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Afroasiatic languages

(Encyclopedia)Afroasiatic languages hămˈĭtō-səmĭtˈĭk [key], family of languages spoken by more than 250 million people in N Africa; much of the Sahara; parts of E, central, and W Africa; and W Asia (especia...

Romance languages

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Romance languages, group of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic, they are spoken by about 670 millio...

Baltic languages

(Encyclopedia)Baltic languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European subfamily to which the Baltic languages appear to be closest is the Slavic. Because of this, some linguists re...

Semitic languages

(Encyclopedia)Semitic languages, subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages. See Afroasiatic languages. ...

Slavic languages

(Encyclopedia)Slavic languages, also called Slavonic languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Because the Slavic group of languages seems to be closer to the Baltic group than to any other, ...

Finno-Ugric languages

(Encyclopedia)Finno-Ugric languages fĭnˈō-o͞oˈgrĭk [key], also called Finno-Ugrian languages, group of languages forming a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Urali...

Hamito-Semitic languages

(Encyclopedia)Hamito-Semitic languages: see Afroasiatic languages. ...

American Indian languages

(Encyclopedia)American Indian languages: see Native American languages. ...

Mon-Khmer languages

(Encyclopedia)Mon-Khmer languages mōn-kəmârˈ [key], group of languages frequently considered as a subfamily of the Southeast Asian family of languages. See Southeast Asian languages. ...

Malayo-Polynesian languages

(Encyclopedia)Malayo-Polynesian languages ôˌstrōnēˈzhən [key], family of languages estimated at from 300 to 500 tongues and understood by approximately 300 million people in Madagascar; the Malay Peninsula; I...