Total in the world from two to seven thousand languages. The exact number cannot be determined, since the difference between language and dialects is very arbitrary. It is linguistics (linguistics) that studies languages. This is a science that explores the origin, properties, functions of a language, the laws of its structure and development.
What are the languages
It is necessary to classify sign systems. So what languages are there?
Human
- Ethnic
- contact;
- planned;
- sign language for the deaf.
Formal:
As well as animal language and sign systems.
Functions
The language has many functions. The main ones are:
- communicative (communication) - is needed in order to transmit information;
- cognitive (epistemological) - the accumulation, preservation and transmission of this information;
- accumulative (accumulative) - the preservation of knowledge.
Language classification
Classification methods:
- typological - distinguish analytical, isolating, synthetic languages and others;
- real - at the place of distribution, that is, at ranges;
- genetic - by origin and degree of kinship.
Indo-European family
This is the most common family. It includes both living and dead languages, written and non-written.
Dead languages include:
- Frisian;
- Luddite
- Old Russian;
- Ancient Greek
- Avestan
- Aramaic.
Dead languages that are preserved in use in various fields:
There are examples when dead languages become living - for example, Hebrew.
So, what are the languages and which of them are part of the Indo-European family?
- Indian: Sanskrit, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Western Hindi, Bihari, Oriya, Marathi.
- Italo-Celtic branch. Greek, Albanian, Irish, Scottish, Breton.
- Romance languages. Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese.
- Germanic are divided into northern and western. North Germanic languages (Scandinavian): Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese. They have a literary form. West Germanic: English, German, Dutch (these are Flemish and Dutch), Frisian, Yiddish. The most common language of this group is, of course, English. It is spoken in almost every country. This is the language of international communication.
- Iranian: Midian, Scythian, Sogdian, Alanian, Ossetian, Persian, Dari, Balochian, Tatian.
- Baltic group: Lithuanian and Latvian.
- The Slavic group is characterized by the fact that in all languages there are common roots, affixes, phonetic laws, rules for the formation of words. For example, in all languages there are common words: mother, earth, water, summer, heart, hand, sister and so on. Slavic are divided into three groups: East Slavic (Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian), West Slavic (Polish, Slovak, Czech, Serboluzhitsky), South Slavic (Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian).
- The Altai family is the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu branches. Tungus-Manchu languages: Even, Negidal, Papal, Ulchi, Oron. Mongolian: Mongolian, Buryat, Kalmyk, Dragoon, Baon. Turkic: Chuvash, Gagauz, Turkmen, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Tatar, Bashkir, Kumyk, Kabardino-Circassian, Nogai, Kazakh, Uzbek and Uyghur. This is the most diverse group of Altai languages.
Stylistics
In any language, there are areas in which a particular communication style is appropriate. At work, people talk using the same vocabulary, and at home they communicate with loved ones with completely different phrases and expressions. Therefore, the language forms the styles that are necessary for use in any communication situation.
Russian language
What are the styles of the Russian language? Five of them are distinguished, namely: scientific, official-business, newspaper-journalistic, artistic and conversational. It is necessary to study the characteristics of each of them in order to justifiably use one or another style in a communicative situation.
- Scientific style. Used in science. The main form of speech is written. A typical form of speech is a monologue.
- Formal business. Used mainly in law. Most often, the style exists in writing. The predominant type of speech is reasoning. Speech - monologue.
- Newspaper and journalistic. The sphere of communication is ideology, politics. Mostly written and spoken. Most often there are monologues.
- Art. Used in fiction. The main speech is written. Types: monologue, dialogue, polylogue.
- Colloquial. Sphere - household. The oral form. Types of speech - polylogue and dialogue.
Above in the article, what are the styles of language. The characteristics of each of them will help to understand in which area what type of speech is used.
conclusions
So what is the Russian language like? It is very diverse, because in order to correctly use the desired style of speech, you always need to consider the speech situation.
This article describes what languages are, as well as the style of the Russian language.