language family
Related tongues group
A language family is a group of languages descended from a common ancestral language.
English, German, Hindi, and Russian all belong to the Indo-European family, having evolved from a single prehistoric tongue.
Linguists identify families by systematic similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and sound patterns: Mandarin and Cantonese belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family.
Rebuilding after destruction
- cognatesWords from common origin
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
- subgroupingDividing into smaller categories
- genetic relationshipBiological family connection
Vast language family
- Sino-TibetanMajor Asian language family
- Niger-CongoMajor African language family
- AustronesianPacific-spanning language family
- DravidianSouth Asian language family
Turkic · Algonquian · Bantu · Slavic · Germanic · Romance · Semitic · Celtic
Nativized mixed tongues
- pidginsSimplified mixed languages
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- borrowingTemporary taking of another's
- loanwordsAdopted foreign vocabulary
convergence · lingua franca · koine · relexification · code-switching · diglossia
Complete vanishing of a species
- moribundNear death, failing
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- isolatesKeeps separate from others
reconstruction
Rebuilding after destruction
- cognatesWords from common origin
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
- subgroupingDividing into smaller categories
genetic relationship · common ancestor · etymology · diachronic
Indo-European
Vast language family
- Sino-TibetanMajor Asian language family
- Niger-CongoMajor African language family
- AustronesianPacific-spanning language family
Dravidian · Turkic · Algonquian · Bantu · Slavic · Germanic · Romance · Semitic · Celtic · Baltic
creoles
Nativized mixed tongues
- pidginsSimplified mixed languages
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- borrowingTemporary taking of another's
loanwords · convergence · lingua franca · koine · relexification · code-switching · diglossia
extinction
Complete vanishing of a species
- moribundNear death, failing
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- languageword, words, grammar, spelling, alphabet
- etymologyword origins, word history, word origin, etymon, root words
- language groupsMandarin speakers, heritage speakers, bilinguals
- language varietiesdialect, idiolect, sociolect, vernacular, accent
- historical linguisticscognates, Indo-European, Grimm's Law, Proto-Germanic, word origins
- philologyphilology, etymology, critical edition, collation, emendation
family, language, familiar, languages, familial, linguist, bilingual, linguistic, linguistics