from the X - XI centuries.
Dead:
8) Old Church Slavonic(or Old Church Slavonic) - the common literary language of the Slavs of the medieval period, which arose on the basis of the Solun dialects of the ancient 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 in connection with Western influence and the transition to Catholicism; in the form of Church Slavonic - an integral element of the Russian literary language.
AT. Western subgroup
9) Czech; writing based on the Latin alphabet; 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 options: upper Lusatian (or eastern) and lower Lusatian (or western); writing based on the Latin alphabet.
Dead:
14) Polabsky- died out in the 18th century, was distributed along both banks of the river. Labs (Elbes) in Germany.
15) Pomeranian dialects- died out in the medieval period due to forced Germanization; were distributed along the south coast 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- died out in the 17th century. in connection with forced Germanization; the territory of the former East Prussia; monuments of the XIV-XVII centuries.
5) Yatvyazh, Curonian and other languages in 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
AND. North Germanic (Scandinavian) subgroup1) 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: riksmol (otherwise: Bokmål) - bookish, closer to Danish, Ilansmol (otherwise: Nynorsk), closer to 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; 5th-11th centuries - Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), XI-XVI centuries. - Middle English and from the 16th century. - New English; writing based on the Latin alphabet (no changes); written monuments from the 7th century; language of international importance.
7)
Dutch (Dutch) with Flemish; writing in Latin; in Republic of South Africa Boers live, immigrants from Holland, who speak a variety of the Dutch language, Boer(otherwise: Afrikaans).
8) Frisian; monuments from the 14th century.
9) Deutsch; two dialects: Low German (Northern, Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch) and High German (Southern, Hochdeutsch); the literary language developed on the basis of South 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, worked out 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.
AT. East German subgroup
Dead:
11)
Gothic, existed in two dialects. Visigothic - served the medieval Gothic state in Spain and Northern Italy; had a written language 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 - 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 the Crimea, thanks to which a small dictionary compiled by the Dutch traveler Busbeck has been preserved.
12) Burgundian, Vandal, Gepid, Heruli- the languages of the ancient Germanic tribes in East Germany.
6. Romanesque group
(before the collapse of the Roman Empire and the formation of Romance 1 languages - Italian)
1) French; literary language developed by the 16th century. based on the Île-de-France dialect centered in Paris; French dialects were formed at the beginning of the Middle Ages as a result of crossing the folk (vulgar) Latin of the Roman conquerors and the language of the conquered native Gauls - Gallic; writing based on the Latin alphabet; the oldest monuments from the 9th century. AD; the middle French period from the 9th to the 15th centuries, the new French - from the 16th century. French became an international language earlier than other European languages.
2) Provencal (Occitan); minority language southeastern France (Provence); as a literary one existed in the Middle Ages (the lyrics of the troubadours) and survived until the end of the 19th century.
3) Italian; the literary language developed on the basis of the Tuscan dialects, and in particular the dialect of Florence, which arose due to the crossing of vulgar Latin with the languages \u200b\u200bof the mixed population of medieval Italy; writing in the Latin alphabet, historically - the first national language in Europe 3 .
4) Sardinian(or Sardinian). Spanish; formed 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; formed 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 kind of Romanian); writing based on the Russian alphabet.
11)
Macedonian-Romanian(Aromunian).
12) Romansh- the language of the national minority; since 1938 it has been recognized as one of the four official languages of Switzerland.
13) Creole languages- Crossed Romance with local languages (Haitian, Mauritian, Seychelles, Senegalese, Papiamento, etc.).
Dead (Italian):
14) Latin- the literary state language of Rome in the republican and imperial era (III century BC - the first centuries of the Middle Ages); the language of rich literary monuments, epic, lyrical and dramatic, historical prose, legal documents and oratory; the oldest monuments from the VI century. BC.; the first description of the Latin language by Varro. 1st century BC.; classical grammar of Donat - IV century. AD; the literary language of the Western European Middle Ages and the language of the Catholic Church; along with ancient Greek - a source of international terminology.
15) Medieval Vulgar Latin- vernacular dialects early medieval 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) Oscan, Umbrian, Saber and other Italian dialects are preserved in fragmentary written monuments of the last centuries BC.
1 The name "Romance" comes from the word Roma, as Rome was called by the Latins, and now by the Italians.
2 See Ch. VII, § 89 - on education national languages.
3 See ibid.
7. Celtic group
A. Goidel subgroup1) Irish; written records from the 4th c. n. e. (Ogham script) and from the 7th century. (on a Latin basis); is literary and at the present time.
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 European continent.
5) Welsh (Welsh).
Dead:
6) Cornish; in Cornwall, a peninsula in southwestern England.
b. Gallic subgroup
7) Gallic; extinct since the era of education French; was distributed in Gaul, Northern Italy, the Balkans and even in Asia Minor.
8. Greek group
1) modern Greek, from the 12th centuryDead:
2) ancient greek, 10th century BC. - V c. AD;
Ionic-Attic dialects from the 7th-6th centuries. BC.;
Achaean (Arcade-Cypriot) dialects from the 5th c. BC.;
northeastern (Boeotian, Thessalian, Lesbosian, Aeolian) dialects from the 7th century. BC.
and western (Dorian, Epirus, Cretan) dialects; - the oldest monuments from the 9th century. BC. (poems by Homer, epigraphy); from the 4th century BC. 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 - 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 since the 5th century. AD; contains some elements dating back to the Caucasian languages; the ancient Armenian language - Grabar - is very different from the modern living Ashkharabar.11. Hitto-Luvian (Anatolian) group
Dead:1) Hittite (Hittite-Nesite, known from cuneiform monuments of the 18th-13th centuries. BC.; the language of the Hittite state in Asia Minor.
2) Luvian in Asia Minor (XIV-XIII centuries BC).
3) Palai 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) Tocharsky B (Kuchansky)- there; 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 converge Indo-European languages: Indo-Iranian (Aryan), Slavs - Baltic and Italo - Celtic.
Note 2. The Indo-Iranian and Slavo-Baltic languages can be grouped under satem languages, as opposed to the other kentom languages; this division is carried out according to the fate of the Indo-European *g and */s of the middle palatals, which in the first gave front-lingual fricatives (catam, simtas, sto - "hundred"), and in the second remained back-lingual plosives; in German, thanks to the movement of consonants - fricatives (hekaton, kentom (later centum), hundert, etc. - "one hundred").
Note 3. The question of belonging to the Indo-European languages of the Venetian, Messapian, obviously, the Illyrian group (in Italy), Phrygian, Thracian (in the Balkans) as a whole can be considered resolved; Pelasgian languages (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. CAUCASUS LANGUAGES 1
A. Western group: Abkhazian-Adyghe languages
1. Abkhaz subgroupAbkhazian; dialects: bzybsky- northern and Abjui(or Kadbrian) - southern; writing until 1954 on the basis of the Georgian alphabet, now - on the Russian basis.
