Let’s begin this chapter with an exercise by looking at a map that shows global distribution of the major language families.

From the map and section linked above, you’ll see the major language families associated with each major world region and how the distribution of language families spans world regions, even ones that are not connected by land.

All modern languages originate from an ancient language. The origin of every language may never be known because many ancient languages existed and changed before the written record. Root words within languages are the best evidence that we have to indicate that languages originated from pre-written history. The possible geographic origin of ancient languages is quite impressive. For example, several languages have similar root words for winter and snow, but not for the ocean. This indicates that the original language originated in an interior location away from the ocean. It was not until people speaking this language migrated toward the ocean that the word ocean was added to the lexicon (a catalog of a language’s words).

So, how did these languages get WHERE they are? Check out the video below for a quick overview and then see below for more.

Languages move from their hearths to other places and find new speakers through various diffusion processes. Relocation diffusion occurs when migrants bring their native language to a new country, or when conquerors impose their language on the people they subjugate. Hierarchical diffusion happens when inhabitants of major cities invent and adopt new slang or expressions, which are then introduced to smaller towns. Contagious diffusion is exemplified by the spread of new slang within a school as friends mimic each other’s speech. As languages are introduced in new locations, they often borrow words and expressions from the native languages they encounter, creating a dynamic exchange. The most common theories regarding the diffusion of language families, particularly the largest one, Indo-European, are through these mechanisms.

1. Peaceful, passive interactions.

The Agricultural theory holds that the Indo-European language spread from its likely origin point, also known as a linguistic hearth,  of Anatolia in modern-day Turkey alongside farmers who moved further and further out from their agricultural hearth.  Agriculture provided the opportunity for settlements with large numbers of people residing in one spot needing a way to interact and communicate with one another.

2. Conquest/war/invasion.

In contrast with the agricultural theory, conquest theory or nomadic warrior theory refers to the claim that the Indo-European language family diffused due to violent expansion and take-over by people from Anatolia to other parts of Europe.

3. Colonialism.

A more contemporary but still historical example is that of  colonialism, which tends to involve violent forms of conquest usually coupled with less violent forms of influence, as a related mechanisms that facilitates language diffusion.

Latin America provides a tidy example of this. The red vertical line on the map below, from the Library of Congress, divided territory in the “new world” between Spain and Portugal in 1794 as part of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Area to the west of the line came under Spanish colonial rule and area to the east, Portuguese.

The linguistic impact of this is evident today: Central and South America are largely Spanish-speaking (with notable pockets and second languages of various Amerindian and Indigenous languages) except for Brazil, where Portuguese is predominant. In fact, the reason this region is widely referred to as Latin America and people from this region are called Latinos/Latinas/Latinix(the latter term is a gender-neutral way to refer to Latino men and Latina women) instead of Hispanic America, for instance, is because of the two Indo-European linguistic influences of Spanish and Portuguese. Take a look at a colonial/second-language map of of Africa, and you’ll see a similar colonial legacy. Proselytizing, or trying to convert people to a particular religion, tends to be part of colonial practices and as such also plays a direct role in language diffusion.

4. Cultural imperialism and the internet? 

When thinking about how language–entire communication systems or even parts of the system, like particular words or even gestures–spreads today in the 21st century, we must consider forces of cultural imperialism, referring to how more indirect but strong cultural influences (largely US-American) are imposed on much of the world.  Take a look at the chart below and compare the most common internet languages with the most spoken languages.

Figure 6.3.4 InternetWorldStats estimates of the number of Internet users by language as of March 31, 2020 retrieved from Wikipedia.

6.3.2 Distribution of Language Families

• Indo-European
• Sino-Tibetan
• Afro-Asiatic
• Niger-Congo
• Austronesian
• Uralic
• Austro-Asiatic

6.3.3 The World Languages – English, Spanish, Chinese

English: Derived from the Indo-European Language family tree, the Germanic family branch includes English, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages. English is also widely spoken in regions that were once part of the British Empire, including most of North America.

English is spoken by more people than any other language worldwide, though many speak it as a second language; i.e. it is primarily spoken by non-native speakers. This prevalence is not because English is particularly easy to learn; it has borrowed extensively from other languages, leading to numerous irregular spellings and verbs, as well as a vast array of slang. English became the world’s most common language largely due to the economic, cultural, and military power of England.  The British Empire’s naval power and colonization efforts in the 18th and 19th centuries spread English globally.

However, English did not achieve its unique global dominance until after World War II, when the British Empire was in decline. Unlike the British, the spread of American English was not through colonization but through the United States’ rise as an economic, cultural, and technological superpower, which solidified English’s status as a truly global language.

A good example of how this works is evident in the global airline industry. The diffusion of technology and language often go hand in hand. Pilots of international flights talk to air traffic controllers on the ground in English, even if neither the pilot nor the ground control official is from an English-speaking country. Why? Partly it’s because the airplane was invented by Americans and partly because the British invented international commercial air travel. Thus, English speakers invented air travel, so others have tended to follow the rules and tendencies created by the pioneers. Consider other technologies invented by Americans but now used worldwide (internet, personal computers, iPhone, etc.). Many users of these technologies, especially the early adopters, find them easier to use if they know English. In addition,  of course, the massive cultural influence of Hollywood and American pop music and the jeans industry have also helped spread English worldwide.

Spanish: The world’s second most commonly spoken home language after Chinese  is Spanish, one of the many Romance languages that evolved from a common Roman ancestor known as Vulgar Latin. In this context, “vulgar” refers to the language used by common people, as opposed to Classical Latin. Other Romance languages include Portuguese, Italian, French, and Romanian, with up to two dozen additional ones such as Catalan, Romansh, and Sicilian.

Speakers of many lesser-known Romance languages often live in mountainous regions (like the Ladin people in the Italian Alps or the Romansh in Switzerland), on islands, or in other isolated areas, highlighting the role of geography in the formation and preservation of languages. While each language in this family shares hundreds of similar words and linguistic structures, they generally remain unintelligible to speakers of other languages within the same family.