What is a language family?

Question 1: What does the language family mean? Language family:

The genealogical classification of language, also known as "genetic classification", is a kind of language classification. According to the genetic relationship between languages, it is divided into several language families, several language branches under the language family and languages under the language branches according to the distance of the genetic relationship under the language family. The language family basically determines the language family.

/kloc-in the 9th century, the comparative school in Europe studied nearly 100 languages in the world, and found that some languages have corresponding relations and similarities in some phonetic, lexical and grammatical rules, so they were classified into one category and called cognate languages. Because some ethnic groups have a certain correspondence and belong to the same language, this is the pedigree relationship of language.

In the 20th century, scholars all over the world divided the world languages into Indo-European language family, Sino-Tibetan language family and other language families, and basically completed the construction of language pedigree, but there are still some unknown language families, such as Basque language distributed in northern Spain and southwest France bordering Spain, Sumerian language used in ancient two river basins and so on.

Question 2: What do you mean by the language you speak? For example, minority languages refer to the languages of Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnamese, Lao, Burmese and so on.

Question 3: What are the six world languages stipulated by the United Nations? The language that can be used in all meetings, official documents, relevant records and affairs of the United Nations is called the working language of the United Nations. The United Nations has six working languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian, * * and Spanish.

Question 4: There is another extremely important member of the Asian-African language family that has not been mentioned. This is the so-called "Asian-African language family", which is traditionally called "Semite-hammett language family". The name "Semite-Hebrew family" comes from Noah's two sons in the Bible, one is Shem, and the other is Han-non-language, which is distributed in the vast areas of North Africa, Northeast Africa, the Near East and Central Asia, including more than 200 million people. The importance of Asian-non-language is not limited to this. It is not only the birthplace of the oldest civilization in the world, but also the originator of most major languages in the world today. Asian non-linguistic population also accounts for nearly three-quarters of important languages: Israeli national language, Hebrew, Somali and Hausa, the main language of Nigeria. And some other languages in North Africa are the national languages of nearly 20 countries. In addition, * * * all over the world knows several languages, which makes it the sixth working language of the United Nations in 1974. Diego, adopted in many other languages, retains several characteristics of ancient pinyin: it is written from right to left, with only consonants and no vowels. Another phenomenon is that the position of a letter in a word is different and the writing is different. For computers using X window, you can try to set the font of the editor to * * * letters, and then see if putting the same letter in the middle of a word is the same as putting it at the end of a word. You don't need to know * * * to see that there are 28 letters in * * *. You may have noticed that there are many dots and short lines above and below these winding continuous curves, that is vowels! Unfortunately, when they write ordinary words, they omit all these vowels and only note vowels in primary school textbooks and foreigners' books. For example, to write the word "solid", they will probably write "dls" (don't forget to write from right to left). It's hard for you to guess what this word is ... * * * The ancient feature is that ancient Egypt and the "Two Rivers Valley", which are related to the origin and evolution of characters in the Near East, are the earliest places where characters appeared in the world and the birthplace of pinyin letters. About 5,500 years ago, papyrus with characters and writing appeared in Egypt, and it was unified in upper and lower Egypt about 3 100 BC. After the reunification of Egypt, written records began to be available for examination (this was earlier than that of China 1700). The earliest characters were graphic characters. Later, some characters gradually became syllable symbols and signifier symbols, so there were letters with one sound and one symbol. * * * Twenty-four letters are marked with consonants instead of vowels, and various symbols form phrases. * * * The ancient Egyptian script with more than 600 phrases experienced these developments. It is a compound text composed of letter notes and phrases. In the eighth dynasty (about 2200 BC), cursive script appeared. By the time of China and Korea (2000- 1700 BC), cursive script had been widely popular, and only formal styles and inscriptions were used. The so-called papyrus is a plant produced in Lower Egypt. Its stems are aligned with each other after being cut into long strips. Then flatten and dried into pap. This papyrus later became the common paper in ancient Mediterranean. Everyone in Greece and people in the future use it to write (however, this is not "official paper" because "official paper" must have been invented by China three thousand years later:-)) as early as 5,500 years ago, almost at the same time as the Egyptians, they lived in Sumer on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers (called Mesopotamia by the Greeks, meaning "the place between the two rivers"). Their earliest characters were also graphic symbols, which developed into phonetic symbols and signifiers after one symbol and one meaning, and together formed phrases. Since phonetic symbols and signifiers have been available, the trend of writing reproduction has decreased. The number of characters has been reduced to less than 600, of which about 100 is a syllable symbol, but there is no single consonant symbol. This kind of writing is carved on clay tablets with sharpened reed poles and bone sticks, which can be preserved for a long time after drying or drying. Some of them have been preserved to this day and have been successfully interpreted as strokes carved by reed stems. The strokes are thick and deep, thin and shallow, and they look like wedges, hence the name "wedge". & gt

Question 5: There are too many minority languages. Japanese, Italian, French, Russian and Spanish are several common and useful small languages.

