General classification of languages ​​according to different criteria. Language classification

Classification of languages ​​- determining the place of each language among the languages ​​of the world; distribution of the languages ​​of the world into groups based on certain features in accordance with the principles underlying the study.

The issues of classifying the diversity of the world's languages, their distribution under certain headings began to be actively developed at the beginning of the 19th century.

The most developed and recognized are two classifications - genealogical and typological (or morphological).

Genealogical (genetic) classification:

Based on the concept of linguistic kinship;

The goal is to determine the place of a particular language in the circle of related languages, to establish its genetic links;

The main method is comparative-historical;

The degree of stability of the classification is absolutely stable (since each language initially belongs to a particular family, group of languages ​​and cannot change the nature of this affiliation).

In accordance with this classification, the following language families are distinguished:

Indo-European;

Afroasian;

Dravidian;

Ural;

Altai;

Caucasian;

Sino-Tibetan.

There are many branches in the Indo-European family, among them - Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.), Germanic (English, Dutch, German, Swedish, etc.), Romance (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese etc.), Celtic (Irish, Scottish, Breton, Welsh).

The Tatar language is part of the Altaic language family, in the Turkic branch

Typological classification (originally known as morphological):

Based on the concept of similarity (formal and / or semantic) and, accordingly, the difference between languages; is based on the features of the structure of languages ​​(on the signs of the morphological structure of the word, the ways of connecting morphemes, the role of inflections and affixes in the formation of grammatical forms of the word and in the transfer of the grammatical meaning of the word);

The goal is to group languages ​​into large classes based on the similarity of their grammatical structure (principles of its organization), to determine the place of a particular language, taking into account the formal organization of its linguistic structure;

The main method is comparative;

The degree of classification stability is relative and historically variable (since each language is constantly evolving, its structure and the very theoretical foundations of this structure are changing).

According to the morphological classification, languages ​​are divided into 4 classes:

1) isolating or amorphous languages, such as Chinese, most of the languages ​​of Southeast Asia. The languages ​​of this group are characterized by the absence of inflection, the grammatical significance of the order of words, and the weak opposition of significant and functional words.

2) agglutinative languages

In agglutinative languages, each morphological meaning is expressed by a separate affix, and each affix has one purpose, as a result of which the word is easily divided into its component parts, the connection between the root part and affixes is weak. These languages ​​include Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Iberian-Caucasian (for example, Georgian). They are characterized by a developed system of word-formation and inflectional affixation, a single type of declension and conjugation, and grammatical unambiguity of affixes.

3) inflectional languages

The connection between the base and affixes is closer, which is manifested in the so-called fusion - the fusion of the affix with the base. This group includes Indo-European languages ​​(Russian, German, Latin, English, Indian, etc.), Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.).

4) incorporating or polysynthetic languages

For example, Chukchi-Kamchatka, many languages ​​​​of the Indians of North America. In these languages, the whole sentence is combined into one complex whole - a verb with a subject, an object, with a definition and circumstances. In polysynthetic languages, there are no words outside the sentence; the sentence is the basic unit of speech. This unit is multi-component, words are included in this unit, therefore they are polysynthetic.

Cultural-historical classification considers languages ​​from the point of view of their relationship to the history of culture; takes into account the historical sequence of the development of culture; highlights:

unwritten languages;

written languages;

Literary languages ​​of the nationality and nation;

Languages ​​of international communication.

According to the prevalence of the language and the number of people speaking it, they distinguish:

Languages ​​that are common in a narrow circle of speakers (tribal languages ​​of Africa, Polynesia; "one-aul" languages ​​of Dagestan);

Languages ​​spoken by individual nationalities (Dungan - in Kyrgyzstan);

Languages ​​spoken by the whole nation (Czech, Bulgarian);

Languages ​​that are used by several nations, the so-called international (French - in France, Belgium, Switzerland; Russian, serving the peoples of Russia);

Languages ​​that function as international languages ​​(English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian).

According to the degree of language activity, there are:

Living - actively functioning languages;

Dead (Latin, Gaulish, Gothic) - preserved only in written monuments, in place names or in the form of borrowings in other languages, or disappeared without a trace; some dead languages ​​are used today (Latin is the language of the Catholic Church, medicine, scientific terminology).

The genealogical classification of languages ​​is not the only one. Typological classification arose later than attempts at genealogical classification and proceeded from other premises. Typological classification languages aims to establish the similarities and differences of languages, which are rooted in the most common and important properties of the language and do not depend on genetic relationship.