Abaza; writing based on the Russian alphabet.
2. Circassian subgroup
Adyghe.
Kabardian (Kabardino-Circassian).
Ubykh(Ubykhs emigrated to Turkey under tsarism).
B. Eastern group: Nakh-Dagestan languages
1. Nakh subgroupChechen; are written in Russian.
Ingush
Batsbi (tsova-tushinsky).
2. Dagestan subgroup
Avar.
Darginsky.
Laksky.
Lezginsky.
Tabasaran.
These five languages are written on the basis of Russian. Other languages are unwritten:
Andean.
Karatinsky.
Tyndinsky.
Chamalinsky.
Bagvalinsky.
Akhvakhsky.
Botlikh.
Godoberinsky.
Tsezsky.
Betinsky.
Khvarshinsky.
Gunzibsky.
Ginuhsky.
Tsakhursky.
Rutulsky.
Agulsky.
Archinsky.
Bududhekiy.
Kryzsky.
Udinsky.
Khinalugsky.
3. Southern group: Kartvelian (Iberian) languages
1)
Megrelian.
2) Laz (Chan).
3) Georgian: writing in the Georgian alphabet from the 5th century BC. AD, rich literary monuments of the Middle Ages; dialects: Khevsurian, Kartli, Imeretian, Gurian, Kakhetian, 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 Latin.1 The question of whether these groups represent one family of languages has not yet been resolved by science; rather, one can think that there are no family ties between them; the term "Caucasian languages" refers to their geographical distribution.
III. OUTSIDE THE GROUP - BASQUE
IV. URAL LANGUAGES
1. FINNO-UGRIAN (UGRIC-FINNISH) LANGUAGES
A. Ugric branch
1) Hungarian, written in Latin.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 (Saami, Lappish).
B. Perm branch
1) Komi-Zyryansky.2) Komi-Permyak.
3) Udmurt.
G. Volga branch
1) Mari (Mari, Cheremis), adverbs: upland on the right bank of the Volga and meadow - on the left.2) Mordovian: two independent languages: Erzya and Moksha.
Note. Finnish and Estonian are written based on the Latin alphabet; for the Mari and Mordovian - for a long time based on the Russian alphabet; in Komi-Zyryan, Udmurt and Komi-Perm - on the Russian basis (since the 30s of the XX century).
2. SAMOYED LANGUAGES
1) Nenets (Yuraco-Samoyed).2) Nganasani (Tavgian).
3) Enets (Yenisei-Samoyed).
4) Selkup (Ostyak-Samoyed).
Note. modern science considers the Samoyedic languages to be related to the Finno-Ugric languages, which were previously considered as an isolated family and with which the Samoyedic languages 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) Gagauz.
5) Crimean Tatar.
6) Karachay-Balkarian.
7) Kumyk- used as mutual language for the Caucasian peoples of Dagestan.
8) Nogai.
9) Karaite.
10) Tatar, with three dialects - middle, western (Mishar) and eastern (Siberian).
11) Bashkir.
12) Altai (Oirot).
13) Shorsky with the Kondom and Mrassky dialects 3 .
14) Khakassian(with dialects of Sogai, Beltir, Kachin, Koibal, Kyzyl, Shor).
15) Tuva.
16) Yakut.
17) Dolgansky.
18) Kazakh.
19) Kyrgyz.
20) Uzbek.
21) Karakalpak.
22) Uighur (New Uighur).
23) Chuvash, a descendant of the language of the Kama Bulgars, writing 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)
Pechenegsky- language steppe nomads IX-XI centuries AD
26)
Polovtsian (Cuman)- according to the Polovtsian-Latin dictionary compiled by Italians, the language of the steppe nomads of the XI-XIV centuries.
27)
Old Uyghur- the language of a huge state in Central Asia IX-XI centuries n. e. with writing based on a modified Aramaic alphabet.
28) Chagatai- literary language of the XV-XVI centuries. AD in Central Asia; Arabic graphics.
29) Bulgarian- the language of the Bulgar 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, having mixed with the Slavs, became an integral element (superstratum) in Bulgarian language.
30) Khazar- the language of a large state of the 7th-10th centuries. AD, in the area of the lower reaches of the Volga and Don, close to the Bulgar.
Note 1. All living Turkic languages, except Turkish, have been written since 1938-1939. on the basis of the Russian alphabet, until then for several years - on the basis of Latin, and many even earlier - on the basis of Arabic (Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Tatar and all Central Asian, and foreign Uighurs still). In sovereign Azerbaijan, the question of switching to the Latin alphabet has been raised again.
Note 2. The question of the grouping of the Turko-Tatar languages has not yet been finally resolved by science; according to F.E. Korsh (see: Korsh F.E. Classification of Turkish tribes by language, 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: northeastern, Abakan, Altai, West Siberian, Volga-Urals, Central Asian, Southwestern (Turkish) and Chuvash; according to V. Schmidt (See: Schmidt W. Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde, 1932.) - three groups: Southern, Western, Eastern, while V. Schmidt classifies the 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 classifying the Turkic languages, which the author thinks of as "periodization of the history of the development of peoples and Turkic languages" (see: "Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 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 that the three language families- Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu, forming the Altai macrofamily. However, in the accepted usage, the term "Altaic languages" denotes rather a conditional association than a proven genetic grouping (V.V.).
2 In view of 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, different points of view on their grouping are given.
3 Currently, Altaic and Shor languages use the same literary language based on Altaic.
2. MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES
1) Mongolian; writing was based on the Mongolian alphabet, received from the ancient Uighurs; since 1945 - based on the Russian alphabet.2) Buryat; from the 30s 20th century writing based on the Russian alphabet.
3) Kalmyk.
Note. There are also a number of smaller languages (Dagurian, Tung Xiang, Mongolian, etc.), mainly in China (about 1.5 million), Manchuria and Afghanistan; No. 2 and 3 have since the 30s. 20th century writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.
3. TUNGUS-MANCHUR LANGUAGES
A. Siberian group
1) Evenki (Tungus), with Negidal and Solon.2) Even (Lamut).
B. Manchurian group
1) Manchurian, dies out, had rich monuments of medieval writing in the Manchu alphabet.2) Jurchen- a dead language, known from the monuments of the XII-XVI centuries. (hieroglyphic writing modeled after Chinese)
B. Amur group
1) Nanai (Gold), with Ulch.2) Udei (Udege), with Oroch.
Note. No. 1 and 2 have since 1938-1939. writing based on the Russian alphabet, and until then, for several years - based on the Latin alphabet.
4. INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGES OF THE FAR EAST NOT INCLUDED IN 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)
Ryukyuan, obviously related to Japanese.
3) Korean; the first monuments based on Chinese characters from the 4th century. AD, modified in the 7th century. AD; from the 15th century - folk Korean letter "onmun" - an alpha-syllabic system of graphics.
4) Ainu, mainly on the Japanese Islands, also on Sakhalin Island; now out of use and superseded by Japanese.
VI. AFRASIAN (SEMITE-HAMITE) 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, tigray, gurage, harari and other languages of Ethiopia.
4) Assyrian (Aysor), tongue isolated ethnic groups in the countries of the Middle East and some others.
Dead:
5) Akkadian (Assyrian - Babylonian); known from the cuneiform monuments of the ancient East.
6) Ugarit.
7)
Hebrew- the language of the most ancient parts of the Bible, the cult language of the Jewish Church; existed as a colloquial language until the beginning of our era; from the 19th century on its basis, Hebrew was formed, 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 III century. BC. - IV century. AD
9) Phoenician- the language of Phoenicia, Carthage (Punic); dead BC; writing in the Phoenician alphabet, from which subsequent types of alphabetic writing originated.
10) Geez- the former literary language of Abyssinia IV-XV centuries. AD; now a cult 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; cult language Orthodox Church in Egypt; writing is Coptic, the alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet.
3. Berbero-Libyan branch
(North Africa and West Central Africa)
1) Ghadames, Sioua.
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 until the 18th century. languages (dialects?) of the natives of the Canary Islands.
4. Kushite branch
(North East and East Africa)
1) Bedauye (beja).
2) Agavian(aungi, bilin, etc.).
3) Somalia.
4) Sidamo.
5) Afar, saho.
6)
Oromo (galla).
7) Iraqw, Ngomvia and etc.
5. Chadian branch
(Central Africa and West Central Sub-Saharan Africa)
1) Hausa(belongs to the Western Chadian group) is the largest language of the branch.
2) Other Western Chadian: gvandara, ngizim, boleva, 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, scrap, mende, etc.
2. Atlantic languages
1) Fula (fulfulde).2) Wolof.
3) Serer.
4) Diola. Cognacs.
5) Gola, dark, bull and etc.
3. Ijoid languages
Represented by isolated language ijo(Nigeria).4. Kru languages
1) Seme.2) Bethe.
3) Godier.
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) Gourma.
b) Kasem, cabre, kirma and etc.
8. Adamawa-Ubangu languages
1) Longuda.2) Tula.
3) Chamba.
4) Mumue.
5) Mbum.
b) Gbaya.
7) Ngbaka.
8) Sere, Mundu, Zande and etc.
9. Benuecongo languages
The largest family in the Niger-Congo macrofamily 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. Gasri).
1) Nupe.
2) Yoruba.
3) Ygbo.
4) Edo.
5) Jukun.
6) Efik, ibibio.
7) Kambari, birom.
8) Tiv.
9) Bamilek.
10) Kom, lamnso, tikar.
11) Bantu(Duala, Ewando, Teke, Bobangi, Lingala, Kikuyu, Nyamwezi, Togo, Swahili, Kongo, 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, geographic Sudan zone)
1) Songhai.
2) Saharan: kanuri, tuba, zagawa.
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, komo, etc.
IX. Khoisan languages
(on the territory of South Africa, Namibia, Angola)
1) Bushman languages(Kung, Auni, Hadza, etc.).
2) Hottentot languages(nama, quran, san-dave, etc.).
X. Sino-Tibetan languages
A. Chinese branch
1) Chinese- first in number speaking the language in the world. Folk Chinese is divided into a number of dialect groups that differ greatly primarily phonetically; Chinese dialects are usually defined geographically. Literary language based on the northern (Mandarin) dialect, which is also the 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 incomprehensible bookish language until the 20th century, along with the more colloquial literary language Baihua. The latter became the basis of the modern unified literary Chinese language - Putonghua (based on Northern Baihua). The Chinese language is rich in written records 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 syllabo-phonetic letter "zhu-an izymu" was used on a national graphic basis for pronunciation identification of the reading of hieroglyphs by dialects. Later, more than 100 different projects for the reform of Chinese writing were developed, of which the project of phonetic writing on the Latin graphic basis has the greatest promise.2) Dungan; the Dungans of the People's Republic of China have an Arabic script, the Dungans of Central Asia and Kazakhstan are originally Chinese (hieroglyphic), later - Arabic; since 1927 - on a Latin basis, and since 1950 - on a Russian basis.
B. Tibeto-Burmese branch
1) Tibetan.2) Burmese.
XI. THAI LANGUAGES
1) Thai- the state language of Thailand (until 1939, the Siamese language of the state of Siam).2) Laotian.
3) Zhuang.
4) Kadai (li, lakua, lati, gelao)- a group of Thai or an independent link between Thai and Austronesian.
Note. Some scholars consider the Thai languages to be related to Austronesian; in former classifications they were included in the Sino-Tibetan family.
XII. 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 South China were formerly included in the Sino-Tibetan family without sufficient reason.
XIII. DRAVID LANGUAGES
(languages of the most 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 - THE LANGUAGE OF BURUSHASDI (VERSHIK)
(mountainous regions of Northwest India)
XV. AUSTRIASIAN LANGUAGES
1) Languages munda: santal i, mundari, ho, birkhor, juang, sora, etc.2) Khmer.
3) Palaung (rumai) and etc.
4) Nicobar.
5) Vietnamese.
6) Khasi.
7) Malacca group(semang, semai, sakai, etc.).
8) Naali.
XVI. AUSTRONESIAN (MALAY-POLYNESIAN) LANGUAGES
A. Indonesian branch
1.Western group1) Indonesian, has been named since the 1930s. XX century., Currently the official language of Indonesia.
2) Batak.
3) Cham(Chamsky, Dzharai, etc.).
2. Javanese group
1) Javanese.
2) Sundanese.
3) Madura.
4) Balinese.
3. Dayak or Kalimantan group
Dayak and etc.
4. South Sulawesian group
1) Saddansky.
2)
Buginese.
3) Makassarsky and etc.
5. Philippine group
1) Tagalog(Tagalog).
2)
Ilokan.
3) Bikolsky and etc.
6. Madagascar group
Malagasy (formerly Malagasy).
Dead:
Kawi- Old Javanese literary language; monuments from the ninth 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) Marshall.
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 subdivision, regarding which there is no consensus (V.V.)
