Language, in its seemingly infinite variety, tells us who we are and where we come from. Many linguists believe that all of the world’s languages—over 7,000 currently—emerged from a single, prehistoric source. While experts have not yet been able to reproduce this proto-language, most of the world’s current languages can be traced to various language families that have branched and divided, spreading across the globe with migrating humans and evolving over time.
Author(s): John McWhorter
Series: The Great Courses
Publisher: The Teaching Company
Year: 2019-02
Language: English
Pages: 180
Professor Biography......Page 3
Typographical Conventions......Page 8
Course Scope......Page 9
Lecture 1—Why Are There So Many Languages?......Page 10
Theories on the Spread of Language......Page 11
The Morphing of Sounds......Page 12
The Language Family Tree......Page 13
Learning from the Language Families......Page 14
Lecture 2—The First Family Discovered: Indo-European......Page 15
The Discovery of Indo-European Languages......Page 16
Reconstruction of the Original Indo-European Language......Page 17
The Indo-European Language Today......Page 18
Lecture 3—Indo-European Languages in Europe......Page 19
The Germanic Languages......Page 20
The Romance Languages......Page 21
The Balto-Slavic Language Family......Page 22
Lecture 4—Indo-European Languages in Asia......Page 23
The Indo-Iranian Languages......Page 24
The Armenian Subfamily......Page 25
The Anatolian Languages......Page 26
Lecture 5—The Click Languages......Page 27
The Clicks......Page 28
Emergence of the Clicks......Page 29
The World’s First Languages?......Page 30
Lecture 6—Niger-Congo: Largest Family in Africa I......Page 32
Overview of Niger-Congo Languages......Page 33
Swahili......Page 34
The Bantu Subfamily......Page 35
Quiz for Lectures 1-6......Page 36
Lecture 7—Niger-Congo: Largest Family in Africa II......Page 38
The Fula Approach......Page 39
Other Elements of Niger-Congo Languages......Page 40
Lecture 8—Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond I......Page 42
Arabic......Page 43
The First Alphabet......Page 44
Beyond Arabic and Hebrew......Page 45
Lecture 9—Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond II......Page 46
The Hausa Language......Page 47
The Omotic and Cushitic Languages......Page 48
Lecture 10—Nilo-Saharan: Africa’s Hardest Languages?......Page 49
Overview of the Nilo-Saharan Languages......Page 50
Unique Features of Nilo-Saharan Languages......Page 51
Lecture 11—Is the Indo-European Family Alone in Europe?......Page 53
Estonian......Page 54
The Sami Languages......Page 55
Uralic Characteristics......Page 56
Lecture 12—How to Identify a Language Family......Page 57
Identifying a Family: Polynesian......Page 58
Identifying a Family: Indo-European......Page 59
Identifying a Family: Uralic......Page 61
Quiz for Lectures 7-12......Page 62
Lecture 13—What Is a Caucasian Language?......Page 64
The Three Families......Page 65
Complexity and Features......Page 66
Lecture 14—Indian Languages That Aren’t Indo-European......Page 67
History of the Dravidian Languages......Page 68
Dravidian Structure......Page 69
The Languages of the Andaman Islands......Page 70
Lecture 15—Languages of the Silk Road and Beyond......Page 72
Turkic Languages......Page 73
Mongolic Languages......Page 74
Tungusic Languages......Page 75
Lecture 16—Japanese and Korean: Alike yet Unrelated......Page 76
Japanese Writing......Page 77
Other Features of Japanese......Page 78
Korean Language Features......Page 79
Korean Writing......Page 80
Lecture 17—The Languages We Call Chinese......Page 81
Overview of the Chinese Languages......Page 82
Tones......Page 83
Numeral Classifiers......Page 84
Lecture 18—Chinese’s Family Circle: Sino-Tibetan......Page 85
Proto-Sino-Tibetan......Page 86
Tibetan......Page 87
The Nature of Grammar......Page 88
Quiz for Lectures 13-18......Page 90
Lecture 19—Southeast Asian Languages: The Sinosphere......Page 92
Overview......Page 93
The Hmong-Mien Family......Page 94
The Tai-Kadai Family......Page 95
Lecture 20—Languages of the South Seas I......Page 97
Overview of the Austronesian Family......Page 98
Origins......Page 99
Language Migration......Page 100
Lecture 21—Languages of the South Seas II......Page 102
The Polynesian Languages......Page 103
Oceanic Sounds......Page 104
Oceanic Language Components......Page 105
Lecture 22—Siberia and Beyond: Language Isolates......Page 107
Paleosiberian Overview......Page 108
Ainu......Page 109
Basque......Page 110
Etruscan......Page 111
Lecture 23—Creole Languages......Page 112
Tok Pisin......Page 113
French, Spanish, and Portuguese Creoles......Page 114
Complexity......Page 115
Lecture 24—Why Are There So Many Languages in New Guinea?......Page 116
Background on New Guinea......Page 117
Tracking Relationships......Page 118
Unusual Traits......Page 119
Quiz for Lectures 19-24......Page 120
Lecture 25—The Languages of Australia I......Page 122
Vocabulary in Alternate Situations......Page 123
Family Tree Fundamentals......Page 124
Australian Language Traits......Page 125
Lecture 26—The Languages of Australia II......Page 126
Unique Features......Page 127
Mixed Languages......Page 128
The Tasmanian Languages......Page 129
Lecture 27—The Original American Languages I......Page 130
Migration History......Page 131
The Amerind Controversy......Page 132
Na-Dene......Page 134
Lecture 28—The Original American Languages II......Page 135
Eskimo-Aleut......Page 136
Penutian......Page 137
Lecture 29—The Original American Languages III......Page 139
Iroquoian......Page 140
Hokan......Page 141
The Death of Language......Page 142
Lecture 30—The Original American Languages IV......Page 144
Whistled Speech......Page 145
South American Language Traits......Page 146
The Jarawara Language......Page 147
Quiz for Lectures 25-30......Page 148
Lecture 31—Languages Caught between Families......Page 150
Examples of Language Combinations......Page 151
English......Page 152
Speaking “In” Another Language......Page 153
Lecture 32—How Far Back Can We Trace Languages?......Page 154
An Attempt at Describing the World’s First Language......Page 155
The Nostratic Macrofamily Proposal......Page 156
The Tai-Kadai Family......Page 157
Lecture 33—What Do Genes Say about Language Families?......Page 158
Glottochronology......Page 159
Genetics and India......Page 160
Genetics and Family Clusters......Page 161
Genetics and Surprises......Page 162
Lecture 34—Language Families and Writing Systems......Page 164
Hieroglyphics......Page 165
Development of Alphabets......Page 166
Other Languages and Systems......Page 167
Quiz for Lectures 31-34......Page 168
Quiz Answers......Page 170
Bibliography......Page 176
Image Credits......Page 180