The question of the "type of language" arose for the first time among the Romantics. The first scientific classification was the work of F. Schlegel, who contrasted inflectional languages ​​(meaning Indo-European) with non-inflectional, affixal ones. So, in particular, the scientist wrote: “In the Indian and Greek languages, each root is what its name says, and is like a living sprout; by virtue of the fact that the concepts of relations are expressed by means of an inner change, a free field is given for development.... All that has thus been obtained from a simple root retains the impress of kinship, is mutually connected, and therefore is preserved. Hence, on the one hand, wealth, and on the other hand, the strength and durability of these languages. “... In languages ​​that have affixation instead of inflection, the roots are not at all like that; they can be compared to a pile of atoms... their connection is purely mechanical - by external attachment. From their very inception, these languages ​​lack the germ of a living development... and these languages, whether wild or cultivated, are always difficult, confused, and often especially distinguished by their wayward, arbitrary, subjectively strange, and vicious character. Consequently, non-inflectional languages ​​were evaluated by him according to the degree of their evolutionary closeness to inflectional ones and were considered as a certain stage on the way to an inflectional system. So, in particular, F. Schlegel denied the existence of affixes in inflectional languages, and classified cases of affixal word formation as internal inflection. In fact, using modern terminology, F. Schlegel opposed not inflection and affix, but the way of connecting morphemes in a word - fusion and agglutinative. F. Schlegel's brother, A. Schlegel, improved this classification by highlighting languages ​​without grammatical structure - amorphous and showed two opposite tendencies in the grammatical structure of the language - synthetic and analytical.

A new stage in the typological classification of languages ​​was discovered by W. von Humboldt. The scientist paid special attention to the issue of form in language, noting that form is “constant and uniform in the activity of the spirit, transforming organic sound into an expression of thought”, is “a synthesis in the spiritual unity of individual linguistic elements, in contrast to it, considered as material content". W. von Humboldt distinguishes between the external form in the language (these are sound, grammatical and etymological forms) and the internal form, as a single all-pervading force, that is, an expression of the spirit of the people. Based on the classification of the Schlegel brothers, Humboldt identified three types of languages: isolating, agglutinating and inflectional. Humboldt also outlined the main criteria for the classification of languages: 1) expression in the language of relations (transmission of grammatical meanings); 2) ways of forming a sentence; 4) the sound form of languages. He noted the absence of "pure" representatives of one or another type of language, that is, the absence of ideal models, and also introduced into scientific use another type of language - incorporating, the features of which are that the sentence is built as a compound word, that is, unformed roots - words are agglutinated into one common whole, which can be both a word and a sentence.

The next step was the scientific classification of languages ​​​​by A. Schleicher, who singled out:

a) isolating languages ​​in two varieties, in which only root morphemes are present (for example, Chinese) and in which root morphemes and functional words are present (Burmese);

b) agglutinating languages ​​in two main varieties:

Synthetic type, connecting roots and suffixes (Turkic and Finnish languages), roots and prefixes (Bantu languages), roots and infixes (Batsbi language);

Analytical type, combining ways of expressing grammatical meanings with the help of a suffix and function words (Tibetan language);

c) inflectional languages, in which inflections are presented as expressors of purely grammatical meanings:

Synthetic type, in which only internal inflection is presented (Semitic languages) and in which both internal and external inflection is presented (Indo-European languages, especially ancient ones);

Analytical type, in which grammatical meanings can equally be transmitted with the help of affixes, and with the help of inflections, and with the help of auxiliary words (Romance languages, English.

A. Schleicher considered isolating or amorphous languages ​​to be archaic, agglutinating languages ​​to be transitional, ancient inflectional languages ​​to be the heyday, and inflectional new (analytical) languages ​​to be the era of decline.

A. Schleicher was followed by a number of classifications of languages ​​belonging to H. Steinthal, F. Mistelli, F.F. Fortunatov. The new typological classification belongs to the American scientist E. Sapir, who made an attempt to give a "conceptual classification of languages, based on the idea that "every language is a formalized language", but that "the classification of languages, built on the distinction of relations, is purely technical" and that it is impossible to characterize languages ​​from just one point of view. E. Sapir puts the expression of different types of concepts in the language as the basis of his classification: 1) root, 2) derivational, 3) mixed-relational, 4) purely relational.

Thus, we see that scientists based their classification on the way of expressing grammatical meanings in the language, such a classification is today called morphological. It is most common in linguistics, according to which languages ​​are divided into the following types: 1) isolating, or amorphous; 2) agglutinative, or agglutinating; 3) incorporating, or polysynthetic; 4) inflectional.