XVII. AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES
Numerous minor indigenous languages of Central and Northern Australia, most prominently guarantee. Apparently, they form a separate family Tasmanian languages on about. Tasmania.XVIII. PAPUAN LANGUAGES
Languages of the central part of about. New Guinea and some smaller islands in the Pacific. A very complex and not definitively established classification.XIX. PALEOASIATIAN LANGUAGES 1
A. Chukchi-Kamchatka languages
1) Chukchi(Luoravetlansky).2) Koryak(Nymylan).
3) Itelmensky(Kamchadal).
4) Alyutorsky.
5) Kereksky.
B. Eskimo-Aleut languages
1) Eskimo(Yuite).2) Aleutian(Unangan).
B. Yenisei languages
1) Ket. This language reveals features of kinship with the Nakh-Dagestan and Tibetan-Chinese languages. Its bearers were not natives of the Yenisei, but came from the south and assimilated by the surrounding people.2) Kott, Arin, Pumpokol and other extinct languages.
D. Nivkh (Gilyak) language
E. Yukagiro-Chuvan languages
Extinct languages (dialects?): Yukagir(previously - odulian), Chuvan, Omok. Two dialects have been preserved: Tundra and Kolyma (Sakha-Yakutia, Magadan, region).1 Paleoasian languages - a conditional name: Chukchi-Kamchatka represent a community of related languages; the rest of the languages are included in Paleoasiatic rather on a geographical basis.
XX. INDIAN (AMERINDIAN) LANGUAGES
A. Language families of North America
1) Algonquian(Menomini, Delaware, Yurok, Mikmak, Fox, Cree, Ojibwa, Potowatomy, Illinois, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Arapaho, etc., as well as disappeared - 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, katawba).
4) gulf(natchez, tunic, chickasaw, choctaw, muskogee, etc.).
5) Na-dene(haida, tlingit, eyak; Athabaskan: nava-ho, tanana, tolova, hupa, mattole, etc.).
6) Mosan, including Vakash (Kwakiutl, Nootka) and Salish (Chehalis, Skomish, Kalispel, Bella Kula).
7) Penutian(Tsimshian, Chinook, Takelma, Klamath, Miubk, Zuni, etc., as well as many extinct ones).
8) hocaltec(karok, shasta, yana, chimariko, pomo, salina, etc.).
B. Language families of Central America
1) Yuto-Aztec(Nahuatl, Shoshone, Hopi, Luiseño, Papago, Bark, etc.). This family is sometimes combined with the Iowa-Tano languages (Kiowa, Piro, Tewa, etc.) within the Tano-Aztec phylum.2) maya quiche(Mam, Kekchi, Quiche, Yucatek Maya, Ixil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, Huastec, etc.). The Maya, before the arrival of Europeans, reached a high level of culture and had their own hieroglyphic writing, partially deciphered.
3) Ottoman(Pame, Otomi, Popolok, Mixtec, Trick, Zapotec, etc.).
4) Miskito - Matagalpa (Miskito, Sumo, Matagalpa, etc.). These languages are sometimes included in Chibchan.
5) Chibchanskiye (karake, rama, getar, guaimi, chibcha, etc.). Chibchan languages are also spoken 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 state of the Incas in Peru, currently in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador; Aymara).
3) Arawak(chamicuro, chipaya, itene, uanyam, guana, etc.).
4) Araucanian(Mapuche, Picunche, Pehuiche, etc.) -
5) pano takana(chacobo, kashibo, pano, takana, chama, etc.).
6) same(Canela, Suya, Xavante, Kaingang, Botokudsky, etc.).
7) Caribbean(wayana, pemon, chaima, yaruma, etc.).
8) Language alakaluf and other isolated languages.
All Slavic languages show great similarities among themselves, but Belarusian and Ukrainian are closest to the Russian language. Together, these languages form the East Slavic subgroup, which is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family.
All Slavic languages show great similarities among themselves, but Belarusian and Ukrainian are closest to the Russian language. Together, these languages form the East Slavic subgroup, which is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family.
If you look at the tree of languages, you can see that the Slavic branches grow from a powerful trunk - the Indo-European language family. This family also includes Indian (or Indo-Aryan), Iranian Greek, Italic, Romance, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic language groups, Armenian, Albanian and other languages. Of all the Indo-European languages, the Baltic languages are closest to Slavic: Lithuanian, Latvian and the dead Prussian language, which finally disappeared by the first decades of the 18th century. The collapse of the Indo-European linguistic unity is usually attributed to the end of the III - the beginning of the II millennium BC. Apparently, at the same time, processes took place that led to the emergence of the Proto-Slavic language, to its separation from the Indo-European.
Our language is the only objective reality that exists in this world.
All archaeological artifacts can be forged and moved from one place to another, ancient chronicles can be rewritten or corrected earlier, all arguments can be challenged by juggling facts mixed with fiction, but there is a common structure for every nation that passes through the centuries - this is the native language, and its ancient roots of words indicating linguistic kinship, it cannot be faked!
Illustrator Minna Sandberg gives infographic
comprehensive information about how different languages are related to each other, and what place each of the languages of mankind occupies in the world.
Approximately 2/3 of the world's population speaks the 40 most widely spoken languages in the world. Let's name the 8 most common languages on Earth:
Chinese- native language for 1.2 billion ; Chinese is spoken by up to 1.5 billion people.
English - native language for 500 million ; up to 1.5 billion people speak English.
Spanish - mother tongue for 425 million; Spanish is spoken by up to 550 million people.
Arab - mother tongue for 300 million; up to 420 million people speak Albanian.
Portuguese
- mother tongue for 230 million; Portuguese is spoken by up to 260 million people. 
Russian - native language for 160 million; speak Russian before 260 million people.
Deutsch - mother tongue for 120 million; German is spoken by up to 200 million people.
French - mother tongue for 75 million; French is spoken by up to 270 million people.
According to the degree of kinship, all languages of the world belong to a certain family of languages. The language family is the basic language structure by which closely related languages are identified, and distantly related languages with at least 15% overlap in the base wordlist. ( 100 related words - Swadesh list ).
The most numerous Language Families on Earth:
Sino-Tibetan languages ~ 1.2 billion native speakers, including basic Chinese;
Uralo-Altaic languages ~ 500 million native speakers, including basic Turkic languages.
The most powerful and numerous family of Indo-European languages divided into subgroups - marked in the figure as separate branches of the language tree. .
Unlike such Scandinavian languages like Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, Finnish language(or Suomi) belongs to the group of Finno-Ugric Uralic languages, as well as Estonian, Mari, Erzya, Komi, Udmurt language - the ancestors of their language branch - Finns.
The Uralic group of languages (Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish and Sami) do not belong to the Indo-European group of languages.
Do not belong to the Indo-European group of languages, a large group of Caucasian languages and the Basque language, which is not related to any of the existing living languages.
Maltese and Turkish are two examples of language not of European origin.Turkish is a Turkic language , and the Maltese language is largely derived from Arabic.
