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Latest post Thu, Jun 4 2009 12:54 AM by AlpheccaStars. 10 replies.
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Jackson6612  +  734703 Sun, 17 May 09 08:40 PM
Is there any language which is a hybrid of two different language groups? A hybrid of Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic languages, or, a hybrid of Altaic and Afro-Asiatic languages?
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CalifJim  +  734722 Sun, 17 May 09 08:58 PM
Jackson6612
“Is there any language which is a hybrid of two different language groups?”
Swahili may be a candidate.  It is within the Bantu language family, but it contains about 35% Arabic words, and Arabic is within the Semitic language family.  I don't know about those other combinations.


CJ

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AlpheccaStars  +  734730 Sun, 17 May 09 09:20 PM
Jackson:


A pidgin is a language that is a hybrid mixture of two or more languages. It has a (usually primitive) grammar and vocabulary. Pidgins form when groups of people who cannot communicate in their native languages need to communicate (most commonly for trade), and so they form a contact language. If a pidgin becomes established to a point where it is spoken as a native language, it is called a creole.  So I suppose that some creoles might be classified as hybrids of different language grooups, depending on their origins and the dominance of one of the contributory languages.

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Jackson6612  +  736450 Mon, 18 May 09 08:27 PM
The elements in a periodic table group are there in a same group because they have many common features.


Proto-Indo-European Language > Germanic > West Germanic > Old English > Middle English > English


Proto-Indo-European Language > Indo-Iranian > Indic > Vedic Sanskrit> Middle Indic > Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, etc.


I don't think there is much common between English and Punjabi, then how come they occupy a place in the same language group? Urdu is much close to Arabic (Afro-Asiatic language group) than to English.


The third picture from the top on the linked webpage shows the posited homeland (presumably Anatolia) of Indo-European language which is the stick language. It says that Aryans brought Indo-European language to Indian subcontinent. Were people in Indian subcontinent living without a language before the invasion of Aryans?


Do these language groups, such as Afro-Asiatic and Indo-European, have some connection with human migrations?


The homeland of Afro-Asiatic language group is not far away from the areas of Indo-European language, then how they are distinct language groups?


CalifJim  +  736477 Mon, 18 May 09 08:56 PM
Jackson6612
“I don't think there is much common between English and Punjabi,”
There is probably more in common than meets the eye.  What is in common is found in the proto-languages which nobody speaks anymore.  As time went on, English diverged from the common ancestor language in a different way from how Punjabi diverged from that same language.


Jackson6612
“It says that Aryans brought Indo-European language to Indian subcontinent. Were people in Indian subcontinent living without a language before the invasion of Aryans?”
Doubtful.  Rather, whatever language they spoke was gradually replaced by the language of the group that moved into that area.

Jackson6612

Do these language groups, such as Afro-Asiatic and Indo-European, have some connection with human migrations?”

Yes, they have everything to do with human migrations.  Languages can't move on their own; they always have to be carried by those that speak them!

Jackson6612
“The homeland of Afro-Asiatic language group is not far away from the areas of Indo-European language, then how they are distinct language groups? ”
That's just how things worked out historically -- again based on various human migrations.  Belonging to a language group has to do with having a common language that both developed from.  Whether the origins of two groups are close or far from one another geographically is less important.  It would not be very unusual to see the pattern you see, because two large groups of people may find themselves competing over the same space.  The two groups may speak completely different languages.  As time goes on, some daughter languages develop from one of the two; other daughter languages develop out of the other one.  Then you have two language families that originated in almost the same place.


CJ



Alienvoord  +  738232 Tue, 19 May 09 10:48 PM
Jackson6612
“Urdu is much close to Arabic (Afro-Asiatic language group) than to English.


Urdu has a lot of loanwords from Arabic, but that doesn't make it an Afro-Asiatic language. Similarly English has a lot of loanwords from French, but that doesn't make English an Italic language.


Urdu is much closer to Punjabi than it is to English, and both Urdu and Punjabi are closer to English than they are to Arabic.

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Jackson6612  +  747811 Tue, 26 May 09 12:24 AM
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The chemical elements are there in a same group of periodic table for a reason. The reason is they are similar in many respects.


Every language needs a vocabulary, grammar, construction (which I think is also a part of grammar?), and script, that's all.


What is common between the languages of a same family? What are the similarities between Urdu, Hindi, and English? Are there any?


Urdu and Hindi have a common ancestor Khariboli and have a lot of common features. Urdu is written is Nastaleeq script while Hindi in Devanagari. Hindi borrows many words from Sanskrit while Urdu from Arabic and Persian.


I don't think there ever was any kind of proto-language. Rather, there was a dialect continuum between the people who were culturally, economically, and regionally etc. related. The tree diagram which is used to represent the evolution of languages from the parent language is highly misleading.


Read the first few paragraphs on the linked webpage:

http://paleoglot.blogspot.com/2007/10/language-waves-and-satem-innovation-in.html

Where do the languages of the tribes who live in jungles come from? Do they fit in any language family?

Jackson6612  +  751212 Wed, 27 May 09 07:24 PM
Help, please!
Jackson6612  +  754248 Fri, 29 May 09 02:32 PM
Is this so tough...?(*-)) Thinking
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