The first group includes, for example, the Chinese language. Isolating languages- these are languages ​​that are characterized by the absence of inflection, the grammatical significance of the order of words, the weak opposition of official or significant words. Agglutinative languages- these are languages ​​that are characterized by a developed system of word formation and inflection, the absence of morphological alternations, a single system of declension and conjugation, and the unambiguity of affixes. Turkic languages ​​belong to this type of languages. To the third group polysynthetic languages, include those for which it is possible to include other members of the sentence (complement) in the verb-predicate, while alternation in the basis of the verb is possible, the predicate in such languages ​​is consistent not only with the subject, but also with other members of the sentence. This group includes the languages ​​of the American Indians. Inflectional languages- languages ​​that are characterized by a developed system of word formation and inflection, the presence of morphological alternations, a diverse system of declension and conjugation, synonymy and homonymy of affixes. The languages ​​of the inflectional type include many Indo-European languages, in particular Slavic and Baltic. Many languages ​​occupy an intermediate position on this scale of morphological classification. Often, to characterize the grammatical structure of a language, the terms analytical languages, synthetic languages ​​are also used. Analytical languages , or analytical languages are called those in which the grammatical meaning is expressed with the help of independent words, that is, a dissected transmission of lexical and grammatical meanings is carried out. The analyticity of the language is manifested in the morphological immutability of the word and the presence of complex constructions in which the grammatical meaning is conveyed either by an auxiliary or an independent word, for example: in the verb forms of the present tense, the category of a person is transmitted synthetically, with the help of endings - walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk; in past tense forms - analytically - I walked, you walked, he walked etc. Respectively, synthetic languages , or languages ​​of synthetic structure are called those in which grammatical meanings are expressed primarily by affixes (fusional and agglutinative), that is, both grammatical and lexical meanings are transmitted undivided, in one word with the help of affixes, internal inflection, etc., for example, in the form went- the suffix -l- conveys the grammatical meaning of time, and the inflection -a- - the grammatical meanings of the feminine and singular; in word form poverty root troubles- conveys the lexical meaning of the word, the suffix -н- - the meaning of quality, the suffix -ost- - the meaning of the objectified feature ( poor - poverty), inflection - u - meanings of the instrumental case, feminine and singular; in verb walks around the lexical meaning is expressed by the root - haj-, in which there is internal inflection (vowel alternation O / A), indicating imperfection - the duration and repetition of the action, as well as the alternation of consonants d / w, which in this case accompanies the alternation of the vowel, cf. give birth - give birth, raise - grow, feed - feed; prefix pro-, suffix - willow- and postfix -sya, which in combination indicate the way of carrying out the action “to do something from time to time, without straining”, associated with the meaning of the imperfect aspect, cf. walk around, and ending –et, indicating the 3rd person, singular and present tense.

Thus, among the inflectional languages, one can single out synthetic, ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Latin, most modern Slavic languages ​​(Russian, Polish), Baltic languages ​​(Lithuanian, Latvian), since synthetic ways of expressing grammatical meanings are richly represented in them. They are opposed by the new Western European languages ​​(English, German, French), as well as Bulgarian and Macedonian, which are dominated by analytical ways of representing grammatical meanings. However, these languages ​​also retain many features characteristic of inflectional languages, because their ancestors - Old English, Old French, Old Slavonic - belonged to inflectional languages ​​of a synthetic type. Even in English, which has almost lost inflectional forms (gender, number, case, person), internal inflection is richly represented in the formation of verb tenses. Inflectional languages ​​are characterized fusion- such a way of connecting morphemes, in which drawing boundaries becomes difficult due to alternations or the imposition of one morpheme on another.

From truly inflectional languages, such as Indo-European, one should distinguish "pseudo-inflectional", Semitic-Hamitic, which A. Schleicher also attributed to the inflectional type. More F.F. Fortunatov doubted this, drawing attention to the fact that "the relationship between stem and affix" in the Semitic languages ​​is the same as in the Turkic or Finno-Ugric languages. His student, V.K. Porzhezinsky wrote: “What in our languages ​​is called the root of the word, in the Semitic languages ​​corresponds only to the skeleton of the word from consonants, since vowels play the role of a formal element; if we compare, for example, the Arabic qatala “he killed”, qutila “he was killed”, aqtala “he ordered to kill”, qitl “enemy”, qutl “mortal”, etc., then it becomes clear that the meaning of the sign “to kill "associated only with the consonants q - t - l". It is the immutability of the root and affixes that distinguishes the Semitic-Hamitic from the truly inflectional Indo-European.

Agglutinating languages ​​are analytic in the full sense of the word. So, F.F. Fortunatov wrote the following about them: “In the vast majority of families of languages ​​that have the forms of individual words, these forms are formed by means of such a selection in the words of the stem and affix, in which the stem either does not represent the so-called inflection at all, or if such inflection can appear in bases, then it does not constitute a necessary accessory of word forms and serves to form forms separate from those formed by affixes. Such languages ​​in the morphological classification are called ... agglutinating or agglutinative languages, i.e. actually gluing ... because here the stem and affix of words remain, in their meaning, separate parts of words in the forms of words, as if glued together. So, for example, "girl" in Turkish is kiz, girls - kizlar, girl (Dan. Pad.) - kiza, girls - kizlara, girl (propositional pad.) - kizda, girls - kizlarda. All inflections are unambiguous and point to only one meaning, they seem to be glued to an unchanging root, while in Russian, inflections are characterized by homonymy, for example, in the prepositional and dative cases of the feminine (girl), synonymy: guy - girl, guys - girls, in In Russian, the choice of inflection depends not only on the meaning of the word form, but also on the type of stem, inflection is attached not to the root, but to the stem. Agglutination- this is such a way of connecting morphemes, in which unambiguous affixes are attached to the stem or root and no phonetic changes in the morpheme are observed.

