Languages of Asia

The Language families of Asia

Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan and Kra–Dai. Many languages of Asia, such as Kurdish, Sanskrit, Arabic or Tamil, have a long history as a written language.

Language groups

Ethnolinguistic distribution in Central/Southwest Asia of the Altaic, Caucasian, Afroasiatic (Hamito-Semitic) and Indo-European families.

The major families in terms of numbers are Indo-European, specifically Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages in South Asia; and Sino-Tibetan in East Asia. Several other families are regionally dominant.

Sino-Tibetan

Sino-Tibetan includes Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Karen, Boro and numerous languages of the Tibetan Plateau, southern China, Burma, and North east India.

Indo-European

The Indo-European languages are primarily represented by the Indo-Iranian branch, with its two main subgroups: Indo-Aryan (represented by a large number of languages in the subcontinent such as Hindi–Urdu, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi,Rajasthani, Gujarati) and Iranic (including languages like Persian, Kurdish and Pashto, which are spoken in Iran and neighbouring regions).

In addition, other branches of Indo-European spoken in Asia include the Slavic branch, which includes Russian in Siberia; Greek around the Black Sea; and Armenian; as well as extinct languages such as Hittite of Anatolia and Tocharian of (Chinese) Turkestan.

Altaic families

A number of smaller, but important and separately distinguished language families spread across central and northern Asia have long been linked in a hypothetical, controversial and unproven Altaic family. These are the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic (including Manchu), Koreanic, and Japonic languages. But since the mid-20th century a majority of scholars have come to regard it as a Sprachbund.

Austroasiatic

The Mon–Khmer languages (also known as Austroasiatic) are the language family in South and Southeast Asia. Languages given official status are Vietnamese and Khmer (Cambodian).

Kra–Dai

The Kra–Dai languages (also known as Tai-Kadai) are found in southern China, Northeast India and Southeast Asia. Languages given official status are Thai (Siamese) and Lao.

Austronesian

The Austronesian languages are widespread throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, including major languages such as Fijian (Fiji), Hiligaynon, Bikol, Ilocano, Cebuano, Tagalog (Philippines), and Malay (Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore). Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese of Indonesia, as well as Indonesian which is the largest language in this family.

Dravidian

The Dravidian languages of South India and parts of Sri Lanka include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu, while smaller languages such as Gondi and Brahui are spoken in central India and Pakistan respectively.

Afro-Asiatic

The Afroasiatic languages (in older sources Hamito-Semitic) are represented in Asia by the Semitic branch. Semitic languages are spoken in Western Asia, and include Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, in addition to extinct languages such as Akkadian.

Siberian families

Besides the Altaic families already mentioned (of which Tungusic is today a minor family of Siberia), there are a number of small language families and isolates spoken across northern Asia. These include the Uralic languages of western Siberia (better known for Hungarian and Finnish in Europe), the Yeniseian languages (linked to Turkic and to the Athabaskan languages of North America), Yukaghir, Nivkh of Sakhalin, Ainu of northern Japan, Chukotko-Kamchatkan in easternmost Siberia, and—just barely—Eskimo–Aleut. Some linguists have noted that the Koreanic languages share more similarities with the Paleosiberian languages than with the Altaic languages. The extinct Rouran language of Mongolia is unclassified, and does not show genetic relationships with any other known language family.

Caucasian families

Three small families are spoken in the Caucasus: Kartvelian languages, such as Georgian; Northeast Caucasian (Dagestanian languages), such as Chechen; and Northwest Caucasian, such as Circassian. The latter two may be related to each other. The extinct Hurro-Urartian languages may be related as well.

Small families of Asia

Although dominated by major languages and families, there are number of minor families and isolates in South Asia and Southeast Asia. From west to east, these include:

Creoles and pidgins

The eponymous pidgin ("business") language developed with European trade in China. Of the many creoles to have developed, the most spoken today are Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole of the Philippines, and various Malay-based creoles such as Manado Malay influenced by Portuguese. A very well-known Portuguese-based creole is the Kristang, which is spoken in Malacca, a city-state in Malaysia.

