CLASSIFICATION SCHEME FOR THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD



Afro-Asiatic

 
  • Ancient Egyptian

Ancient Egyptian, Coptic
  • Berber

Tamasheq (Tuareg), Kabyl, Rif
  • Chadic

Hausa, Mandara
  • Cushitic

Beja, Somali, Oromo (Gallinya)
  • Omotic

Walamo
  • Semitic

Arabic, Hebrew, Maltese, Amharic, Tigre, Tigrinya, Akkadian, Assyrian, Aramaic

Algic

Yurok, Wiyot, Cree, Ojibwa, Micmac, Fox, Shawnee, Blackfoot

Altaic

 
  • Mongolian

Classical Mongolian; Moghol, Dagur, Kalmyk, Oirat, Buriat, Khalkha (Modern Mongolian)
  • Tungus

Even, Evenki, Manchu, Orok
  • Turkic

Old Turkish; Turkish, Chuvash, Gagauz, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Uighur, Uzbek, Bashkir, Tatar, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Yakut, Altai

Andean

Iquito, Quechua, Aymara, Mapudungu (Araucanian)

Australian

All the aboriginal languages of mainland Australia (but not of Tasmania)

Austro-Asiatic

 
  • Mon-Khmer

Vietnamese, Muong, Khmer (Cambodian), Khasi, Nicobarese
  • Munda

Korku, Santali, Mundari, Korwa

Austronesian

  • Central Malayo-Polynesian

Maluku languages (Taliabo, Geser, Kei, Yamdena); Timor-Flores languages (Sikka, Tetun, Letri Lgona); Waima'a; Bima-Sumba languages (Bima, Savu, Manggarai, Ngada)
  • Formosan

Atayal; Tsou; Paiwan
  • Oceanic

Polynesian languages (Samoan, Tahitian, Maori, Hawaiian); Rotuman, Fijian; Micronesian languages (Marshallese, Trukese); Others (Sissano, Motu, Arawe, Simbo)
  • South Halmahera - NW New Guinea

Kaiwai, Onin, Irahutu; Gane, Misool, Waigeo, Waropen
  • Western Malayo-Polynesian

Philippines languages (Tagalog, Cebuano); Sundic languages (Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, Sundanese, Achinese, Javanese); Borneo languages (Melanau); Celebes languages (Bugis, Makassarese); Malagasy

Aztec-Tanoan

Tanoan, Northern and Southern Paiute, Comanche, Hopi, Nahuatl (Aztec)

Caddoan

Wichita, Pawnee

Caucasian

 
  • North Caucasian

Kabardian, Abxaz, Chechen, Ingush,  Avar, Dargwa
  • South Caucasian

Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz

Chibchan-Paezan

Tarascan, Yanonamö, Timucua, Guaymi, Paez, Cayapa-Colorado, Sanuma, Katio, Chibcha, Cuaiquer

Chimakuan

Chimakum, Quileute

Chukchi-Kamchatkan

Chukchi, Kerek, Koryak, Kamchadal

Daic

Thai, Lao, Zhuang, Northern Thai, Southern Thai, Bouyei, Shan, Zhongjia, Kam, Li

Dravidian

Brahui, Malto, Gondi, Kuvi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Toda

Equatorial-Tucanoan

Cocama, Guarani, Tucano, Ticuna, Apurina, Baniwa, Guajajara, Kaiwa, Nhengatu, Terena

Eskimo-Aleut

Aleut, Inuit, Yupik

Ge-Pano-Carib

Chulupi, Vejoz, Toba, Galibi (Carib), Fulnio, Kaingang, Cayapo, Makushi

Gulf

Yuki, Wappo, Natchez, Choctaw, Muskogee, Tunica

Hokan

Karok, Shasta, Pomo languages, Washo, Yuma, Seri, Tlapanec

Indo-European

Little-attested IE languages from antiquity: Illyrian, Venetic, Thracian, Dacian, Ligurian
  • Albanian