Incorporating or polysynthetic languages ​​are highly analytic, unformed root-words are agglutinated into one word-sentence, for example, in one of the American Indian languages ​​ninakakwa means ni - I, naka - is, kwa - meat (o) \u003d I + eat + meat, in the Chukchi language: you-ata-kaa-nmy-rkyn, literally "I-fat-deer-kill-do", that is, "I kill fat deer."

In addition to morphological, there are syntactic and phonetic typological classifications of languages. So, as a result of phonetic typology, languages ​​were identified that are characterized by vowel harmony - a special device of the phonetic system, which consists in a uniform vocal, and sometimes consonantal design of the word. However, vowel harmony serves morphological purposes, since due to this phenomenon, word forms of one word are opposed. According to what phonological feature is the basis of synharmonism, timbre synharmonism is distinguished (on the basis of a number of dominant, more often root vowel), labial (on the basis of roundedness), compactness (on the basis of the rise of the dominant vowel). For example, in Hungarian the suffix –hoz- means “approach, movement in the direction of something; to"; joining words with different root vowels, it adapts phonetically: to the window - ablakhoz, to the shoemaker - cipeszhez. Synharmonism is usually characteristic of agglutinating languages. In addition to the sign of vowel harmony, phonetic typology distinguishes languages ​​of the consonant type, that is, languages ​​in which consonants play the leading role in distinguishing words and word forms, these include the Russian language, and languages ​​of the vocal type, in which vowels play a leading role in the perception of a word. For example, in Semitic languages, consonants carry lexical information, while vowels carry grammatical information.

The construction of a syntactic typology of languages ​​made it possible to single out the ergative type of languages. In languages ​​of the ergative system, in the syntax of a sentence, non-subject and object are opposed, for example, mother washed the frame, mother washed her son, the rain washes the streets, and the agentive is the producer of the action (mother) and the factitive (carrier of the action). Lexically, this is expressed in the distribution of verbs into agentive, that is, transitive and factitive, that is, intransitive. So, if we compare the three sentences above, we can see certain differences: mom is an agent that tends to perform actions, rain is a factitive that can only act as a “carrier of action”, frame and son are direct additions in Russian However, the “frame” can only “experience the action” and cannot carry it out, the “son” can act both as the subject of the action and as the object. All these complex relationships in ergative languages ​​are expressed both by special cases “absolutive” - for mother and son, “ergative” - for rain and frame, and by special verb forms that oppose the first and second sentences to the third. The ergative structure is characteristic of the Basque language, most Caucasian languages, many Papuan, Indian, Australian, Paleoasian languages.

All presented typologies are private, as they compare languages ​​by individual properties. The purpose of this classification is to identify language universals - common properties of all human languages ​​or most languages. Thus, one of the most important universals is the presence of a subject and a predicate in a sentence; semantic universals include many models of changing the meaning of words, for example, “heavy - difficult”, “tasty - pleasant”, etc.

The diachronic typology of languages, that is, the study of the general patterns of development of languages ​​that occur in the language of changes, makes it possible to establish general trends in the development of languages. The idea of ​​diachronic universals is based on the hypothesis of the systemic proximity of the languages ​​of the archaic structure and on the later variability of new languages. So, private diachronic universals include the law on the formation of pronouns, at first demonstrative, personal and interrogative, and only later reflexive, possessive, relative and negative; the law of numerical abstraction, for example, in ancient languages, the existence of three numerical forms is known - singular, dual and plural, there is evidence that in some Indian, Australian and Papuan languages ​​\u200b\u200bthe numerical paradigm is much larger: singular - dual - triple - ... - plural (countless), and in modern languages ​​it is dichotomous: singularity - plurality.

The study of universals of various types makes it possible to compile universal grammars in which grammatical categories are explained through the categories of thinking. They consider the nomenclature of concepts and principles that are presumably common to all people in the field of perception and comprehension of reality. It was in the universal grammars that the methodology was developed and the foundations for the logical and philosophical substantiation of the principles of describing any language by parts of speech and grammatical categories were given. Giving a general nomenclature of the meanings of grammatical and lexico-grammatical categories, the compilers of universal grammars proceed from the fact that there are common meanings - semantic universals, which are based on the patterns of reflection of reality by a person and which can be expressed in one way or another in the language, in its vocabulary and grammar. So, the contensive typology is focused on the content categories of the language and the ways of their expression in the language.

At the same time, the typological approach does not exclude the analysis of certain groups or families of languages; the purpose of such an analysis is to elucidate the typological specifics of genetic groupings and search for possible typological correlates of such concepts as "Slavic languages", "Indo-European languages". This aspect of typological phenomena took shape as an independent typological discipline - characterology.

Linguistics deals not only with the study of the languages ​​of the world, but also with their classification. The classification of languages ​​is the distribution of the languages ​​of the world into groups based on certain characteristics, in accordance with the principles underlying the study.

There are different classifications of languages. The main ones are:

• - genealogical (genetic), based on the concept of linguistic kinship;
• - typological (morphological), based on the concept of structural similarity of languages;
• - geographical (areal).

The genealogical classification is based on the concept of linguistic kinship, and the typological classification is based on the concept of the similarity of languages.

The purpose of the genealogical classification of languages ​​is to determine the place of a particular language in the circle of related languages, to establish its genetic links. The main research method is comparative-historical, the main classification category is a family of languages ​​(also a branch, group, subgroup).

The purpose of the typological classification of languages ​​is to establish language types at different levels - phonetic, morphological, syntactic.

Related languages ​​are the subject of study in comparative historical linguistics. The kinship of languages ​​is manifested in their systematic material similarity, i.e. in the similarity of the material from which the exponents of morphemes and words, identical or close in meaning, are built. For example, other ind. Kas tava sunus? or T. Kas tavo sunus? This similarity cannot be accidental. It testifies to the relationship of languages. The presence of common morphemes indicates a common origin of languages.

The relationship of languages ​​is the material proximity of two or more languages, manifested in the sound and content similarity and linguistic elements of different levels - words, roots, morphemes, grammatical forms, etc. Related languages ​​are characterized by material closeness inherited from the era of their linguistic unity.

The genetic study of languages ​​is the study of languages ​​in terms of their origin: presence / absence of relationship or greater / lesser relationship. Recognition of the relationship of languages ​​suggests that related languages ​​are "descendants" of one common language (parent language, base language). The collective of people who spoke this language disintegrated in a certain era due to various historical reasons, and each part of the collective, under conditions of independent isolated development, changed the language “in its own way”, as a result of which independent languages ​​were formed.

A greater or lesser degree of kinship depends on how long ago the separation of languages ​​\u200b\u200boccurred. The longer the languages ​​developed independently, the further they “departed” from each other, the more distant the relationship between them.

Over the centuries, related languages ​​have undergone significant changes. As a result, these languages ​​have much more differences than common features.

The phonetic appearance of words is changing. Phonetic changes are systemic, regular in nature, as a result, strict phonetic correspondences are observed. For example, lat. matches in it. [h]: caput (head) - Haupt; cornu (horn) - Horn; collis (neck) - Hals. The fact of the presence of a system of regular sound correspondences is the most conclusive in establishing the relationship of languages. Sound correspondences reflect the regular nature of the sound transformations of language units.

Related languages ​​that have one common "ancestor" form a language family. For example, the Indo-European family of languages ​​has as its base language the Indo-European base language, which broke up into dialects, gradually turning into independent languages, related to each other. The Indo-European proto-language is not recorded in written monuments. Words and forms of this language can only presumably (hypothetically) be restored (reconstructed) by scientists on the basis of a comparison of related languages. The restored form is a prototype, an archetype. It is marked with * (asterisk), for example: * nevos- protoform for words: eng. new, lat. novus, tazh. nav, German neu, arm. nor, Russian new. linguistics kinship genealogical typological

To recreate the ancient appearance of this word, the most rational choice is the Greek and Latin forms, which allow reconstructing the *nevos archetype. When comparing words and forms, languages ​​of an older formation are always preferred.

The material similarity of languages ​​is not always obvious. Sometimes words that are very dissimilar in sound are connected by natural complex phonetic correspondences and, therefore, are genetically identical, for example, Russian. child and German. kind(k>h).

Comparison of related languages ​​is carried out using the comparative-historical method.

Reliable evidence of the relationship of languages ​​are common grammatical forms. As a rule, they are not borrowed at the contact of languages.

In most cases, we are not talking about complete comparability, but about regular correspondences in the phonemic composition of morphemes with similar semantics.

It is necessary to strive for comparisons to cover the maximum amount of words and a wide range of languages.

The most productive and methodologically correct is not a direct comparison of the morphemes of languages, but the construction of hypothetical protoforms: if we assume that these languages ​​are related, then for each series of semantically related morphemes of these languages, there should have been a protoform in the base language, to which they all go back. Therefore, it must be shown that there are rules according to which one can explain the transition from some protoform to all existing mophemes in these languages. So, instead of a direct comparison of the Russian ber- and its analogues in other languages, it is assumed that there was a form in the Proto-Indo-European language * bher, which, according to certain laws, passed into all the forms attested in the descendant languages.

The comparative historical method uses the method of reconstruction. Reconstruction - a set of techniques and procedures for recreating unattested linguistic states, forms, phenomena by historical comparison of the corresponding units of a particular language, group or family of languages.

The main meaning of the reconstruction is the most adequate and consistent disclosure of the phased development and historical change of particular subsystems and the system as a whole of languages ​​dating back to one ancestor.

Some linguistic phenomena of a common base language may be preserved in one group of related languages, and may disappear in another. The surviving linguistic phenomena - relics - allow us to restore the original picture of the ancestor language. The absence of such relics makes the work of comparativists difficult.

Those linguistic phenomena that appear later in the language are called innovations.