Sign languages

A number of sign languages are spoken throughout Asia. These include the Japanese Sign Language family, Chinese Sign Language, Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, as well as a number of small indigenous sign languages of countries such as Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Many official sign languages are part of the French Sign Language family.

Official languages

Asia and Europe are the only two continents where most countries use native languages as their official languages, though English is also widespread as an international language.

Language Native name Total Speakers Language family Official status in a country Official Status in a region
Abkhaz Аԥсшәа 240,000 Northwest Caucasian Abkhazia
Altai Алтай тил 57,000 Turkic Russia
Arabic العَرَبِيَّة 313,000,000 Afro-Asiatic Bahrain
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
UAE
Yemen
Armenian հայերեն 5,902,970 Indo-European Armenia
Artsakh
Assamese অসমীয়া 15,000,000 Indo-European India
Azerbaijani Azərbaycanca 28,000,000 Turkic Azerbaijan
Balochi بلۏچی

Balòči

7,600,000 Indo-European Pakistan

Iran

Balti بلتی

སྦལ་ཏི།

392,800 Sino-Tibetan Pakistan
Bengali বাংলা 230,000,000 Indo-European Bangladesh India
Bikol Bikol
Bikol Naga
4,300,000 Austronesian Philippines
Bodo बर'/बड़
Boro
1,984,569 Sino-Tibetan Nepal

India

Burmese မြန်မာဘာသာ 33,000,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Cantonese 廣東話/广东话 7,877,900 Sino-Tibetan China
Buryat Буряад хэлэн
ᠪᠤᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ
ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ
ᠬᠡᠯᠡᠨ
440,000 Mongolic Russia
Cebuano Bisaya
Binisaya
Sinugbuanong_Binisaya
Sebwano/Sinebwano
27,500,000 Austronesian Philippines
Chin Kukish 3,000,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Chinese Mandarin 普通話/普通话
國語/国语
華語/华语
1,300,000,000 Sino-Tibetan China
Singapore
Taiwan
Myanmar
Dari دری 19,600,000 Indo-European Afghanistan
Dhivehi ދިވެހިބަސް 400,000 Indo-European Maldives
Dzongkha རྫོང་ཁ་ 600,000 Sino-Tibetan Bhutan
Filipino (Tagalog) Wikang Filipino 106,000,000 Austronesian Philippines
Formosan 171,855 Austronesian Republic of China
Georgian ქართული 4,200,000 Kartvelian Georgia
Gujarati ગુજરાતી 50,000,000 Indo-European India
Hakka 客家話/客家话
Hak-kâ-fa
2,370,000 Sino-Tibetan Republic of China
Hebrew עברית 7,000,000 Afro-Asiatic Israel
Hindi हिन्दी 615,000,000 Indo-European India
Hiligaynon Hiligaynon
Ilonggo
Hiniligaynon/Inilonggo
9,100,000 Austronesian Philippines
Hokchiu 馬祖話
Mā-cū-huâ
12,000 Sino-Tibetan Republic of China
Hokkien 臺灣話
Tâi-oân-oē
18,570,000 Sino-Tibetan Republic of China
Ibanag Ibanag 500,000 Austronesian Philippines
Ilocano Pagsasao nga Ilokano 11,000,000 Austronesian Philippines
Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia 270,000,000 Austronesian Indonesia
Timor Leste (Working languages)
Japanese 日本語 120,000,000 Japonic Japan (de facto)
Javanese Basa Jawa
ꦧꦱꦗꦮ
بَاسَا جَاوَا
80,000,000 Austronesian Indonesia
Kachin Jinghpaw 940,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ 51,000,000 Dravidian India
Kapampangan Kapampangan/Pampangan 2,800,000 Austronesian Philippines
Karen ကညီကျိာ်း 6,000,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Kashmiri कॉशुर

كٲشُر

7,000,000 Indo-European India
Kayah Karenni 190,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Karakalpak Qaraqalpaqsha 870,000 Turkic Uzbekistan
Kazakh Qazaqsha 18,000,000 Turkic Kazakhstan China

