Family: Difference between revisions

From Glottopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
New page: A '''family''' of languages (or language family) is a group of languages that have developed from a common ancestor. ===Comments=== Some linguists have tried to establish separate...
 
NBlöcher (talk | contribs)
→Related terms: Rearranged the order of the key terms (now alphabetical)
Line 10: Line 10:
This term was apparently adopted by linguists from biology, where a group of similar plants had been called family since the mid-18th century, if not earlier. The term is deeply entrenched in linguistics since at least the mid-19th century.
This term was apparently adopted by linguists from biology, where a group of similar plants had been called family since the mid-18th century, if not earlier. The term is deeply entrenched in linguistics since at least the mid-19th century.


===Related terms===
===See also===
*[[subgroup]]
*[[Ancestor Language]]
*[[genealogical classification]]
*[[Daughter Language]]
*[[daughter language]]
*[[Genealogical Classification]]
*[[ancestor language]]
*[[Language Familiy]]
*[[sister language]]
*[[Sister Language]]
*[[Subgroup]]


===Other languages===
===Other languages===

Revision as of 09:11, 1 June 2014

A family of languages (or language family) is a group of languages that have developed from a common ancestor.

Comments

Some linguists have tried to establish separate terms for larger and smaller groups of languages, or for groups with greater and shallower time-depth. None of these are as universally accepted and used as family. Here are some of them:

Origin

This term was apparently adopted by linguists from biology, where a group of similar plants had been called family since the mid-18th century, if not earlier. The term is deeply entrenched in linguistics since at least the mid-19th century.

See also

Other languages

German Sprachfamilie