In recent decades, a new method has been used to determine the degree of kinship of languages, which allows, through the use of special calculations, to determine how long ago certain languages ​​\u200b\u200bdispersed. This method is glottochronology, proposed by the American linguist M. Swadesh. The glottochronology method is based on the following assumptions. In the vocabulary of each language there is a layer that makes up the so-called main vocabulary. The vocabulary of the main dictionary serves to express simple, necessary concepts. These words must be represented in all languages. They are the least subject to change in the course of history. The main dictionary is updated very slowly. The rate of such updating is constant for all languages. This fact is used in glottochronology. It has been established that the vocabulary of the main dictionary is being replaced at a rate of 19-20% per millennium, i.e. out of every 100 words of the main vocabulary, about 80 are preserved after a millennium.

For glottochronological studies, the most important part of the main vocabulary is used. They take 200 units - 100 basic, or diagnostic, and 100 additional. The main lexical units include such words as arm, leg, moon, rain, smoke, in an additional dictionary - words such as bad, lip, bottom.

For. to determine the time of divergence of two languages, it is necessary to make lists of 200 words of the main vocabulary for each of them, i.e. give the equivalents of these words in the given languages. Then it is necessary to find out how many pairs of semantically identical words from two such lists can be considered related, connected by regular phonetic correspondences. lists, we get twice the word divergence time.

Consider the origin of languages: once the number of languages ​​was small. These were the so-called "proto-languages". Over time, proto-languages ​​began to spread across the Earth, each of them became the ancestor of their own language family. The language family is the largest unit of classification of a language (peoples and ethnic groups) on the basis of their linguistic kinship.

Further, the ancestors of language families broke up into language groups of languages. Languages ​​that are descended from the same language family (that is, descended from the same "proto-language") are called a "language group". Languages ​​of the same language group retain many common roots, have similar grammatical structure, phonetic and lexical coincidences. There are now more than 7,000 languages ​​from more than 100 language families of languages.

Linguists have identified over one hundred major language families of languages. It is assumed that language families are not related to each other, although there is a hypothesis about the common origin of all languages ​​from a single language. The main language families are listed below.

language family	Number languages	Total carriers language	% from the population Earth
Indo-European	> 400 languages	2 500 000 000	45,72
Sino-Tibetan	~ 300 languages	1 200 000 000	21,95
Altai	60	380 000 000	6,95
Austronesian	> 1000 languages	300 000 000	5,48
Austroasiatic	150	261 000 000	4,77
Afroasian		253 000 000	4,63
Dravidian	85	200 000 000	3,66
Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan)	4	141 000 000	2,58
Korean		78 000 000	1,42
Tai-Kadai		63 000 000	1,15
Ural		24 000 000	0,44
Other		28 100 000	0,5

As can be seen from the list, ~45% of the world's population speaks the languages ​​of the Indo-European family of languages.

Language groups of languages.

Further, the ancestors of language families broke up into language groups of languages. Languages ​​that are descended from the same language family (that is, descended from the same "proto-language") are called a "language group". The languages ​​of the same language group have many coincidences in the roots of words, in grammatical structure and phonetics. There is also a finer division of groups into subgroups.

The Indo-European family of languages ​​is the most widespread language family in the world. The number of speakers of languages ​​of the Indo-European family exceeds 2.5 billion people who live on all inhabited continents of the Earth. The languages ​​of the Indo-European family occurred as a result of the successive collapse of the Indo-European proto-language, which began about 6 thousand years ago. Thus, all the languages ​​of the Indo-European family come from a single Proto-Indo-European language.

The Indo-European family includes 16 groups, including 3 dead groups. Each group of languages ​​can be divided into subgroups and languages. The table below does not indicate the finer division into subgroups, and there are also no dead languages ​​and groups.

Indo-European family of languages
Language groups	Incoming languages
Armenian	Armenian language (Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian)
Baltic	Latvian, Lithuanian
german	Frisian languages ​​(West Frisian, East Frisian, North Frisian languages), English language, Scottish (English-Scots), Dutch, Low German, German, Hebrew (Yiddish), Icelandic, Faroese, Danish, Norwegian (Landsmol, Bokmål, Nynorsk), Swedish (Swedish in Finland, Skane), Gutnish
Greek	Modern Greek, Tsakonian, Italo-Rumean
Dardskaya	Glangali, Kalasha, Kashmiri, Kho, Kohistani, Pashai, Phalura, Torvali, Sheena, Shumashti
Illyrian	Albanian
Indo-Aryan	Sinhala, Maldivian, Hindi, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Bishnupriya-Manipuri, Oriya language, Bihari, Punjabi, Lakhnda, Gujuri, Dogri
Iranian	Ossetian language, Yaghnobi language, Saka languages, Pashto language Pamir languages, Balochi language, Talysh language, Bakhtiyar language, Kurdish language, Caspian dialects, Dialects of Central Iran, Zazaki (Zaza language, Dimli), Gorani (Gurani), Persian language (Farsi) ), Hazara language, Tajik language, Tat language
Celtic	Irish (Irish Gaelic), Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic), Manx, Welsh, Breton, Cornish
Nuristani	Kati (kamkata-viri), Ashkun (ashkunu), Waigali (kalash-ala), Tregami (gambiri), Prasun (washi-vari)
Romanskaya	Aromunian, Istro-Romanian, Megleno-Romanian, Romanian, Moldavian, French, Norman, Catalan, Provencal, Piedmontese, Ligurian (modern), Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnol, Venetian, Istro-Romansh, Italian, Corsican, Neapolitan, Sicilian, Sardinian, Aragonese, Spanish, Asturleone, Galician, Portuguese, Mirandese, Ladino, Romansh, Friulian, Ladin
Slavic	Bulgarian language, Macedonian language, Church Slavonic language, Slovenian language, Serbo-Croatian language (Shtokavian), Serbian language (Ekavian and Iekavian), Montenegrin language (Iekavian), Bosnian language, Croatian language (Jekavian), Kajkavian dialect, Molizsko-Croatian, Gradischansko-Croatian, Kashubian, Polish, Silesian, Lusatian subgroup (Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian, Slovak, Czech, Russian language, Ukrainian language, Polissian microlanguage, Rusyn language, Yugoslav-Rusyn language, Belarusian language

