The language family dominates nearly all of Europe, significant areas of Asia, including Russia and India, North and South America, Caribbean islands, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South Africa. The Indo-European family of languages, for example, represents nearly half of the world’s population. Language families around the world reflect centuries of geographic movement and interaction among different groups of people. This type of classification is known as typological classification, and is based on a comparison of the formal similarities (pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary) which exist among languages. Languages can also be classified according to sentence structure (S)ubject+(V)erb+(O)bject, S+O+V, V+S+O). This type of linguistic classification is known as the genetic or genealogical approach. Languages are usually classified according to membership in a language family (a group of related languages) which share common linguistic features (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar) and have evolved from a common ancestor ( proto-language). An opposite situation occurs when spoken language varieties are not mutually understood, but for political, historical or cultural motives, they are regarded as the same language as in the case of Lapp and Chinese dialects. There are other cases in which political, ethnic, religious, literary and other factors force a distinction between similar language varieties: Hindi vs. While Swedes, Danes and Norwegians can communicate with each other in most instances, each national group admits speaking a different language: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic. The most common situation is when similar spoken language varieties are mutually understandable, but for political and historical reasons, they are regarded as different languages as in the case of Scandinavian languages. However, there are many other cases in which speakers will not agree when the question of national identity and mutual intelligibility do not coincide. English speakers from England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States of America will generally agree that they speak English, and this is also confirmed with the use of a standard written form of the language and a common literary heritage. In the case of English, most native speakers will agree that they are speakers of English even though differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and sentence structure clearly exist. Dialects (variants of the same language) reflect differences along regional and ethnic lines. Estimates vary between 5,000 and 7,000, and the accurate number depends partly on the arbitrary distinction between languages and dialects. There is no precise figure as to the total number of languages spoken in the world today. Russification and Arabization are just two implementations of processes that use political power to favor one language over another. The establishment of official languages is often related to the linguistic power differential within countries. In reality, languages borrow bits and pieces from other languages continuously. The British press has published books 1 and articles 2 decrying the Americanization of British English, while the American press has done the same thing in reverse 3. One of the most obvious examples has been in the current convergence of British and American English. Contagious diffusion is also seen in languages, particularly in the adoption of new expressions in a language. People may be compelled to adopt a dominant language for social, political or economic mobility. Relocation diffusion is associated with settler colonies and conquest, but in many places, hierarchical diffusion is the form that best explains the predominant languages. Language is disseminated through diffusion, but in complex ways. Later, European expansion produced much of the current linguistic map by spreading English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian far from their native European homelands. Indo-European, the largest language family, spread across a large expanse of Europe and Asia through a mechanism that is still being debated. Writing systems that were developed by one people were adapted and used by others. As people have conquered other places, expanded demographically, or converted others to new religions, languages have moved across space. As our ancestors moved from place to place, they brought their languages with them. Language, like any other cultural phenomenon, has an inherent spatiality, and all languages have a history of diffusion.
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