api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: json
dataset:
  slug: language-families
  title: Language Families
  description: Major language families of the world.
  summary: "Major language families with their principal languages and regions: Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian, Dravidian and Uralic, plus Turkic, Austroasiatic, Tai-Kadai, Japonic, Koreanic, Nilo-Saharan, Mongolic, Quechuan, Algonquian and Eskimo-Aleut."
  use_when:
    - You need to place a language in its family and region.
    - You are comparing language groups for typology or history.
  caveats:
    - "Some groupings are debated: Japonic and Koreanic are often treated as separate families, and the Altaic hypothesis that would link Turkic and Mongolic is not accepted by most linguists."
    - Many languages are isolates or unclassified, such as Basque; the table lists only larger families.
  related:
    - morphological-processes
    - syntactic-terms
    - countries-capitals-asia
    - ancient-civilizations
  category: Linguistics
  category_slug: linguistics
  tags: linguistics,families,languages
  view_count: 0
  entry_count: 17
  fields:
    - section: data
      field: family
      type: string
      example: Indo-European
    - section: data
      field: major_languages
      type: string
      example: English, Spanish, Hindi, Russian
    - section: data
      field: region
      type: string
      example: Europe, South Asia, Americas
data:
  - family: Indo-European
    major_languages: English, Spanish, Hindi, Russian
    region: Europe, South Asia, Americas
  - family: Sino-Tibetan
    major_languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese
    region: East Asia, Southeast Asia
  - family: Afro-Asiatic
    major_languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic
    region: Middle East, North Africa
  - family: Niger-Congo
    major_languages: Swahili, Yoruba, Zulu
    region: Sub-Saharan Africa
  - family: Austronesian
    major_languages: Indonesian, Tagalog, Malagasy
    region: Southeast Asia, Oceania, Madagascar
  - family: Dravidian
    major_languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada
    region: South India, Sri Lanka
  - family: Uralic
    major_languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian
    region: Northern Eurasia
  - family: Turkic
    major_languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Uyghur
    region: Anatolia, Central Asia, Siberia
  - family: Austroasiatic
    major_languages: Vietnamese, Khmer, Santali
    region: Southeast Asia, eastern India
  - family: Tai-Kadai
    major_languages: Thai, Lao, Zhuang
    region: Southeast Asia, southern China
  - family: Japonic
    major_languages: Japanese, Ryukyuan languages
    region: Japan
  - family: Koreanic
    major_languages: Korean, Jeju
    region: Korean Peninsula
  - family: Nilo-Saharan
    major_languages: Luo, Kanuri, Nubian languages
    region: Sahel and East Africa
  - family: Mongolic
    major_languages: Mongolian, Buryat, Kalmyk
    region: Mongolia, northern China, southern Russia
  - family: Quechuan
    major_languages: Quechua varieties
    region: Andes of South America
  - family: Algonquian
    major_languages: Cree, Ojibwe, Blackfoot
    region: North America
  - family: Eskimo-Aleut
    major_languages: Inuktitut, Greenlandic, Yupik, Aleut
    region: Arctic North America, Greenland, Siberia