Origin of Languages

Central Yup'ik

1000 C.E.-Now

• Yup'ik: 31 letters (Latin alphabet), 4 vowels, between 13-27 consonants
• Novels: Qalamciq (Date N/A), Alerqun (advisory story)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Bone chewer: pukulria
• Daughter: panik
• Crow: tulukaruk
• Unknown when the language evolved but can be traced back to northern parts of Siberia
• Syntax: A polysynthetic language with no exact word order
• "Angyaghllangyugtuqlu"
• Literal: big-boat-acquire-want-he/she-also
• "Also, he/she wants to acquire a big boat"

Inuit

circa. 1000 C.E.-Now

• Inuktitut (Inuit): (45 symbols) uses standard Latin alphabet/newly formed writing system introduced in the late 20th century, 15 consonants w/3 vowels
• Novels: Tarnikuluk
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Good morning: ullakut
• Thank you: nakurmik
• I don't know: asuuk
• Unknown when the language evolved but also had roots from Siberia
• Syntax: Identified as a polysynthetic language
• "Angutiuptakujaananuq"
• Literal: "Man see the polar bear"
• "The man saw the polar bear"

• Turkish: 29 letters (including Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, Ü), 8 vowels in front and back, 20 consonants w/certain patalized and non-patalized words moved to different positions
• Novels: Poems of Nâzim Hikmet (1973), Kitab-i Dede Korkut (14th/15th Century)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Four: dört
• Father: baba
• Head: baş
• Anatolian Turkish: 11th-13th C. C.E.
• Ottoman: 12th-20th C. C.E.
• Modern Turkish: 1920s-Now
• Syntax: Follows that of SOV but may be rearranged depending on the context including in questions
• Ex: "Çocuğ-a kitab-i ver-di-n-mi
• Literal: "The child the book you give"
• "Did you give the book to the child"

Turkish

11th C. C.E.-Now

Azerbaijanian

14th C. C.E.-Now

Nizami Ganjavi

• Azerbaijanian: 32 letters (Latin alphabet), 9 vowels w/suffixes being invariable to vowel harmony, 22 consonants w/similar stresses to that of Turkish
• Novels: Kattab al-busaa ءاسؤبلا باتك (7th C. C.E.)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Nine: doqquz
• Head: baş
• Foot: ayaq
• 14th-18th C. C.E: Early Azerbaijani
• 18th C. C.E.-Now: Modern Azerbaijani
• Syntax: Follows the SOV order which can also vary similar to Turkish
• Ex: "Coxdandır görünmürsən"
• Literal: "Long time I don't see you"
• "Long time no see"

Turkmen

14 C. C.E.-Now

• Turkmen: 29 letters (same alphabet as Turkish but originally contained Arabic/Uralic alphabet), 16 vowels while containing those of Proto-Turkic, 23 consonants which the addition of dental fricatives
• Novels: Makhtumquli (18th C. C.E.) Destans Gurbanali Magrupi (18th C. C.E.)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Father: kaka
• Son: ogul
• Tongue: dil
• 14th C. C.E.-20th C. C.E.: Chagatai
• 18th C. C.E.-Now: Modern Turkmen
• Syntax: SImilar to all other Turkic languages, it follows the SOV order which may also vary
• Ex: "Ertiriňiz haýyrly bolsun"
• Literal: "May your morning be charitable"
• "Good morning"

• Russian: 32 letters (Cyrillic alphabet), 5/6 vowels with certain phonemes being argued, 36 consonants which varying palatalization
• Novels: Slovo o pluku Igoreve (1185), Boris Godunov (1831)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Four: четыре (cetyre)
• Brother: брат (brat)
• