Types of languages: A guide to linguistic classification

The history of language tells the story of humanity itself. Wars, alliances, migrations, and cultural exchanges—all are evidenced by the distribution and evolution of languages.

Historians, linguists, and philologists have devised linguistic classifications to explain how various languages connect and where they came from. Linguistic classification categorizes different types of language based on their historical development, structural features, and relationships with other languages. It also allows us to identify endangered languages, trace the migration of languages over time, and even develop algorithms for natural language processing and translation.

Linguistic classification: How languages are grouped

Linguists use various classification methods to develop categories of languages, each serving a different purpose. Some are based on history, whereas others examine similar grammatical structures.

Ethnologue is a leading reference publication that provides a fantastic resource for up-to-date linguistic data. It is widely used by linguists, researchers, and language enthusiasts to study and understand global linguistic diversity.

To better understand how languages are classified, let’s look at the top three classification methods:

Genealogical classification (language families)

Genealogical classification groups languages based on their historical roots. This method works like a family tree, showing how living languages evolved from a common ancestor. For example, Spanish, French, and Italian all developed from Latin, meaning they belong to the Romance branch of the Indo-European language family. English, German, and Dutch come from the Germanic branch of the same family.

Some languages don’t belong to any language family. For example, Basque is a language isolate, meaning it hasn’t been convincingly connected to any other known language.

Areal classification

Areal classification groups languages based on their geographic location and shared characteristics, even if they aren’t related. When languages are spoken near each other, they often influence each other by borrowing words, sounds, and grammar.

A good example is the Balkan Sprachbund, where spoken languages like Greek, Albanian, and Romanian share grammar rules because of long-term contact, even though they’re only distantly related.

Typological classification

Typological classification groups languages by their structure rather than their historical background. It focuses on how languages are built and how they function, examining specific features like grammar and word formation.

For example, languages may be classified by word order in the following ways:

• Subject-Verb-Object (SVO): Used in languages like English and Chinese. Example: “I take pictures.”
• Subject-Object-Verb (SOV): Used in languages like Japanese. Example: “I pictures take.”
• Verb-Subject-Object (VSO): Found in languages like Modern Standard Arabic. Example: “Take I pictures.”

This system also compares how languages build words. For example, Mandarin uses numerous short, simple words to convey a concept, whereas Russian appends modifiers to words to specify their meaning.

Global language families: Regions, groups, and main types

Ethnologue counts 7,151 actively spoken languages worldwide, divided into 142 families. However, most of the world’s languages fall into one of several major language families. The three most spoken families are Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Afro-Asiatic. These are trailed by the Niger-Congo and Austronesian families.

Here is a summary of significant language families based on region:

Europe

The vast majority of Europeans speak a first language from the Indo-European family. Mediterranean countries are home to the Romance languages, which are descended from Latin, a classical language spoken throughout the Roman Empire.

Indo-European family

The Indo-European language family is the world’s most widely spoken language family. Over 3.3 billion people speak Indo-European languages, with native speakers spread across Europe, the Americas, and parts of Asia. This language family is further split into branches, which include:

• Germanic: English, German, Dutch, Swedish
• Romance: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
• Balto-Slavic: Russian, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Serbian
• Celtic: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh
• Greek: Ancient and Modern Greek

Uralic family

• Finnish

• Hungarian

• Estonian

• Saami

Asia

Asia is the largest continent in the world. Its dozens of countries contain about 60% of the human population, speaking numerous language families from diverse origins.

Indo-European family

Certain regions of Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau, are dominated by Indo-European languages due to ancient migrations.

• Indo-Iranian: Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Bengali, Pashto
• Balto-Slavic: Russian

• Armenian: Armenian

Sino-Tibetan family

The Sino-Tibetan language family is the second-most spoken language family in the world. It mainly covers languages spoken in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of South Asia. This family has two major branches:

• Chinese (Sinitic): Mandarin, Cantonese (Yue), Wu
• Tibeto-Burman: Burmese, Lhasa Tibetan, Karen

Dravidian family

• Tamil

• Telugu

• Kannada

• Malayalam

Austro-Asiatic family

• Khmer

• Vietnamese

• Mon

• Santhali

Africa

Africa is an incredibly linguistically diverse continent, with thousands of languages. To make communication possible, certain languages have become widely used as lingua francas—common languages between people with different native tongues. Swahili serves this role in Southeast Africa, whereas West Africa has Hausa.

These languages are grouped into four main families:

Niger-Congo family

• Bantu: Swahili, Zulu, Umbundu, Rundi, Shona
• Defoid: Yoruba, Itsekiri, Igala

• Senegambian: Fula, Wolof

Afro-Asiatic family

• Berber: Tachelhit, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight

• Chadic: Hausa, Mafa, Karekare

• Semitic: Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya

Nilo-Saharan family

• Maasai

• Luo

• Kanuri

The Middle East

The Middle East is a crossroads of languages shaped by centuries of migration, trade, and historical empires. Arabic is the most spoken, encompassing dozens of regional dialects. Dominant language families in the region include:

Indo-European family

• Persian (Farsi)

• Kurdish

Afro-Asiatic family

• Arabic

• Hebrew

Turkic family

• Turkish

• Uzbek

• Azerbaijani

Noord-Amerika

North America has a wide variety of languages due to its diverse indigenous cultures, colonization, and immigration. Today, English, Spanish, and French dominate the continent, but numerous language families originated in the region, including:

Algic family

• Ojibwa

• Cree

• Blackfoot

Na-Dené (Eyak-Athabaskan) family

• Chipewyan (Dëne)

• Navajo

• Apache

Iroquoian family

• Mohawk

• Cherokee

Uto-Aztecan family

• Nahuatl

• Tarahumara

• Tohono O’odham

• Mayo

Creole languages

When groups of people who speak different languages need to communicate regularly, they often develop a pidgin—a simplified, blended version of the groups’ respective languages. If the children of those populations are brought up with this pidgin as their native language, it becomes a creole. Creoles are common in areas of trade or colonization.

• Louisiana Creole: A creole language blending French and African influences.
• Sea Island English Creole (Gullah): An English-African creole of the Southeastern U.S.

South America

Like North America, South America developed various languages due to indigenous cultures, colonization, and immigration. The main language families from the region include:

Quechuan family

• Various Quechua dialects

Aymaran family

• Aymara

• Jaqaru

Tupian family

• Guarani

• Tupi

• Nheengatu

Oceania

Oceania, which includes countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, is home to a rich variety of languages due to its cultural and geographical diversity. Many communities use pidgin and creole languages to communicate between different cultural groups. For example, Tok Pisin is an English-based creole language in Papua New Guinea—an official local language and lingua franca.

This region’s linguistic diversity reflects the blending of Indigenous traditions and colonial influences throughout the region. Here are the leading families:

Austronesian family

• Malayic: Indonesian, Malay

• Polynesian: Samoan, Hawaiian, Māori
• Greater Central Philippine: Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon

• Javanese: Javanese

Pama-Nyungan family

• Tiwi

• Walmatjari

• Warlpiri

Enhance translation accuracy with Smartling’s linguistic insights

The EMEA region—covering over 110 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa—is full of different languages and cultures, presenting a massive opportunity for global business expansion. Your business needs the right linguistic strategies and translation tools to successfully enter these markets.

Our eBook, “Translating for EMEA Markets,” offers expert guidance on navigating the unique linguistic and cultural features of Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Arabic. You’ll learn how to translate your messaging to connect with customers, no matter your target market.