The classification of languages ​​explains the reason for the difficulty of learning foreign languages. A Slavic speaker who belongs to the Slavic group of the Indo-European family of languages ​​finds it easier to learn a language of the Slavic group than a language of another group of the Indo-European family, such as the languages ​​of the Romance group (French) or the Germanic group of languages ​​(English). It is even more difficult to learn the language of another language family, such as Chinese, which is not part of the Indo-European family, but belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages.

When choosing a foreign language for study, they are guided by the practical, and more often by the economic side of the matter. To get a well-paid job, they choose in the first place such popular languages ​​as English or German.

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Additional materials on language families.

Below are the main language families and the languages ​​included in them. The Indo-European language family has been discussed above.

Sino-Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan) language family.

Sino-Tibetan is one of the largest language families in the world. Includes more than 350 languages ​​spoken by more than 1200 million people. Sino-Tibetan languages ​​are divided into 2 groups, Chinese and Tibeto-Burmese.
● The Chinese group is formed by Chinese and its numerous dialects, the number of native speakers is more than 1050 million people. Distributed in China and beyond. and Min languages with more than 70 million native speakers.
● The Tibeto-Burmese group includes about 350 languages, with about 60 million native speakers. Distributed in Myanmar (formerly Burma), Nepal, Bhutan, southwestern China and northeastern India. Main languages: Burmese (up to 30 million speakers), Tibetan (more than 5 million), Karen languages ​​(more than 3 million), Manipuri (more than 1 million) and others.

The Altaic (hypothetical) language family includes the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu language groups. sometimes include the Korean and Japanese-Ryukyuan language groups.
● Turkic language group - widespread in Asia and Eastern Europe. The number of speakers is more than 167.4 million people. They are divided into the following subgroups:
・ Bulgar subgroup: Chuvash (dead - Bulgar, Khazar).
・ Oguz subgroup: Turkmen, Gagauz, Turkish, Azerbaijani (dead - Oguz, Pecheneg).
・ Kypchak subgroup: Tatar, Bashkir, Karaite, Kumyk, Nogai, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Altai, Karakalpak, Karachay-Balkarian, Crimean Tatar. (dead - Polovtsian, Pecheneg, Golden Horde).
・ Karluk subgroup: Uzbek, Uighur.
・ Eastern Xiongnu subgroup: Yakut, Tuva, Khakass, Shor, Karagas. (the dead - Orkhon, Old Uyghur.)
● The Mongolian language group includes several closely related languages ​​of Mongolia, China, Russia and Afghanistan. Includes modern Mongolian (5.7 million people), Khalkha-Mongolian (Khalkha), Buryat, Khamnigan, Kalmyk, Oirat, Shira-Yugur, Mongolian, Baoan-Dongxiang cluster, Mughal language - Afghanistan, Dagur (Dakhur) languages.
● The Tungus-Manchu language group are related languages ​​in Siberia (including the Far East), Mongolia and northern China. The number of carriers is 40 - 120 thousand people. Includes two subgroups:
・ Tungus subgroup: Evenki, Evenk (Lamut), Negidal, Nanai, Udei, Ulchi, Oroch, Udege.
・ Manchu subgroup: Manchu.

The languages ​​of the Austronesian language family are spoken in Taiwan, Indonesia, Java-Sumatra, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia, East Timor, Oceania, Kalimantan and Madagascar. This is one of the largest families (the number of languages ​​is over 1000, the number of speakers is over 300 million people). They are divided into the following groups:
● Western Austronesian languages
● East Indonesian languages
● Oceanic languages

Afroasian (or Semitic-Hamitic) language family.

● Semitic group
・ Northern subgroup: Aisor.
・ Southern group: Arabic; Amharic, etc.
・ dead: Aramaic, Akkadian, Phoenician, Canaanite, Hebrew (Hebrew).
・ Hebrew (the state language of Israel has been revived).
● Cushitic group: Galla, Somali, Beja.
● Berber group: Tuareg, Kabil, etc.
● Chadian group: Hausa, Gvandarai etc.
● Egyptian group (dead): Ancient Egyptian, Coptic.