Question 6: Which languages are called "minor languages"? Japanese

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Some experts have analyzed that there are three reasons for the outbreak of "Japanese learning fever" in China: First, because the Japanese Ministry of Justice abolished the cumbersome Japanese guarantor system and started a visa procedure focusing on examining the strength of international students, those who have Japanese TOEFL level 3 or above can be exempted from interviews in principle; Second, starting from 2007, Japanese universities will enter the "all-in-one era", and Japanese universities have set up offices in China, starting a fierce competition for talent recruitment; Thirdly, the increasing demand for Japanese talents by Japanese companies in China has also triggered the warming of the domestic Japanese TOEFL test.

Certificate: The full name of the Japanese TOEFL test is Japanese Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is specially held for learners whose mother tongue is not Japanese. The certificate is valid for a long time, and the examination time is the first Sunday of 65438+February every year. The exam is divided into four levels, with the first level being the highest.

Korean

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Learning Korean with a Japanese background will get twice the result with half the effort There are two main reasons for the popularity of Korean training in the past two years: first, after 2004, many people turned to South Korea, which is close to Japan in all aspects, because of the difficulty in obtaining visas to study in Japan; Second, with the increasing investment of Korean-funded enterprises in China, there is a shortage of Korean talents. At present, the most scarce talents in South Korea are trade, logistics and secretaries. Games and network talents who are familiar with Korean are also sought after by IT companies.

Certificate: Korean Proficiency Test (TOPIK) highly recognized by Korean-funded enterprises. Exam in September or June every year. 10. The exam is divided into six levels, including five items: reading, writing, listening, words and grammar.

French

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Belonging to the Latin family, it has many similarities with English. Some words even have the same spelling, but their pronunciation is different. Starting from scratch, you can reach the level of basic dialogue in about 300 class hours.

French has always been regarded as the most beautiful language in the world. It is the official language of France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries. French is mainly studied by young students and white-collar workers, because the proportion of students who need to study abroad for their interests and work needs is basically the same.

Certificate: TEF test, full name is "French proficiency test". TEF scores can be used as the basis for testing students' French proficiency in French universities, and can also be used as one of the reference conditions for French enterprises to recruit overseas employees. There are four exam opportunities every year, with a perfect score of 900. You can apply for going abroad if your average score is above 150.

German

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Belonging to the Latin department, it will take three or four months for the hard-working NPC to reach the primary level. The key to learning German lies in memorizing words.

Now, most students who take part in German study are out of the need of work. Many students said that although most colleagues from Germany can communicate in English, German is their most familiar language after all. Learning German properly can narrow the distance with colleagues and increase the weight for your promotion.

Certificate: German Proficiency Test (DAF), commonly known as "Telford" test. It's difficult, especially the grammar exam. Held twice a year, in April 165438+ 10. Germany's Telford Examination Institute unifies the proposition and grading, which is held in specialized examination centers all over the world. It is divided into three grades: Telford 5(TDN5), Telford 4(TDN4) and Telford 3(TDN3). The certificate is recognized by all universities in Germany.

Spanish

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Spanish is one of the six working languages of the United Nations and the official language of 20 Latin American countries and regions such as Spain, Argentina and Morocco. If you want to achieve basic communication, it will take about a year to learn. At present, most people who study Spanish are studying abroad and working.

Certificate: The Spanish Proficiency Test (DELE) is divided into three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced. The examination contents include reading comprehension, writing, listening comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, and oral expression. Exams are held in May and June 165438+ 10 every year.

Italian

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It takes about 400 class hours to reach basic communication. In addition to learning Italian for business, work and other needs, many people will make up the language for a while for travel needs. It is reported that in ... >>

Question 7: The classification of world language families? The seven major language families in the world

/kloc-in the 9th century, the European comparative school studied nearly 100 languages in the world, and found that some languages have corresponding relations and some similarities in some phonetic, lexical and grammatical rules, so they were classified as the same language. Because some ethnic groups have a certain correspondence and are grouped together, they are called homologous languages, that is, the so-called pedigree relationship between languages. At present, there are seven major language families in the world:

1. Indo-European language family is the largest language family, which is divided into Indian, Iranian, Germanic, Latin, Slavic and Baltic languages. The Indian language family includes Sanskrit, Hindi and Pali. Iranian language family includes Persian, Afghan and so on. Germanic languages include English, German, Dutch and Scandinavian. Latin includes French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. Slavic languages include Russian, Bulgarian and Polish. Baltic languages include Latvian and Lithuanian.

2. Sino-Tibetan languages are divided into Chinese and Tibetan-Burmese, Zhuang-Dong and Miao-Yao languages, including Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Karen, Zhuang and Miao-Yao languages.