AT Hungarian language belongs to the group of Finno-Ugric Uralic languages, but the ancestors of their Ugrian branch, from which a separate branch of languages \u200b\u200bis derived - Khanty and Mansi.
About half of the currently existing languages will be out of use by the middle of the 21st century. Many languages disappear because their speakers come into contact with a stronger language environment. . In the first place, the languages of small nationalities and the languages of peoples that do not have statehood are under the threat of extinction.
If less than 70% of children learn a language, it is considered endangered. According to "Atlas of world languages in danger of extinction" UNESCO, currently in Europe, about 50 languages are threatened with extinction.Latin one of the official languages vatican, is an already dead language.
The languages of Europe are considered the most persistent, since most of the countries of Europe are quite developed, and they are inhabited by indigenous people, native speakers, and who consider the state language to be their mother tongue. Loss of even several thousand carriers state language is insignificant, but in our time the bill went to the millions of indigenous people leaving the country, (for example, in the Baltic countries and Ukraine), and those who forget their native language.
2017-09-27GENEALOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES
Genealogical classification of languages - the study and grouping of the languages of the world based on the determination of family ties between them (assigning them to the same family, group), i.e., on the basis of a common origin from the alleged proto-language. Each family comes from divergent dialects of the same language (the parent language of this family), for example, all Romance languages \u200b\u200bcome from the dialects of vernacular (Vulgar) Latin, which were spoken by most of the population of the Roman Empire before its collapse.
The genealogical (genetic) classification of languages is based on the relationship of kinship between the languages of the commonality of some languages by origin. When classifying languages according to the common origin, "the establishment of a connection between the studied phenomena in time, the study of transitions from lower forms to higher ones" takes place.
The French scientist A. Meillet wrote: "Two languages are called related when they are both the results of two different evolutions of the same language that was in use before."
To determine the place of a language, according to the genealogical classification of languages, it must be compared with other related languages of the same family and with their common parent language. In languages that use morphonological alternations, which are associated with a change in the place of word stress in a word form, whole groups of word forms related to each other within one can be identified with each other by origin.
In such areas of vocabulary as numerals, it is possible to borrow entire lexical groups from one language to another, which, even if there is a system of dictionary correspondences that obey certain rules, does not make it possible to directly conclude that languages belong to one family. The coincidence of modern Japanese forms of numerals from "one" to "six" with modern Tibetan ones is explained only by the fact that the Japanese language more than 1000 years ago, in the era of strong Chinese influence on Japanese culture, borrowed these from Chinese, ultimately related to Tibetan.
This means that the proximity of the two contacting languages made possible the coexistence of two parallel forms of the same word (for example, Old English eu "egg" and Old Scandinavian egg > modern English egg "egg"; Russian " hope" and church Slav. "hope"), after which one of the words won.
Most related languages (dialects), after separation from each other, may find themselves secondarily in linguistic contact, in which a significant number of words (including the most commonly used) are borrowed from one language (dialect) into another. In the traditional genealogical classification of languages, only the initial common origin of languages from dialects of one language is usually recorded.
If related languages or dialects do not completely stop contacts with each other, then secondary interlingual (interdialect) connections may overlap earlier ones, which makes it difficult to consistently carry out a genealogical classification of languages according to the genealogical tree principle. Each common language (parent language) breaks down into two or more parent languages, which, in turn, can break up into two or more intermediate parent languages, from which really known languages could develop. For example, all known Slavic languages were derived from Common Slavic through three intermediate proto-languages (West Slavic, South Slavic and East Slavic), and the presence of intermediate proto-languages can also be assumed. Denoting the ancient dialects of the Proto-Slavic language in accordance with the languages into which these dialects later turned, we can distinguish at least 7 such dialects that were in contact with each other in the 1st millennium BC.
Prolekhite
Proto-North East Slavic
Prolusatian
Proto-Czech-Slovak-Slovenian
Proto-South East Slavic
Proto-Central South Slavic
Proto-Peripheral South Slavic
The closer the separation of related languages to historical time and the greater the number of monuments reflecting the ancient dialect fragmentation of these languages, the more realistic the picture of their historical relationships, fixed in the genealogical classification of languages, can be. In the absence of ancient texts and at a great remoteness of the time of separation of related languages, the schemes of their relationships, fixed in the genealogical classification of languages, remain more conditional (for example, in relation to many languages of Southeast Asia or South America).
The genealogical classification of languages fixes only the origin of some main part of grammatical and lexical (root) morphs, without assuming that the source of all other morphs is known. For example, in such well-known Indo-European languages as Germanic and Greek, the origin of a significant number of substrate words, ultimately presumably related to North Caucasian ones, is only now beginning to be clarified. For all these reasons, the genealogical classification of languages can still be considered to be only at a preliminary stage of its development.
Separate observations that precede the genealogical classification of languages are already contained in the works of medieval scholars: Mahmud Kashgari on the Turkic languages, Arabic and Jewish linguists who compared Semitic languages with each other, etc. A successful experience in the synthesis of previous opinions on the genealogical classification of languages can be found in G. Leibniz. The foundations of the genealogical classification of languages were outlined in comparative historical linguistics as early as the 19th century, but its further improvement in the spirit of Schmidt's theory of waves was carried out in the light of the achievements of linguistic geography in the 20th century. The most intensive work on refining the genealogical classification of most languages in Southeast Asia, Africa, North and South America was carried out in the middle and second half of the 20th century. The beginning of systematic work on the unification of languages into "macrofamilies" dates back to the same time.
In order to concretely imagine how the concept of language kinship was formed, let us schematically depict the path along which linguistics moved from collecting various linguistic facts to constructing a theory explaining them. Researchers have long noticed that there are common features in the structures of many Euro-Asian languages, for example, Polish woda, Russian water, English water, German Wasser, but Japanese mizu, Chinese shui, or Old Russian oko, Polish oko, German Auge, Lithuanian akis, but Japanese me, Chinese yangjing. Thousands of such facts form the overall picture. At the same time, it turned out that it is important to compare precisely ancient words and morphemes. A comparison of the original (original) words, roots, service affixes will be reliable.
The question of the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans
According to scientists, a single Proto-Indo-European linguistic community could exist in the 6th-5th millennium BC. e. There is no consensus regarding the place of the initial settlement of the Indo-Europeans. There are three points of view on this issue.
1. The original habitat of the Indo-Europeans is Asia Minor and neighboring territories. From here, as a result of migrations, Indo-European tribes settled in various regions of Asia and Europe. Only the peoples of the Anatolian group (Hittites, Luvians, etc.) remained in their former place. This hypothesis is being developed by Soviet linguists T.V. Gamkrelidze and V.V. Ivanov.
