A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include
Austroasiatic
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
,
Austronesian,
Caucasian,
Dravidian,
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
,
Afroasiatic
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
,
Turkic,
Sino-Tibetan and
Kra–Dai. Most, but not all, have a long history as a written language.
Language groups
The major families in terms of numbers are
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
and
Indo-Aryan languages and
Dravidian languages in South Asia and
Sino-Tibetan in East Asia. Several other families are regionally dominant.
Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan includes
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
,
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...
,
Burmese,
Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic la ...
,
Boro __NOTOC__
Boro may refer to:
People
* Boro people, indigenous peoples of Amazonas, Brazil
* A variant spelling for the Bodo people of northeast India
* Charan Boro, Indian politician
* Isaac Adaka Boro, a celebrated Niger Delta nationalist and Ni ...
and numerous languages of the Tibetan Plateau, southern China, Burma, and North east India.
Indo-European
The
Indo-European languages are primarily represented by the
Indo-Iranian branch. The family includes both
Indic languages (
Hindi,
Urdu,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
Odia
Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to:
* Odia people in Odisha, India
* Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family
* Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...
,
Assamese,
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
,
Sindhi
Sindhi may refer to:
*something from, or related to Sindh, a province of Pakistan
* Sindhi people, an ethnic group from the Sindh region
* Sindhi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
People with the name
* Sarkash Sindhi (1940–2012 ...
,
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
,
Marathi,
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
,
Sinhala and other languages spoken primarily in
South Asia) and
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
(
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
,
Kurdish,
Pashto,
Balochi and other languages spoken primarily in
Iran,
Anatolia,
Mesopotamia,
Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of South Asia). In addition, other branches of Indo-European spoken in Asia include the
Slavic branch, which includes
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
in
Siberia;
Greek around the
Black Sea; and
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
; as well as extinct languages such as
Hittite of Anatolia and
Tocharian of (Chinese) Turkestan.
Altaic families
A number of smaller, but important and separately distinguished language families spread across central and northern Asia have long been linked in a hypothetical, controversial and unproven Altaic family. These are the
Turkic,
Mongolic,
Tungusic (including
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
),
Koreanic
Koreanic is a small language family consisting of the Korean and Jeju languages. The latter is often described as a dialect of Korean, but is distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Alexander Vovin suggests that the Yukjin dialec ...
, and
Japonic
Japonic or Japanese–Ryukyuan, sometimes also Japanic, is a language family comprising Japanese, spoken in the main islands of Japan, and the Ryukyuan languages, spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. The family is universally accepted by linguists, and ...
languages. But recently, it is often considered as
Sprachbund by the majority.
Mon–Khmer
The Mon–Khmer languages (also known as Austroasiatic) are the language family in South and Southeast Asia. Languages given official status are
Vietnamese and
Khmer (Cambodian).
Kra–Dai
The
Kra–Dai languages (also known as Tai-Kadai) are found in southern China, Northeast India and Southeast Asia. Languages given official status are
Thai (Siamese) and
Lao.
Austronesian
The
Austronesian languages are widespread throughout
Maritime Southeast Asia, including major languages such as
Fijian (
Fiji),
Hiligaynon
Bikol,
Cebuano,
Tagalog (
Philippines), and
Malay (
Malaysia,
Singapore, and
Brunei).
Javanese,
Sundanese, and
Madurese of
Indonesia, as well as
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
which is the largest language in this family.
Dravidian
The Dravidian languages of southern Asia (India) and parts of Sri Lanka include
Tamil,
Kannada,
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
...
, and
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
, while smaller languages such as
Gondi and
Brahui are spoken in central India and Pakistan respectively.
Afro-Asiatic
The
Afroasiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
(in older sources Hamito-Semitic) are represented in Asia by the
Semitic branch. Semitic languages are spoken in
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
, and include
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
Aramaic, in addition to extinct languages such as
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...
.
Siberian families
Besides the Altaic families already mentioned (of which Tungusic is today a minor family of Siberia), there are a number of small language families and isolates spoken across northern Asia. These include the
Uralic languages of western Siberia (better known for Hungarian and Finnish in Europe), the
Yeniseian languages
The Yeniseian languages (sometimes known as Yeniseic or Yenisei-Ostyak;"Ostyak" is a concept of areal rather than genetic linguistics. In addition to the Yeniseian languages it also includes the Uralic languages Khanty and Selkup. occasional ...
(
linked to Turkic and to the Athabaskan languages of North America),
Yukaghir
The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), russian: юкаги́ры) are a Siberian ethnic group people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River.
Geographic distribution
The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region ...
,
Nivkh of Sakhalin,
Ainu
Ainu or Aynu may refer to:
*Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East
* Ainu languages, a family of languages
**Ainu language of Hokkaido
**Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands
**Sakhalin Ainu l ...
of northern Japan,
Chukotko-Kamchatkan in easternmost Siberia, and—just barely—
Eskimo–Aleut
The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...
. Some linguists have noted that the
Koreanic languages share more similarities with the
Paleosiberian languages
Paleosiberian (or Paleo-Siberian) languages or Paleoasian (Paleo-Asiatic) (from , "ancient") are several linguistic isolates and small families of languages spoken in parts of northeastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. They are not known ...
than with the
Altaic languages
Altaic (; also called Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. Speakers of these languages are c ...