Russia

Khakas Хакас тілі
Тадар тілі
43,000 Turkic Russia
Khmer ភាសាខ្មែរ 16,000,000 Austroasiatic Cambodia
Korean 조선어
한국어
80,000,000 Koreanic North Korea
South Korea
China
Kurdish Kurdî
کوردی
25,000,000 Indo-European Middle east
Kyrgyz Кыргызча
قىرعىزچا
7,300,000 Turkic Kyrgyzstan China
Lao ພາສາລາວ 7,000,000 Kra-Dai Laos
Maguindanao بس ماگینداناو

Maguindanaon

1,500,000 Austronesian Philippines
Malay Bahasa Melayu
بهاس ملايو
30,000,000 Austronesian Brunei
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia
Malayalam മലയാളം 37,000,000 Dravidian India
Marathi मराठी 99,000,000 Indo-European India
Maithili मैथिली 34,000,000 Indo-European

Nepal

India

Meitei ꯃꯤꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ
মৈতৈ
Manipuri
2,000,000 Sino-Tibetan India
Mon ဘာသာ မန် 851,000 Austroasiatic Myanmar
Mongolian Монгол хэл
ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ
ᠬᠡᠯᠡ
5,200,000 Mongolic Mongolia China
Nepali नेपाली 29,000,000 Indo-European Nepal India
Odia ଓଡ଼ିଆ 35,000,000 Indo-European India
Ossetian Ирон 540,000
(50,000 in South Ossetia)
Indo-European South Ossetia
Pangasinan Pangasinan 1,400,000 Austronesian Philippines
Pashto پښتو 60,000,000 Indo-European Afghanistan Pakistan
Persian فارسی 130,000,000 Indo-European Afghanistan (as Dari)
Iran
Tajikistan (as Tajik)
Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
پن٘جابی
113,000,000 Indo-European India India

Pakistan

Rakhine ရခိုင်ဘာသာ 1,000,000 Sino-Tibetan Myanmar
Rohingya Ruáingga 1,800,000 Indo-European
Russian Русский 260,000,000 Indo-European Abkhazia (co-official)
Armenia (inter-ethnic communication)
Azerbaijan (inter-ethnic communication)
Georgia (inter-ethnic communication)
Kazakhstan (co-official)
Kyrgyzstan (co-official)

Russia
South Ossetia (state)
Tajikistan (inter-ethnic communication)
Turkmenistan (inter-ethnic communication)
Uzbekistan (inter-ethnic communication)

Santali ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ 7,600,000 Austroasiatic India

(Additional)

Shan ၽႃႇသႃႇတႆ 3,295,000 Kra-Dai Myanmar
Sindhi سنڌي 40,000,000 Indo-European India Pakistan
Sinhala සිංහල 18,000,000 Indo-European Sri Lanka
Tajik Тоҷикӣ 7,900,000 Indo-European Tajikistan
Tamil தமிழ் 96,000,000 Dravidian Singapore
Sri Lanka
Malaysia
India
Tausug بَهَسَ سُوگ

Bahasa Suluk

1,200,000 Austronesian Philippines

Malaysia

Telugu తెలుగు 86,000,000 Dravidian India
Tetum Lia-Tetun 500,000 Austronesian Timor Leste Indonesia
Thai ภาษาไทย 60,000,000 Kra-Dai Thailand
Tibetan བོད་སྐད་ 1,172,940 Sino-Tibetan China
Tripuri Tripuri 3,500,000 Sino-Tibetan India
Tulu ತುಳು 1,722,768 Dravidian India
Turkish Türkçe 88,000,000 Turkic Turkey
Northern Cyprus
Cyprus
Turkmen Türkmençe 7,000,000 Turkic Turkmenistan
Tuvan Тыва дыл 240,000 Turkic Russia
Urdu اُردُو 62,120,540 Indo-European Pakistan India
Uyghur ئۇيغۇرچە 10,416,910 Turkic China
Uzbek Oʻzbekcha
Ўзбекча
45,000,000 Turkic Uzbekistan
Vietnamese 㗂越

Tiếng Việt

86,500,000 Austroasiatic Vietnam (de facto)
Waray Winaray/Waray 4,000,000 Austronesian Philippines
Yakut Саха тыла 450,000 Turkic Russia
Zhuang Vahcuengh 16,000,000 Kra-Dai China

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-02-01 09:24 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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