Language Families of the World

Using the tools of linguistics, undertake a voyage of discovery to uncover the origins of language families around the world and the ways languages have developed and changed over time.

• By This Professor
• 01: Why Are There So Many Languages?
• 02: The First Family Discovered: Indo-European
• 03: Indo-European Languages in Europe
• 04: Indo-European Languages in Asia
• 05: The Click Languages
• 06: Niger-Congo: Largest Family in Africa I
• 07: Niger-Congo: Largest Family in Africa II
• 08: Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond I
• 09: Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond II
• 10: Nilo-Saharan: Africa’s Hardest Languages?
• 11: Is the Indo-European Family Alone in Europe?
• 12: How to Identify a Language Family
• 13: What Is a Caucasian Language?
• 14: Indian Languages That Aren’t Indo-European
• 15: Languages of the Silk Road and Beyond
• 16: Japanese and Korean: Alike yet Unrelated
• 17: The Languages We Call Chinese
• 18: Chinese’s Family Circle: Sino-Tibetan
• 19: Southeast Asian Languages: The Sinosphere
• 20: Languages of the South Seas I
• 21: Languages of the South Seas II
• 22: Siberia and Beyond: Language Isolates
• 23: Creole Languages
• 24: Why Are There So Many Languages in New Guinea?
• 25: The Languages of Australia I
• 26: The Languages of Australia II
• 27: The Original American Languages I
• 28: The Original American Languages II
• 29: The Original American Languages III
• 30: The Original American Languages IV
• 31: Languages Caught between Families
• 32: How Far Back Can We Trace Languages?
• 33: What Do Genes Say about Language Families?
• 34: Language Families and Writing Systems