The languages ​​of the pre-Indo-European population of the Hindustan peninsula are included:
● Dravidian group: Tamil, Malalayam, Kannara.
● Andhra group: Telugu.
● Central Indian group: Gondi.
● Brahui language (Pakistan).

The Japanese-Ryukyuan (Japanese) family of languages ​​is common in the Japanese archipelago and the Ryukyu Islands. Japanese is an isolated language that is sometimes assigned to the hypothetical Altaic family. The family includes:
・Japanese language and dialects.

The Korean language family is represented by one single language - Korean. Korean is an isolated language sometimes referred to as a hypothetical Altaic family. The family includes:
・Japanese language and dialects.
・Ryukyuan languages ​​(Amami Okinawan, Sakishima, and Yonagun language).

Tai-Kadai (Thai-Kadai, Dong-Thai, Paratai) is a family of languages ​​spoken on the Indochina peninsula and in the adjacent regions of South China.
● Li languages ​​(Hlai (Li) and Jiamao) Thai languages
・Northern subgroup: Northern Zhuang, Bui, Sek.
・central subgroup: tai (tho), nung, southern Zhuang dialects.
・Southwestern subgroup: Thai (Siamese), Lao, Shan, Khamti, Ahom, Black and White Tai, Yuan, Ly, Khyn.
●Dong-Shui languages: dong, shui, poppy, tkhen.
●be
●Kadai languages: Lakua, Lati, Gelao languages ​​(northern and southern).
●li languages ​​(hlai (li) and jiamao)

The Uralic language family includes two groups - Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic.
●Finno-Ugric group:
・Baltic-Finnish subgroup: Finnish, Izhorian, Karelian, Vepsian, Estonian, Votic, Liv.
・Volga subgroup: Mordovian language, Mari language.
・Permian subgroup: Udmurt, Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak and Komi-Yazva languages.
・Ugric subgroup: Khanty and Mansi, as well as Hungarian.
・Sami subgroup: languages ​​spoken by the Sami.
●Samoyedic languages ​​are traditionally divided into 2 subgroups:
・Northern subgroup: Nenets, Nganasan, Enets languages.
・southern subgroup: Selkup language.

1. Classification of languages. Principles of language classification: geographical, cultural-historical, ethnogenetic, typological, etc.

2. Genealogical (genetic) classification.

3. The concept of parent language. language family.

It is estimated that there are about six thousand languages. It is difficult to establish the difference between a language and a dialect of one language. There are several classifications of world languages.

1. Geographical classification according to the territories of the distribution of the language or dialect (areal), areal classification. The method of study is linguo-geographic.

2. Genealogical classification - the unification of languages ​​into language families by kinship. As a result, they have a material closeness.

3. Typological classification - according to the structural similarity of languages, according to the way of expressing grammatical meaning.

4. Functional classification. All languages ​​are divided into natural and artificial. Natural languages ​​arose on their own, have their own laws of development. Artificial languages ​​are artificially created by man.

5. Cultural and historical classification. Languages ​​are divided into written and non-written.

Genealogical (genetic) classification(gr. genealogy“genealogy”) is a classification of languages ​​according to the principle of kinship, i.e. on the basis of their family ties and common origin from the alleged proto-language. The linguistic kinship hypothesis arose from an elementary comparison. Researchers have long noticed that there are common features in the structures of many Euro-Asiatic languages. The similarities in pronunciation, meanings and grammatical forms found when comparing languages ​​led to the assumption that many languages ​​are relatives, i.e. have a common ancestor. The hypothesis that ancient and new languages ​​come from the same source language, the ancestor language, has placed the comparative study of languages ​​on a genealogical, or historical basis. The comparative study of languages ​​has become a comparative-historical one. The founder of comparative historical linguistics is considered Franz Bopp. Two languages ​​are said to be related when they are both the result of two different evolutions of the same language that was in use before. (Antoine Meyer). This language is the common “ancestor” of related languages, i.e., the language that gradually turned into each of the related languages ​​in the course of “two different evolutions” or disintegrated into related languages ​​is called them. parent language, or base language, and the whole set of related languages ​​is called language family. Usually, a language family is a kind of set of languages, within which there are groups united by closer kinship, the so-called branches.

So, in the Indo-European family, Slavic, Germanic, Romance, Indian and other branches stand out. The languages ​​of each branch go back to their base language - Proto-Slavic, Proto-Germanic, etc., which in turn is an offshoot of the proto-language of the whole family - Common Indo-European. Within the branches, subsets are distinguished - groups united by an even closer relationship. An example of such a subset is East Slavic Group, covering Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. The basis language of these three languages ​​was the Old Russian language, which existed as a more or less unified language in the era of Kievan Rus. Thus, all modern Slavic languages ​​arose from a single Proto-Slavic language, and three closely related East Slavic languages, in turn, emerged from a single Old Russian language.