Albanian
  • Anatolian

Hittite, Luwian, Lycian, Palaic
  • Armenian

Armenian (Classical and Modern)
  • Baltic

Latvian, Lithuanian, Old Prussian
  • Celtic

Old Irish; Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Gaulish
  • Germanic

Gothic, Old High German, Old English, Old Norse; English, Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans, German (High), Low German (Plattdeutsch), Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic
  • Greek (Hellenic)

Greek (Mycenaean and Classical Greek, ancient Greek dialects, Koine, Modern Greek)
  • Indo-Iranian

Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Persian; Prakrit, Pali; Sinhalese, Kashmiri, Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu, Nepali, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese; Ossetic, Bactrian, Pashto, Baluchi, Kurdi, Farsi (Persian), Tajik; Romani (Gypsy)
  • Italic

Latin, Oscan, Umbrian
  • Romance

Romanian, Italian, Sardinian, Friulian, Romansh, Occitan, Franco-Provençal, French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese
  • Slavic

Old Church Slavonic; Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Sorbian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian
  • Tocharian

Tocharian (A and B)

Indo-Pacific (Papuan)

Languages of New Guinea and of islands to its E and W which are not in the Austronesian family; also (possibly) extinct Tasmanian, and the (mostly) extinct languages of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Iroquoian

Huron, Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Cherokee

Japanese

Japanese, Ryukyuan

Khoisan

Hadza, !Kung (Qxû), Naron

Korean

Korean

Mayan

Huave, Totonac, Mixe, Yucatec (and other Mayan languages)

Miao-Yao

Miao, Laka, Punu, Mien (Yao)

Na-Dene

Tlingit, Haida, Athabaskan languages (incl. Navajo, Apache)

Niger-Kordofanian

 
  • Adamawa-Eastern

Sango, Baya
  • Benue-Congo

Swahili, Kongo, Zulu, Xhosa, Lingala, Shona
  • Gur (Voltaic)

Mossi
  • Kordofanian

Kadugli, Rere
  • Kwa

Ga, Yoruba, Igbo, Akan, Ewe
  • Mande

Maninka, Mende
  • West Atlantic

Fulani, Wolof

Nilo-Saharan

Songhai, Luo, Maasai

Oto-Manguean

Amuzgo, Otomi, Mazahua, Pame, Mazatec

Penutian

Yokuts languages, Miwok languages, Klamath, Lower/Upper Chinook, Tsimshian, Zuni

Salish

Lillooet, Shuswap, Bella Coola, Comox, Sishistl, Squamish, Halkomelem, Straits Salish, Quinault, Tillamook

Sino-Tibetan

 
  • Karen

Pa-o, Pho, Kayeh
  • Sinitic

Old Chinese;  Mandarin, Yue (Cantonese), Wu, Gan (Hakka), Min
  • Tibeto-Burman

Tibetan, Lepcha, Newari, Dzongkha (Bhutanese); Burmese, Kachin, Lolo, Lepcha; Bodo

Siouan-Yuchi

Crow, Dakota (Sioux), Yuchi

Uralic

 
  • Finno-Ugric

Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Xanty (Ostyak), Mansi (Vogul), Udmurt (Votyak), Komi (Ziryen), Mari (Cheremis), Mordvin, Saami (Lappish), Votic
  • Samoyed

Nenets, Enets, Selkup, Kamas
  • Yukaghir

Yukaghir

Wakashan

Kwakiutl, Bella Bella, Heiltsuk, Kitamat, Haisla, Nootka, Nitinat

Language Isolates

Meroitic (in Africa); Beothuk, Chiquitano, Karankawa, Keres, Kutenai, Timucua (in the Americas); Ainu, Burushaski, Elamite, Gilyak, Hurrian, Ket, Nahali, Sumerian (in Asia); Basque, Etruscan, Pictish (?) (in Europe)

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