Language Families
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Afroasiatic: Topic PageFormerly Hamito-Semitic languageshămʹĭtō-səmĭtʹĭk, family of languages spoken by more than 250 million people in N Africa; much of the Sahara; parts of E, central, and W Africa; and W Asia (especially the Arabian peninsula, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel).
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Australian: Topic PageAboriginal languages spoken on the continent of Australia. The Australian languages do not appear to be related to any other linguistic family.
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Baltic: Topic PageA subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European subfamily to which the Baltic languages appear to be closest is the Slavic. Because of this, some linguists regard Baltic and Slavic as branches of a single Balto-Slavic division of the Indo-European family.
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Bantu: Topic PageBantu contains hundreds of languages that are spoken by 120 million Africans in the Congo Basin, Angola, the Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. The word Bantu means "the people".
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Caucasian: Topic PageFamily of languages spoken by about 7 million people in the Caucasus region of SE European Russia.
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Celtic: Topic PageSubfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. At one time, during the Hellenistic period, Celtic speech extended all the way from Britain and the Iberian Peninsula in the west across Europe to Asia Minor in the east.
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Dravidian: Topic PageFamily of about 23 languages that appears to be unrelated to any other known language family. The Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people, living chiefly in S and central India and N Sri Lanka.
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Germanic: Topic PageSubfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, spoken by about 470 million people in many parts of the world, but chiefly in Europe.
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Indo-European: Topic PageFamily of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world's population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first language.
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Indo-Iranian: Topic PageSubfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, spoken by more than a billion people, chiefly in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Iran.
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Romance: Topic PageGroup of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic.
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Slavic: Topic PageA subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European subfamily to which the Baltic languages appear to be closest is the Slavic. Because of this, some linguists regard Baltic and Slavic as branches of a single Balto-Slavic division of the Indo-European family.
Ancient Languages
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Akkadian: Topic PageExtinct language belonging to the East Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages . Also called Assyro-Babylonian, Akkadian (or Accadian) was current in ancient Mesopotamia (now Iraq) from about 3000 B.C. until the time of Jesus.
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Anatolian: Topic PageSubfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The term "Anatolian languages" is also used to refer to all languages, Indo-European and non-Indo-European, that were spoken in Anatolia in ancient times.
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Aramaic: Topic PageLanguage belonging to the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages).
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Cuneiform: Topic Pagesystem of writing developed before the last centuries of the 4th millennium B.C. in the lower Tigris and Euphrates valley, probably by the Sumerians.
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Hieroglyphics: Topic PageA type of writing used in ancient Egypt. Similar pictographic styles of Crete, Asia Minor, and Central America and Mexico are also called hieroglyphic.
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Latin: Topic PageMember of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Latin was first encountered in ancient times as the language of Latium, the region of central Italy in which Rome is located (see Italic languages). Roman conquests later spread Latin throughout Italy and the vast Roman Empire
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Old Church Slavonic: Topic PageLanguage belonging to the South Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages).
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Sanskrit: Topic PageLanguage belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Sanskrit was the classical standard language of ancient India, and some of the oldest surviving Indo-European documents are written in Sanskrit.
Modern Languages
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Arabic: Topic PageMajor Semitic language of the Hamito-Semitic family of West Asia and North Africa, originating among the Arabs.
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Armenian: Topic PageMember of the Thraco-Phrygian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European).
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Bulgaria: Topic PageMember of the South Slavic group of the Slavonic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages).
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Danish: Topic PagesMember of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.
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Dutch: Topic PagesMember of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages).
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English: Topic PageMember of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages).
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French: Topic PageMember of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages).
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Greek: Topic PageMember of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). It is the language of one of the major civilizations of the world.
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Hebrew: Topic PageMember of the Canaanite group of the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages.
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Icelandic: Topic PagesMember of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.
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Italian: Topic PageMember of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages).
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Norwegian: Topic PagesMember of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.
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Persian: Topic PageMember of the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian languages). Also referred to as 'Farsi'.
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Polish: Topic PagesMember of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages ).
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Portuguese: Topic PageMember of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages).
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Russian: Topic PagesAlso called Great Russian, member of the East Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.
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Spanish: Topic PageMember of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages).
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Swedish: Topic PagesMember of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.