. The extinct
Ruan-ruan language of Mongolia is unclassified, and does not show genetic relationships with any other known language family.
Caucasian families
Three small families are spoken in the
Caucasus:
Kartvelian languages, such as
Georgian;
Northeast Caucasian (Dagestanian languages), such as
Chechen; and
Northwest Caucasian
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes ''Pontic languages'' (from the historical region of Pontus, in contrast to ''Caspian languages'' for the Northeast Cau ...
, such as
Circassian. The latter two may be related to each other. The extinct
Hurro-Urartian languages may be related as well.
Small families of Southern Asia
Although dominated by major languages and families, there are number of minor families and isolates in
South Asia &
Southeast Asia. From west to east, these include:
*extinct languages of the
Fertile Crescent such as
Sumerian and
Elamite.
*extinct languages of South Asia: the unclassified
Harappan language
The Harappan language is the unknown language or languages of the Bronze Age () Harappan civilization (Indus Valley civilization, or IVC). The language being unattested in any readable contemporary source, hypotheses regarding its nature are r ...
*small language families and isolates of the
Indian subcontinent:
Burushaski
Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...
,
Kusunda, and
Nihali. The
Vedda
The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Vedd ...
language of
Sri Lanka is likely an isolate that has mixed with
Sinhala.
*the two
Andamanese language families:
Great Andamanese and
Ongan;
Sentinelese
The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Gro ...
remains undocumented to date, and hence unclassified.
*unclassified languages in Southeast Asia:
Kenaboi.
*
Language isolates and independent language families in Arunachal:
Digaro,
Hrusish (including the
Miji languages
Miji (autonym: Dmay), also Dhammai or Sajolang, is a cluster of possibly Sino-Tibetan languages in Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. "Dialects" include at least two distinct languages, which are not particularly close, with only half of th ...
[Blench, Roger. 2015]
''The Mijiic languages: distribution, dialects, wordlist and classification''
m.s.),
Midzu,
Puroik,
Siangic, and
Kho-Bwa
The Kho-Bwa languages, also known as Bugunish and Kamengic, are a small family of languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. The name ''Kho-Bwa'' was originally proposed by George van Driem (2001). It is based on the reconstructed ...
*
Hmong–Mien (Miao–Yao) scattered across southern China and Southeast Asia
*several "
Papuan" families of the central and eastern Malay Archipelago: languages of
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island.
Ha ...
,
East Timor, and the extinct
Tambora of
Sumbawa. Numerous additional families are spoken in Indonesian
New Guinea, but this lies outside the scope of an article on Asian languages.
*
Hattic was an unclassificed language in Anatolia.
Creoles and pidgins
The eponymous
pidgin ("business") language developed with European trade in China. Of the many creoles to have developed, the most spoken today are
Chavacano
Chavacano or Chabacano is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers. ...
, a
Spanish-based creole of the Philippines, and various
Malay-based creoles such as
Manado Malay
Manado Malay, or simply the Manado language, is a creole language spoken in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province in Indonesia, and the surrounding area. The local name of the language is , and the name Minahasa Malay is also used, afte ...
influenced by
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
. A very well-known Portuguese-based creole is the
Kristang, which is spoken in
Malacca, a city-state in
Malaysia.
Sign languages
A number of sign languages are spoken throughout Asia. These include the
Japanese Sign Language family,
Chinese Sign Language
Chinese Sign Language (abbreviated CSL or ZGS; ) is the official sign language of the People's Republic of China. It is unrelated to Taiwanese Sign Language and is known in the Republic of China as ''Wénfǎ Shǒuyǔ'' ().
History
The firs ...
,
Indo-Pakistani Sign Language
Indo-Pakistani Sign Language (IPSL) is the predominant sign language in the subcontinent of South Asia, used by at least 15 million deaf signers. As with many sign languages, it is difficult to estimate numbers with any certainty, as the Cens ...
, as well as a number of small indigenous sign languages of countries such as
Nepal,
Thailand, and
Vietnam. Many official sign languages are part of the
French Sign Language family
The French Sign Language (LSF, from ''langue des signes française'') or Francosign family is a language family of sign languages which includes French Sign Language and American Sign Language.
The LSF family descends from Old French Sign Langu ...
.
Official languages
Asia and Europe are the only two continents where most countries use native languages as their
official languages, though English is also widespread as an international language.
See also
*
Asian studies
Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian ...
*
Asianic languages
*
East Asian languages
The East Asian languages are a language family (alternatively '' macrofamily'' or ''superphylum'') proposed by Stanley Starosta in 2001. The proposal has since been adopted by George van Driem.
Classifications Early proposals
Early proposals of ...
*
Languages of South Asia
*
List of extinct languages of Asia
{{Language Endangerment status
This is a list of extinct languages of Asia, languages which have undergone language death, have no native speakers, and no spoken descendant.
There are 114 languages listed. 8 from Central Asia, 21 from East As ...
*
Classification schemes for Southeast Asian languages
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Asia