2. Indo-Europeans inhabited a large steppe territory of the Trans-Volga region and Northern Kazakhstan and invaded Europe in the 5th-4th millennium BC. e., where they met with local non-Indo-European peoples. This hypothesis was put forward by the American archaeologist M. Gimbutas and has recently received a certain distribution.
3. However, in our opinion, the most likely assumption is that the early Indo-Europeans settled in areas of central and partly eastern Europe (especially in the Danube basin). This hypothesis, based on a long philological tradition, has solid archaeological and linguistic support and can be considered as the main one.
4.02. Classification of Indo-European languages
The historical development of the Indo-European languages led to the formation of separate language groups. let's look at them in more detail.
1. Indian group. Includes at least 20 languages and consists of three subgroups: a. North Indian, which includes all the modern Indian languages of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal: Hindustani, Bihari, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese, Nepali, etc., as well as the Parya language, discovered in the 1950s gg. in Tajikistan by the Soviet researcher I.M. Orange; b. Ceylon, represented by the Sinhala language (Sri Lanka), which broke away from the northern Indian languages about 2500 years ago; in. gypsy, which includes numerous dialects of the gypsy language of Europe and Asia (Northern Russian, Kalderar, Ursar, Bosha, Navar, etc.), the exodus of the ancestors of the gypsies from India dates back to the 1st millennium AD. e. Of the dead Indian languages, Sanskrit should be mentioned, the first monuments of which date back to the 4th century BC. BC e.
2. Iranian group. It includes about 40 languages, united in four subgroups: a. northwestern, including Median, Parthian (dead), Kurdish, Talysh, Gilan, Mazandaran and Balochi languages; b. northeastern, consisting of the Scythian, Khorezmian and Sogdian (dead), Ossetian and Yagnob languages; in. southwestern, which includes dead ancient Persian and modern Persian, Tajik, Dari, Tat and other languages; southeastern, including Bactrian (dead), Afghan, Munjan, and also Pamir languages.
3. Dard group. Its existence is not recognized by all scientists, however, recent studies show the need to separate the Dardic languages into a single classification unit. These languages, spoken by the populations of the northern highlands of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, fall into three sub-groups: a. western (or kafir): kati, vaigali, ashkun, prasun, dameli; b. central: pashai, shumashti, glangali, kalasha, khavar, etc.; in. Eastern: Torvali, Sheena, Phalura, Kashmiri, etc.
4. Baltic group. Includes two modern (Lithuanian and Latvian) and one dead (Prussian) language, which shows closeness to the Slavic languages. Writing in Lithuanian since the 16th century.
5. Slavic group. It includes 13 major modern languages and a number of minor languages and dialects. Slavic languages are divided into three subgroups: a. South Slavic, including Old Church Slavonic (dead), Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian and Slovenian; b. West Slavic: Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Slovak, Upper Lusatian, Lower Lusatian; in. East Slavic: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian languages. Writing in the Old Slavonic language from the middle of the 11th century. The Slavic group in our manual is devoted to sections 3.01-3.04.
6. Celtic group. Includes four modern languages: Breton, Welsh, Irish and Manx. In the past, the languages of this group were much more widespread, up to the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, and included, for example, the languages of the original population of France (Gaulish), England and other territories.
7. Romanesque group. It is divided into four subgroups: a. Balkan-Romance, which includes Romanian, Moldavian and the extinct Dalmatian languages; b. Italo-Romance, consisting of Italian, Sardinian and Romansh; in. Gallo-Romance, including French, Provencal and Catalan; Ibero-Romance: Spanish and Portuguese. The oldest written monuments in these languages date back to the 8th-9th centuries. However, even before that time, Latin was widely spoken in Europe, the official language of the Roman Empire, which in its colloquial form was the source of the formation of all modern Romance languages and dialects. Latin language is part of the Italic group, which is in fact the forerunner of the modern Romanesque group. In the past, it included, in addition to Latin, also the Oscan, Umbrian and Faliscan languages. All of them are currently dead.
Some scholars also include the Esperanto language, invented in the 1980s by the Warsaw doctor L.L. Zamenhof. Esperanto shows great closeness to the Romance languages in terms of vocabulary and morphology. Ido (a reformed version of Esperanto) is also included in the Romance group.
8. German group. Consists of three subgroups: a. East Germanic: dead Gothic; b. West Germanic: English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian and Yiddish (modern Hebrew) languages; in. North Germanic (Scandinavian): Icelandic, Norwegian, Faroese, Swedish, Danish. The oldest written monuments in the Gothic language (4th century AD).
9. Albanian group. It currently includes one language, Albanian, whose position in the circle of Indo-European languages is still unclear.
10. Greek group. Presented in two languages: dead ancient Greek and modern Greek.
11. Armenian group. Consists of two languages: dead ancient Armenian and modern Armenian.
12. Anatolian group. It has now completely disappeared. The Anatolian languages can be divided into two subgroups: a. Hittite-Lydian, including the Hittite, Lydian, Carian languages; b. Luwian-Lycian, formed by the Luwian, Palaian, Lycian, Sidetic, Pisidian, Isaurian, Cilician languages. Probably, in the composition of the Anatolian languages, a third subgroup can also be distinguished, formed by one Etruscan language, however, the final relationship between the Etruscan and Anatolian languages has not yet been proven. The first inscriptions in the Hittite language date back to the 17th century. BC e.
13. Tocharian group. It consists of two extinct languages, the so-called Tocharian A and Tocharian B, which were spoken by the population of northwestern China at the end of the first millennium AD. e.
14. The Indo-European language family also includes some of the now extinct languages of Europe and Asia Minor, which do not show closeness to the named groups of Indo-European languages and are known only from fragmentary inscriptions. These are the following languages: Thracian, Daco-Mysian, Phrygian, Illyrian, Messapian, Venetian, and also the reconstructed Pelasgian language. The discovery of the language of the Pelasgians should be said in more detail. It was discovered by analyzing "non-Greek" appearance and the structure of words in the ancient Greek language, which, as scientists believed, were borrowed from the vanished already in the 1st millennium BC. e. the language of the indigenous population of Greece, as well as as a result of the study of geographical names (toponyms), which often remain for a long time almost unchanged. The Bulgarian linguist V. Georgiev defined the essence of this method as follows: "A new application of the comparative historical method is as follows: by establishing a consistent system of characteristic features (sound correspondences) of the comparative historical phonetics of the disappeared unknown language, determine its vocabulary and thus reconstruct in general terms itself language" .
This is the range of currently known Indo-European languages. Less traditional is the inclusion in this family of a number of so-called pidgins and creole languages formed on the basis of any language (for example, English or French) and using its vocabulary, but using it in accordance with the grammatical rules of the language of the indigenous population of this territory. An example of such a language is Pidgin English (or Tok Pisin), which is today the official language of Papua New Guinea.
