首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
admin
2009-06-24
45
问题
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
There are over 3,000 languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore, the grammar, vocabulary, and sounds of related languages are similar. In addition, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages is similar.
Even though there are over 3,000 languages that are used today, there are only 20 or 30 major language families.
Let’s take a brief look at some of the largest language families. Each of these large families includes many individual languages. The language that we are using now is English and English is, of course, a member of a large language family. English is a member of the Indo-European language family. The Indo-European language includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe, languages such as English, French and Greek. Of course, nowadays, many Indo-European languages are spoken in other parts of the world. For instance, Spanish, which is an Indo-European language is spoken throughout South and Central America, but originally it was spoken only in Europe.
Another large language family is the Afro-Asiatic family. The Afro-Asiatic family includes most languages in the area of North Africa and the Middle East. Language such as Arabic, which is spoken throughout the Middle East, and many of the local languages of the Sahara Desert region such as Hausa are members of the same family. Another large family is Bantu. Bantu includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern Africa.
In the past few hundred years, there has been a great deal of change in Africa, and outside languages, such as French, are now spoken in some areas of central Africa and southern Africa. A fourth large group of languages is the Sino-Tibetan family. Sino-Tibetan includes all dialects of Chinese, which is perhaps the most widely used language in the world. There are nearly eight hundred million speakers of Chinese dialects. Sino-Tibetan also includes the languages of Southeast Asia, languages such as Vietnamese and Thai. Of course, not all the languages of East Asia belong to this family. Some languages such as Japanese seem to be completely unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan family.
Still another major language family is Polynesian. The Polynesian languages are island languages. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, and on the many islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, and on the islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Hawaiian and Indonesian are examples of Polynesian languages. Apparently, these languages were spread by travelers from islands to islands, and then each group of islands developed its own individual language.
These five language groups, or language families, which we have mentioned here are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more. You should also note that each major language family has several smaller families within it.
选项
答案
20 or 30.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/xUxsFFFM
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Scotlandistherightplacetoreceiveafirst-classeducation.Smithdiedin1800.
Hersisterurgedhertoapplyforthejob.
Agoodreadinghabitcanhelpyourchilddowellatschool.Youcanaskyourchildtotellstoriesbasedonpictures,
Accordingtothepassage,______hasproposedtoabolishtheestatetax.Inthesentence"Whichthepolicyhassomeemotionala
AdultEducation1Voluntarylearninginorganizedcoursesbymaturemenandwomeniscalledadulteducation.Sucheducation
AdultEducation1Voluntarylearninginorganizedcoursesbymaturemenandwomeniscalledadulteducation.Sucheducation
Heresentedbeingcalledaforeigner.
NewFoodsandtheNewWorldInthelast500years,nothingaboutpeople—nottheirclothes,ideas,orlanguages—haschangeda
随机试题
DIC抗凝治疗时,需肝素化的是
依据《税收征收管理法》,税务机关可以对下列哪些地方实施税务检查?()
在房地产权利中,属于用益物权的是()。
Seeingthegardenercoming,away______.
成人晚期人格的消极因素包括()
AsItypetheselines,mydaughter,Harriet,whois14,isonheriPhoneskippingamongnofewerthaneightsocialmediasites.
在数据库管理技术的发展中,数据独立性最高的是
Sportisnotonlyphysicallychallenging,butitcanalsobementallychallenging.Criticismfromcoaches,parents,andotherte
Whenyoudon’tknowwhattodonext,nevergiveup,just______.workingoutyourproblem.
全球气候变化给人类社会的生存和发展带来了严峻挑战。中国是一个发展中国家,人口众多、经济发展水平低、气候条件复杂生态环境脆弱,易受气候变化的不利影响。气候变化对中国自然生态系统和经济社会发展带来了重大的威胁。同时,中国正处于经济快速发展阶段。因此,中国应
最新回复
(
0
)