3. Altaic languages are divided into western Altaic languages and eastern Altaic languages. The former includes Turkic and Chuvash languages of the former Soviet Union, while the latter includes Mongolian and Ewenki languages of the former Soviet Union.

4. Semite language family is also called Asian-African language family. It can be divided into Semitic language family and language family. The former includes Hebrew, * * * and so on, while the latter includes ancient Egyptian and Hausa.

5. The Dravidian family is also called the Dravidian family. All languages in southern India belong to this language family, including Bihar, Telugu, Tamil and Malaya.

6. Caucasian languages are distributed in the Caucasus, and the main languages are Georgian and Chechen.

7. Uralic languages are divided into Finnish languages and Ugric languages. The former includes Finnish and Estonian, while the latter includes Hungarian and Mansi.

In addition, there are some language families, such as Niger-Congo, Shari-Nile, Khoisan, Eskimo-Aleutian in America, Indian in Oceania, Malay-Polynesian and Micronesia. It should be pointed out that some languages in the world, from the pedigree point of view, do not belong to any language family, such as Japanese and Korean, but are independent languages.

Question 8: What are the main languages of Indo-European family? The most widely distributed language family in the contemporary world, almost all users are in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Africa and Asia. Since15th century, with the continuous expansion of European colonial power, some European languages have spread to many other parts of the world, which is the direct reason why Indo-European languages are so widely distributed. Today, there are more than 654.38+0.5 billion people whose mother tongue is Indo-European, which is close to half of the world population. It should be pointed out that Basque, Hungarian, Lapp, Finnish, Estonian, Altaic, Ural, Caucasian and Dravidian languages in southern India are also distributed in Europe or India, but they are not Indo-European languages.

The origin of the name "Indo-European family", a linguistic term, appeared in/kloc-0 at the beginning of the 9th century, and it was named because the family was distributed in India and Europe. Later, according to the same model, German scholars renamed it "Indo-Germanic Language Family". The reason is that in the Indo-European language family, the easternmost Assam is Hindi and the westernmost Icelandic is Germanic. This term is very popular among European scholars, especially German scholars. In addition, a few scholars use "Indo-European family", but the most popular term in modern linguistics is still Indo-European family. The Indo-European Language Hypothesis can be traced back to16th century. When European missionaries, businessmen and explorers began to learn Sanskrit, they gradually realized that Indian Sanskrit had extensive similarities with European languages such as Latin and Greek. This discovery should be attributed to Sir W Jones, a British orientalist in the18th century. He put forward the famous Indo-European Hypothesis to explain the similarities between the above languages. 1786, Jones pointed out in a speech in India that Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Old English all show systematic similarities in verb roots and grammatical forms, which can never be accidental. Any linguist has to admit that all these languages originated from the same original mother tongue. This primitive mother tongue is what people later called primitive Indo-European (PIE for short). Primitive Indo-European is a hypothetical oral language of primitive Indo-Europeans, and there is no written record. Scholars only infer some characteristics of the original Indo-European language by comparing some of its descendants. Languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Greek with Mycenae linear letter B, Hittite, etc. By the second Millennium BC, it had been clearly differentiated. By comparing these proven forms of differentiation, we can construct an older form. The study of comparative grammar plays an important role in confirming the "Indo-European Language Hypothesis" and establishing the genetic relationship between Indo-European languages. For example, the prefix or word that means "forward" is pra in Sanskrit, pro in ancient Slavic, pro in Greek, pro in Latin, and Gothic in fra; The word "father" is pitar in Sanskrit, patr in Greek, pater in Latin and fadar in Gothic. These prefixes or words obviously come from two words in the original Indo-European language. Through analysis and comparison, we know that the initials of these two words should be P in the original Indo-European language, and the P sound is reserved in most languages of later generations, and it only becomes F in Gothic and several other Germanic languages. For example, the word "cow" is ko in the eastern dialect of Northeast China, gus in Sanskrit, gu-gos in Avisto, GU-gos in Armenian, GOS in Latvian, and GU-GOS in Latin. S in Latin and COW in English. From these forms, the original Indo-European noun gW-ous can be constructed, and the genetic relationship between the above languages can be confirmed, thus making the constructed form more credible than the early hypothesis of * * * homology.

However, there is no convincing explanation about the distribution, scope, cultural types and language structure of the original Indo-European language. The main reason is that there is no written record, and the other is the lack of cultural relics of primitive Indo-European society. Scholars speculate on the hometown of primitive Indo-Europeans according to some cognates in Indo-European languages. In the Indo-European language family, there are words for animals and plants, such as "salmon" and "beech". It is speculated that the place where salmon and beech grow is the hometown of primitive Indo-Europeans, and the primitive Indo-European language developed from there. But other scholars disagree that this method is unscientific, because the natural ecological environment thousands of years ago is very different from today's situation in many ways. In a word, everyone thinks about the problem from different angles and draws a conclusion with different materials ... >>