§ 304. In modern world there are several thousand languages. It is not possible to determine their exact number, which is explained by various reasons and, above all, by the fact that it is far from always possible to strictly distinguish between a language and a territorial dialect: "The difference between different languages and dialects of one language is arbitrary." So, for example, in modern Polish it is customary to distinguish between the following dialects: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovian, Silesian and Kashubian. At the same time, some linguists (Kashubian St. Ramuld, German Fr. Lorenz, Russian scientists A.F. Hilferding, I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, V. Yagich, Ya. Rozvadovsky, A.M. Selishchev, etc.) consider the Kashubian dialect as an independent West Slavic language. For a long time in Romance there were disputes about the number of Romance languages, about the status of such languages or dialects as, for example, Galic (separate, independent language or dialect Portuguese), Gascon (a separate language or a dialect of Provencal), Franco-Provençal (an independent language or a dialect of French or Occitan), etc. There were different opinions on the status of the Moldovan language (a separate language or a variant of Romanian), Catalan and Occitan (different languages or variants of the same language), etc.
AT different sources indicates a different number of world languages. Let's compare some statements on this subject: "There are more than two thousand different languages in the world"; "Modern science has over 2500 languages"; "... There are about 2800 separate languages on the globe"; "There are currently between 2,500 and 5,000 languages on the globe." In the speech of one of the participants of the international scientific conference "Normative and Descriptive Terminology", held in Moscow on May 25–26, 2006, information was provided that there are 6417 languages in the world.
Scientific research and description of languages involves their classification, which refers to the distribution of languages into certain groupings (classes, groups, subgroups, etc.) based on various differential features. According to the definition of V. A. Vinogradov, the classification of languages is "the distribution of the languages of the world according to certain taxonomic (i.e., classification. - V.N.) headings in accordance with the principles arising from the general purpose of the study, and on the basis of certain signs.
The classification of languages can be based on various features, namely: the origin of languages, their genetic relationship (genealogical classification); typology of languages, types of language units (typological classification); belonging to one or another language area, one or another areal community (areal classification).
In linguistic literature, the first two classifications of languages are usually considered - genealogical and typological, less often attention is paid to the latter.
Genealogical classification of languages
§ 305. Genealogical classification of languages, which is sometimes also called genetic (cf. Greek. genos-"kind, birth, descent" and logos-"concept, doctrine"), is the distribution of the languages of the world into different groups based on family ties between them, taking into account the degree of their relationship. In this case, linguistic kinship relations are understood as the presence of similarities between homogeneous linguistic elements, due to the common origin of these languages from one base language, or proto-language.
"Language kinship – common property two or several languages, which consists in the fact that their original minimal significant elements (root morphemes and affixes) are in strictly defined correspondences, reflecting the regular nature of sound transformations ... of the material fund, ascending to a common source - proto-language".
Unlike other possible classifications of languages, the genealogical classification is absolute. This means that in this classification "each language belongs to one specific genealogy, grouping and cannot change this affiliation."
In the genealogical classification, the languages of the world are usually divided into such groupings as language families, branches, groups, subgroups. At the same time, the terms denoting the corresponding groupings of languages are used in linguistics extremely inconsistently (see below).
§ 306. The largest association of languages in the genealogical classification is language family, or language family. A language family is a set of languages, one way or another (to a greater or lesser extent) related by kinship relations and retaining certain similarities of certain elements.
language family- this is "a set of related languages \u200b\u200bthat descended from one ancestor language, or parent language (for example, Indo-European S. Ya.)", "inherited from a common parent language a noticeable commonality of the material fund (words, morphemes, roots, affixes), reflecting strict sound correspondences".
Other terms are also used to refer to the family of languages: "big family" (as opposed to "small family"), or "macrofamily" (as opposed to "microfamily"), "philia". In this sense, the term "group of languages" or "language group" is also often used.
Among the languages of the world, several dozen language families differ. These are associations of such languages as, for example: Indo-European (distributed on all continents of the globe), Turkic (distribution area - many countries of Europe and Asia), Finno-Ugric, or Finno-Ugric (Hungary, Norway, Western Siberia), Tungus-Manchu, or Manchu-Tungus (Siberia, Far East), Chukchi-Kamchatka (Chukotka, Kamchatka, etc.), Eskimo-Aleutian (Chukotka, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Aleutian Islands, etc.), Nakh- Dagestan, or East Caucasian (Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey), Mongolian (Mongolia), Sino-Tibetan, or Sino-Tibetan (China), Thai (Indochina and South China), Austroasian, or Austroasian (South- Eastern and South Asia), Austronesian, or Malayo-Polynesian (Indonesia, Philippines, etc.), Dravidian (South Asian subcontinent), Papuan (New Guinea and some other Pacific Islands), Congo-Kordofanian, or Niger-Kordofanian (Africa), Nilo-Saharan (Africa), Khoisan (Africa, South Africa), Afroasian, Afroasiatic, or (obsolete) Semitic-Hamitic, Hamito-Semitic (Africa, Asia), Australian (Australia), Indian, American, or Amerindian (Central and South America), Caribbean, or Caribbean (South America), Gulf languages (North America).
To date, the languages of the Indo-European family have been studied in the most detail. In total there are over 100 Indo-European languages. According to some sources, their number reaches 127. According to scientists, the territory of the initial (or relatively early) distribution of the Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bis located "in the strip from Central Europe and the Northern Balkans to the Black Sea region (Southern Russian steppes)". During the last five centuries, the languages of the Indo-European family have also spread to North and South America, Australia, and partly to Africa.
The languages of different families differ from each other in their specific features in different areas of the language structure - in the field of phonetics, vocabulary, morphology, syntax, etc. transitivity - intransitivity of verbs, the presence of forms of different moods, etc. Many words of common Sindo-European origin are preserved in the vocabulary of modern Indo-European languages. These include some names of degrees of kinship (mother, daughter, son, brother, sister, etc.), names of animals (wolf, beaver, cow, goat, fly, etc.), trees (oak, willow, birch, etc.) and many other words (coast, sea, water, moon, fire, smoke, salt, sharp, two, three, four, etc.).
§ 307. Many families of languages are divided into branches, which are often called small families, or groups. Language branches are smaller divisions of languages than families. The languages of the same branch retain closer family ties, have more similarities.
Among the languages of the Indo-European family, branches of such languages \u200b\u200bare distinguished, such as, for example: Slavic, Baltic, Germanic, Romance, Greek (Greek group), Celtic, Illyrian, Indian (otherwise - Indo-Aryan), Indo-Iranian (Aryan), Tocharian and some others. In addition, some single languages \u200b\u200bthat do not form special branches belong to the Indo-European language family, for example: Albanian, Armenian, Penetian, Thracian, Phrygian.
