Module4LanguagesoftheWorldPartTwo:TeachingResources第二部分:教学资源Section2:Backgroundinformation1.Languagesandnationalities:LanguagePutonghuaEnglishHindustaniSpanishRussianNationalityChineseEnglishIndianSpaniardRussianLanguageArabicBengaliMalay-IndonesianPortugueseFrenchNationalityArabBengaliMalaysian;IndonesianPortugueseFrench2.Languagesondifferentcontinents:TextTranscriptofLanguagesontheContinentsAFRICA-accountsforalmostone-thirdoftheworld'slanguages.Itisestimatedthat2,058languagesarespokenontheAfricancontinent.Veryfewoftheselanguagesarespokenbylargenumbers:lessthan5%ofthemhavemorethanamillionspeakers.ThemostwidelyacceptedclassificationofAfricanlanguagesrecognizesfourmainfamiliesasfollows:Niger-Congo,Nilo-Saharan,KhoisanandAfroasiatic(Semiticlanguagesconstituteoneofitsbranches).InadditiontoEnglishandFrenchthathavespreadthroughoutAfricaasaresultofcolonialism,ArabicandSwahiliarealsousedaslingualfracasthroughoutthecontinent.ANTARTICA-hasnoindigenousinhabitants,butthereareseasonallystaffedresearchstationsonit.Approximately29nationssignatorytotheAntarcticTreaty,sendpersonneltoperformseasonal(summer)and用心爱心专心116号编辑year-roundresearchonthecontinentandinitssurroundingoceans;thepopulationofpersonsdoingandsupportingscienceonthecontinentanditsnearbyislandssouthof60degreessouthlatitude(theregioncoveredbytheAntarcticTreaty)variesfromapproximately4,000insummerto1,000inwinter.Inaddition,approximately1,000personnelincludingship'screwandscientistsdoingonboardresearcharepresentinthewatersofthetreatyregion.ThesepersonnelspeakavarietyoflanguagesincludingBulgarian,Chinese,Dutch,English,Finnish,French,German,Hindi,Italian,Japanese,Korean,Norwegian,Polish,Portuguese,Russian,Spanish,Swedish,andUkrainian."ASIA-thevastcontinentcontainsthelargestnumberoftheworld’slanguages.Itisestimatedthat2,197languagesarespokeninthevariousregionsofAsia.RussianisthedominantlanguageofSiberia.ThenorthernmosttierofAsiaishometoUralicandPalaeosiberianlanguages,manyofwhicharerepresentedbyonlyafewthousandpeople.TheAltaicfamilyoflanguagescoversavastareafromtheBalkanpeninsulatonortheastAsia.ThebestknownlanguageofthisgroupisTurkish.SomescholarsthinkthatJapaneseandKoreanalsobelongtotheAltaicfamily,butnoteveryoneagrees.SoutheastAsiacontainslanguagesoftheAustro-AsiaticfamilyspokeninthecountriesbetweenChinaandIndonesia,aswellaspartsofIndiaandMalaysia.Therearewellover100Austro-Asiaticlanguages.TheIndiansubcontinentishometospeakersoftheIndo-IranianbranchoftheIndo-Europeanfamilywithover500languagesspokenbyover500millionpeople.AmongtheselanguagesareHindi,Urdu,andBengali.Bytheway,Romany,thelanguageofthegypsies,alsobelongstothisfamily.ThesouthernpartoftheIndiansubcontinentcontainslanguagesoftheDravidianfamily,suchasTamil,Telugu,Kannada,andMalayalam,eachspokenbyabout25millionpeople.ByfarthelargestlanguagefamilyinAsiaisSino-Tibetan.Chineseisthelargestmemberofthisfamilywithover1billionspeakers.Ithasatleasteightmainvarieties,referredtoasdialects.EUROPE-Withonly230languagesspokenonitsterritory,istheleastlinguisticallydiverseofallthecontinents.Itaccountsforonly3%oftheworld'slanguages.MostofthelanguagesspokeninEuropebelongtotheIndo-Europeanfamily.ThisfamilyincludesBaltic,Celtic,Germanic,Romance,andSlaviclanguages,inadditiontoAlbanian,Armenian,andGreekthatdon'thaveanycloserelatives.EuropeisalsohometosomescatteredmembersoftheUr...
