Spread, diversity and decline of language

1. Language
Spread, diversity and decline of
languages

2. Origin of language ??
• Primate vocalisation
– Warning
– Anger
– Friendship
– Recognition and identification
– Cooperation (hunting and war)
• Innate Baby vocalisation
– Want (food, water and attention)
– Pain
– Anger

3. Hominid language
• Neanderthals did not have the anatomy
necessary to produce the full range of sounds
that modern humans make
• Homo habilis and Homo erectus had some form
of communication during the stone age
• around 50,000 years ago a group of Homo
sapiens left Africa and proceeded to inhabit the
rest of the world, including Australia and the
Americas
• This group probably developed a proto language
that spread with their spread through out Europe
and Asia

4. Indo-European languages ca. 3,500 BC

5. Indo-European languages ca. 2,500 BC

6. Indo-European languages ca. 1,500 BC

7. Indo-European languages ca. 500 BC

8. Indo-European languages ca. 500 AD
Basque language
Hungarian language

9. Indo European language tree

10. Approximate present day distribution

11. distribution of Indo-European
languages within the Americas

12. Human Language families

14. Top 25 languages spoken by 50% of
the world population

15. Density of different languages

16. World map of living languages

17. Average number of native speakers
per language in Central Africa
• Gabon 30,738 (42 languages)
• Equatorial Guinea 34,571 (14 languages)
• Congo 58,225 (62 languages)
• Central African Republic 59,028 (71 languages)
• Botswana 63,310 (29 languages)
• Cameroon 64,010 (278 languages)
• Guinea-Bissau 76,047 (21 languages)
• Chad 77,450 (131 languages)
• Liberia 114,733 (30 languages)
• Benin 157,222 (54 languages)
• Togo 159,974 (39 languages)
• Gambia 161,700 (10 languages)

18. Diversity of language
Silent language
• Sign language
• Body language
• Semaphores (Flags)
Sound languages
• Whistling language
• Click languages
• Esperanto

19. Silent language – sign language
• There are about 70 million deaf
people who use sign language as
their first language or mother
tongue.
• It is also the first language and
mother tongue to many hearing
people and some deafblind people
(tactile sign languages).
• Each country has one or
sometimes two or more sign
languages, although different sign
languages can share the same
linguistic roots in the same way as
spoken languages do.

20. Silent language – body language
• Body language is a kind
of nonverbal
communication, where
thoughts, intentions, or
feelings are expressed by
physical behaviors, such
as facial expressions, body
posture, gestures, eye
movement, touch and the
use of space.
• Body language exists in
both animals and humans
• It is also known as kinesics.

21. Flag signals - Semaphores
• Signal flags is one system of
signals to or from ships.
• flags can be used in different
ways;
– each flag spells an alphabetic
message, letter by letter.
– individual flags have specific and
standard meanings.
– one or more flags form a code
word whose meaning can be
looked up in a code book held by
both parties.
– NATO uses the same flags, with a
few unique to warships, alone or in
short sets to communicate various
unclassified messages

22. Whistling language
Whistled languages use whistling to emulate
speech and facilitate communication over long
distances.
Whistled languages exist or existed in such parts
of the world as
• Turkey (Kuşköy, "Village of the Birds")
• France (the village of Aas in the Pyrenees)
• Island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands
(Silbo)
• Mexico
(the Mazatecs and Chinantecs of Oaxaca)
• South America (Pirahã),
• Asia (the Chepang of Nepal), and New
Guinea
• West Africa languages whistled by many
people (Yoruba and Ewe)
• Even French is whistled in some areas of
western Africa

23. Click languages
• A few of the Bantu languages of South
Africa have clicks
• The Xhosa language is one of
the official languages of South Africa.
• Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.6
million people, or about 18% of the
South African population.
• Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is
a tonal language
• One of the most distinctive features of
the language is the prominence
of click consonants; the word "Xhosa"
begins with a click.

24. Universal language - Esperanto
• Esperanto is a language, but not
of any country or ethnic
group—it is a neutral,
international language.
• Estimates of the number of
people who speak Esperanto
today range from 10,000 to two
million.
• Created by Ludwig Zamenhof in
1887, Esperanto has a very
regular structure, which means
it is easy to learn.
English Esperanto
Hello Saluton
Yes Jes
No Ne
Good morning Bonan matenon
Good evening Bonan vesperon
Good night Bonan nokton
Goodbye Ĝis revido
What is your name? Kio estas via nomo?
My name is Marc.
Mia nomo estas
Marko.
Do you speak
Esperanto?
Ĉu vi parolas
Esperante?
I don't understand
you
Mi ne komprenas vin
All right Bone
Okay Ĝuste
Thank you Dankon
You're welcome Ne dankinde
Please Bonvolu

25. Key geographical languages

26. Most spoken language

27. Spoken language over time

28. Classifying English Languages
New Englishes Older Englishes (English-based) Pidgins,
Creoles and Decreolized
varieties
Africa
Kenyan English
Nigerian English
South Asia
Indian English
Lankan English
Pakistani English
Southeast Asia
Filipino English
Malaysian English
Singpore English
Etc.
North America
American English
Canadian English
Great Britain
English English
Scots
Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland
Irish English
Southern Indian and
Pacific Oceans
Australian English
New Zealand English
Etc.
Africa
West African Pidgin
Papua New Guinea
Tok Pisin
Sierra Leone
Krio
USA
Black English
Vernacular
Hawaii English
Creole
Vanuatu
Bislama
Etc.

29. English - One language – many dialects
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation is the closest to a “standard accent” that has ever existed in the
UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional. It emerged from the
18th- and 19th-Century aristocracy, and has remained the “gold standard” ever since.
Cockney
Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East End of
London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that region.
Estuary English (Southeast British)
Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly similar to
“General American” in the US.
West Country (Southwest British)
West Country refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England, starting about
fifty miles West of London and extending to the Welsh border.
Midlands English
Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. The most famous of these dialects
is Brummie (Birmingham English).

30. English - One language – many dialects
Northern England English
These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester,
Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in rural Yorkshire.
Geordie
Geordie usually refers to both the people and dialect of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in Northeast
England. The word may also refer to accents and dialects in Northeast England in general.
Welsh English
This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. The speech of this region
is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remained more widely spoken in modern
times than the other Celtic languages.
Scottish English
This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of Scotland.
Note that Scottish English is different than Scots, a language derived from Northumbrian Old
English that is spoken in Scotland as well.

31. Internet language

32. Most common second language

33. Who can speak the most foreign
languages?
Well done Luxembourg!

34. Seductive accents
The study found that the French people consider the English accent to
be the most attractive
Worldwide the French language is considered to be the most
seductive.
French at the top with 34% of the vote, followed by Italian and Spanish.
French was also the most attractive accent when speaking another
language.
However, for the French people who were surveyed
• the language of love was Italian
• the most attractive accent to hear someone speaking French was
the English (39% of the vote).
Nearly 95% of respondents worldwide said they would be ready to
learn a new language for a relationship!
The poll of 14,000 people worldwide for the Babbel app

35. Writing systems of the world

36. Declining number of remaining
languages

37. Regional decline of language

38. The final decline in Language?
• Lol Laugh out loud
• Gtg Got to go
• Lylas Love you like a
sister
• Brb Be right back
• waz↑ What’s up?
• Nm Nothing much
• Ctn Can’t talk now
• Tmi Too much
information
• Luvya Love ya
• Bf Boyfriend
• Bff Best friend
• Gf Girlfriend
and as we close . . .
 Ttfn Tata for now
 Cul8r See you later
 Ttyl Talk to you later