The Finno-Ugric language family includes four branches: Baltic-Finnish, Volga, Perm and Ugric; in addition, the Sami language belongs to this family, which is a single language, not included in any of the listed branches.
The languages of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family are divided into two branches: Chukchi-Karyak and Itelmen.
In Russian linguistics, the most thoroughly studied and described are the Indo-European languages of the Slavic branch, which were originally represented in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, and later became widespread in different regions of Europe and Asia.
A striking distinctive feature of the Slavic languages in the field of phonetics is the loss of Proto-Indo-European diphthongs and diphthong combinations, their transformation into monophthongs, or monophthongization. The consonant system of modern Slavic languages reflects the first mitigation (first palatalization) of back-lingual g, k, x, expressed in their transition to the corresponding hissing z, c, s, which was reflected in the alternation of posterior lingual with hissing. In the field of morphology, almost all Slavic languages have lost their dual number. All Slavic languages have lost the ending s in the nominative case of the singular number of masculine nouns in connection with the action in the Common Slavic language of the law of the open syllable (cf. such Russian forms as wolf, son, smoke and their equivalents in different Slavic languages, on the one hand, and in non-Slavic Indo-European languages, on the other hand, for example, Lithuanian vilkas, siinus, dumos). In the vocabulary of various modern Slavic languages, a large number of words of common Slavic origin have been preserved: person, place, memory, weather, fun, simple, clean, greedy, write, read, forget and etc.
The most significant distinguishing features of the Baltic languages in the field of phonetics can be considered the opposition of vowel phonemes in longitude - brevity, the presence of tonic stress, intonational opposition of phonemes, the presence of diphthongs (pure and mixed). In the morphology of names, five types of declension of nouns are preserved, in the sphere of the verb - a variety of types of compound tenses and moods formed by combining personal forms auxiliary verb with sacraments. The original vocabulary of common Indo-European origin prevails in the vocabulary, especially in such semantic areas as kinship names, parts of the human body, names of animals, plants, landscape elements, celestial bodies, elementary actions, names of numbers, pronouns, function words, etc.
The Indo-European languages of the Germanic branch are characterized by such distinctive features as, for example: the widespread use of ablaut, i.e. alternation of vowels in the root of a word that performs an inflectional or derivational function; spirantization of voiceless stop consonants p, t, k common Indo-European origin under certain conditions, i.e. turning them into slotted, or fricative; dynamic stress on the first (root) syllable; the presence of two varieties of adjective declension - strong, or pronominal, declension and weak, or nominal.
The characteristic features of the Romance languages are: in the field of phonetics - the general Romance vowel system of seven phonemes (preserved in most Romance languages), the presence of diphthongs, the simplification and transformation of some groups of consonants, the tendency to open the syllable; in morphology - a wide distribution of analytical grammatical forms, a two-gender system of nouns (male and female), lack of declension of names, a variety of forms of the article, an abundance of tense forms of the verb (differs up to 16 tenses); in word formation - the widespread use of conversion (transition of adjectives into nouns), denominative formation of verbs; in vocabulary - the predominance of words inherited from Latin, a large number of borrowings from Germanic, Celtic, ancient Greek and other languages.
In the linguistic literature, attention is drawn to the fact that the genetic relationship between the languages of different branches is manifested in varying degrees. In particular, it is noted that there are close relationships between such Indo-European languages as Indian and Iranian, Slavic and Baltic, which allows us to speak about the existence of intermediate language branches - Indo-Iranian, some Balto-Slav, etc. Particularly close ties remain between the Slavic and Baltic languages, which combine such common features as, for example, the presence of pronominal forms of adjectives, the similarity of the grammatical category of the verb aspect, the presence of a significant number of related words. It should be noted that the similarity of the vocabulary of the Slavic and Baltic languages is explained not only by the common origin of these languages, but also by the borrowing of a large number of words by the Baltic languages from Slavic as a result of long-term contacts between the Balts and Slavs in the past.
§ 308. Within the framework of some linguistic branches, different groups of closely related languages are distinguished, which are related to each other by closer genetic relationships than the languages of individual branches of certain language families. So, for example, the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family of languages is divided into three groups: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages), West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lusatian, and also extinct Polabian) and South Slavic (Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovenian, as well as Old Church Slavonic, preserved in the texts of religious literature). Germanic languages are also traditionally divided into three groups: northern, north Germanic, or Scandinavian, a group (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese), western, or West Germanic (English, German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Frisian, Afrikaans , Yiddish) and Eastern, or East Germanic (extinct Gothic, Burgundian, Vandal, Gepid, Herul). Among the Romance languages, five groups are usually distinguished: Ibero-Romance (Portuguese, Galician, Spanish, Catalan), Gallo-Romance (French, Provençal), Italo-Romance (Italian, Sardinian), Romansh, or Ladin (Swiss Romansh, Tyrolean Romansh , Friulian) and Balkan-Romance (Romanian, Moldavian, Aromunian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian).
The languages of different groups belonging to the same branch are characterized by their similarities and differences. We note some phonetic phenomena, distinguishing the Slavic languages of different groups - East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic.
In accordance with common Slavic diphthong combinations *ol, *or, *el, *er between consonants in modern East Slavic languages the corresponding full-vowel sound combinations are used: olo, oro, ere, with possible regular deviations in the pronunciation of vowels, for example, Russian head(from *golva, cf. Lithuanian galva), cow (*kowa, cf. Lithuanian karve), milk(from *melkon, cf. german Milch, shore(from *bergos, cf. german Berg- "mountain"), in West Slavic or in some of them - sound combinations lo, go, le, ge, with possible consonant changes, respectively Polish glova, krova, mleko, brzeg, Czech hlava, krava, mleko, breh, in South Slavic - sound combinations la, ha, ha, g "a, cf. Bulgarian head, κράβα, mlyako, bryag.
In accordance with common Slavic consonant combinations *dj, *tj in modern East Slavic languages, hissing sounds are used g, s, e.g. Russians boundary(from *medja, cf. latin medius- "middle"), candle(from *svetja, cf. Russian light, shine) in West Slavic - whistling affricates dz, s, e.g. Polish miedza, s "wieca, in South Slavic - other consonants (cf., for example, Bulgarian between, light, Serbo-Croatian fur, ceeha, Slovenian meja, sveca etc.).
Some groups of closely related languages are divided into subgroups. So, for example, the South Slavic languages are sometimes divided into two subgroups: the eastern (Bulgarian and Macedonian languages) and the western (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene), the West Slavic - into three subgroups: Lechitic, Czech-Slavic and Serbo-Lusatian.