KEY ISSUE 2
W H Y I S E
N G L I SH R
E L A T E D TO O
T H E R
L A N G U A G E S ?
INDO-EUROPEAN BRANCHESEnglish is part of the Indo-
European language familyMost extensively spoken language
family, spoken by 48% of peopleNearly 3 billion people speak an
Indo-European language as their 1st language
INDO EUROPEAN BRANCHESLanguage Branch: collection of languages
related through a common ancestral language that existed thousands of years ago
Divided into 8 branchesMost spoken: Indo-Iranian, Romance,
Germanic and Balto SlavicLeast spoken: Albanian, Armenian, Greek
& Celtic
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
Fig. 5-5: The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.
USING COLORED PENCILS, COLOR-CODE YOUR MAP
Indo-European Language Branches
Albanian Germanic
Armenian Greek
Balto-Slavic Indo-Iranian
Celtic Romance
ON THE BACK OF YOUR MAPDivide your paper into 8 parts for each of the language
branches-take notes for each branch using Key Issue 2: Figure 5-5, 5-8, 5-12
More-Spoken Branches Less-Spoken BranchesIndo-Iranian Albanian
Germanic Armenian
Romance Greek
Balto-Slavic Celtic
GERMANIC BRANCHEnglish & German are closely related
-Germanic tribes that invaded England 1,500 years ago
-Other Germanic languages:-Dutch & Frisian (Netherlands)-Flemish (Belgium)-Afrikaans (South Africa)-Scandinavia: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic
GERMANIC BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEAN
Fig. 5-6: The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic groups. English is in the West Germanic group.
INDO-IRANIAN BRANCHMost spoken of Indo-European familyMore than 100 languages, 1 billion people
Eastern Group: Indic Western Group: Iranian
INDIC (EASTERN) GROUP OF INDO-IRANIAN BRANCH2nd largest language groupMostly common in India1/3 of Indians speak Hindi (Indic)
-Many ways to speak it-Only ONE way to write it: Devanagari (7th Century) -Until recently few speakers could read/write it
Pakistan: Urdu language-spoken like Hindi, but written in Arabic (Muslim)
INDIA4 language families represented in India
-IndoEuropean (North) -Dravidian (south)-Tibetan (NE) -Austro-Asiatic (central/Eastern highlands)
Independence, 1947Proposed official language: HindiDravidian speakers of South objectedConstitution recognizes 18 official languagesEnglish is often used for communication as a
“common language”
SOUTH ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LANGUAGE FAMILIES
Fig. 5-7: Indo-European is the largest of four main language families in South Asia. The country of India has 18 official languages.
IRANIAN (WESTERN) GROUP OF INDO-IRANIAN BRANCHIran & southwestern AsiaPersian (Farsi): IranPashto: E Afghanistan & W PakistanKurdish: W Iran, N Iraq, E TurkeyAll written in Arabic alphabet
BALTO-SLAVIC BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEANFormerly a single language7th Century AD, Slavs migrated from Asia to
E EuropeDifferent languages as a result of migrationFour major groups: East, West, South Slavic and Baltic
EAST SLAVIC AND BALTIC GROUPSMost widely spoken: Russian, 80% of
Russian peopleSoviet officials forced native speakers of
other languages to speak RussianForm a sense of national unity
After collapse of Soviet Union, eastern countries adopted other official languages-shows more cultural diversity
Russian still used for communication in countries formerly part of Soviet Union
Ukranian & Belarusan: 2 other important languages in East Slavic languages
WEST AND SOUTH SLAVIC GROUPSPolish: most spoken West Slavic languageFormer Czechoslovakia Czech and Slovak: understand each other's
languages-tried to balance the two languages (1/2 sport
game announcement in each)-Slovakia split from Czech Republic in 1993
Former Yugoslavia: language was Serbo-CroatianTwo alphabets: Roman alphabet & Cyrillic alphabetNow: Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: all very
similarSuppressing Nationalism in Yugoslavia
ROMANCE BRANCH OF INDO-EUROPEANEvolved from Latin: spoken by Romans 2000 years
agoFour most spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, French and
ItalianMountains separate the countries: intervening
obstacles-barriers to communication Romanian: 5th most spoken: Romania & Moldova Other languages: 1) Romansh (Switzerland) and 2) Catalan (Andorra-Pyrenees and E Spain-
Barcelona) 3) Sardinian mixture of Spanish, Arabic & Italian
(Sardinia)
SPANISH VS CATALANCastillian Spanish Latin American
Spanish English
billete (m) boleto (m) ticket
ordenador (m) computadora (f) computer
tortilla (f) tortilla (f)
In Spain, a ‘tortilla’ is an omelette.
In Latin America, a ‘tortilla’ is a flat
bread.
melocotón (m) durazno (m) peach
patata (f) papa (f) potato
ORIGIN OF DIFFUSION OF ROMANCE LANGUAGESDiffusion of Latin language during
expansion of --Roman Empire over hundreds of years
Previous languages spoken mostly eliminated
Latin varied throughout empireMerged & evolved with previous
languages
ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES“Vulgar Latin” a spoken form of Latin, used throughout the
Roman Empire
Literary term: equus - equestrian, equine
Vulgar term: caballus caballo, cavalo, cheval
Collapse of Roman Empire, 5th Century
Communication between provinces decreased
-creating more variation in languages
ROMANCE LANGUAGE DIALECTSFrancien FrenchLanguage of Paris (capital/largest city), dominated local
dialects Became official language for France in 16th Century
North and South Dialects derive from different ways to say “yes” in Latin Yes
Latin Hoc illud estNorthern FranceLangue d’oilParis
o – il “wheel” “oui”
Southern FranceLangue d’oc
oc
ROMANCE LANGUAGE DIALECTSSpainCastilian, 9th century in Old Castile, North-
central SpainSpread southward15th Century, Spain united into present
countryCastilian became official languageRegional dialects only remained in
secluded rural areas
“Castilian” or “Spanish” is official language of Spain today
SPANISH & PORTUGUESE90% of speakers live outside EuropeDiffused to America by Spanish &
PortugueseLand divided by Pope Alexander VI 1493
Spanish Royal AcademyMeet weekly to clarify spelling, vocab,
pronunciation of “Spanish”
PORTUGUESE1994 language was standardizedLanguage more closely resembles
Brazilian PortugueseUpsets people in PortugalEliminates accent marks
CREOLE LANGUAGESDistinction between a dialect and a new language can be
difficultSpeakers like to classify their dialect as a distinct language
Creolized languages (origin of “creole” = slave born in master’s house)
A language that results from mixing of colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of people being dominated
French Creole in HaitiPortuguese Creole in Cape Verde islands of African coast
ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF INDO-EUROPEANGermanic, Romance, Balto Slavic
and Indo-Iranian languages Same language family: Indo-
EuropeanEvidence of a single ancestor
cannot be proved with certainty
KURGAN THEORY OF INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGIN
Fig. 5-9: In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7,000 years ago.
ANATOLIAN HEARTH THEORY OF INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGIN
Fig. 5-10: In the Anatolian hearth theory, Indo-European originated in Turkey before the Kurgans and diffused through agricultural expansion.