Global Linguistic Diversity and Language Families

Linguistic Diversity in the World

Between four and seven thousand languages are spoken globally, yet fewer than two hundred states exist. This leads to the claim that most states are multilingual. Language barriers do not always correspond with political or administrative boundaries. The highest density of languages is found in Papua New Guinea, with seven hundred languages. To a lesser extent, the Iberian Peninsula features languages of international communication, such as French and English, which are considered the languages par excellence internationally.

As a consequence of choosing a particular language for international use, several attempts were made to create artificial languages, like Esperanto. The emergence of pidgins is due to the merging of features from different languages in contact, usually occurring in very concrete communication situations. A pidgin only stretches and becomes the language of a new generation, reaching the category of a Creole.

The Language Families

Languages that share a common origin belong to the same linguistic family; these languages are considered brothers. The original language receives the name of the mother tongue. For example, the Romance languages originate from Latin, just like all languages of the Iberian Peninsula except Basque. If we continue tracing back, Latin belongs to the Indo-European family, which also encompasses the majority of European languages.

Monolingualism and Multilingualism

It is difficult to find a truly monolingual state, even in Europe, where attempts were made to impose the concept of State = Nation = One Language (a monolingual state), such as Iceland. Most European states remain multilingual, yet many languages are at risk of disappearing. This occurs because the coexistence of two or more languages becomes unbalanced due to the use of a more prestigious, economically and socially strong, or dominant language.

A language is subject to sociopolitical conditions that influence its uses and functions; we refer to this as a minorized language.

Classification of Minority Languages

Majority or minority languages can also be classified according to the number of speakers. For instance, Galician is majority in São Paulo but minority in Spain.

A distinction must also be made between:

• Official languages of an independent territory (state languages, such as Spanish).
• Non-state languages of communities included within the larger territory of other states (like Galician).

Recognition of Plurality in European States

There are significant differences between European states regarding linguistic recognition:

1. States that ignore linguistic groups: France, for example, treats languages like Breton and Occitan as if they were not present, maintaining an unreal monolingualism.
2. Plurilingual States: States that are very respectful of their linguistic diversity, declaring official languages for various regions and corresponding languages, such as Switzerland, which has four official languages.
3. States with Co-official Status: States that declare one official language throughout the state and grant co-official status to other languages in specific territories, as is the case in Spain.