The world’s languages can be divided into families, branches, and groups. Explain how many language families there are, and how much of the world’s population speak one of these languages. Name the two largest families and describe notable differences between them. Your response should be a paragraph in length. (4 points)

Answer 1

The world's languages can be classified into approximately 150 distinct language families, which are further divided into branches and groups. Around 90% of the global population speaks a language that belongs to one of the major families, highlighting their significant role in communication worldwide. The two largest language families are the Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan families. The Indo-European family includes languages such as English, Spanish, and Hindi, and is characterized by a complex system of grammatical inflections, and a diverse vocabulary with many loanwords from other languages. In contrast, the Sino-Tibetan family, which includes Mandarin and Cantonese, is noted for its tonal nature, where the meaning of a word can change based on pitch and intonation, and its largely analytic structure that relies less on inflection compared to Indo-European languages. These differences illustrate the rich linguistic diversity found within human languages.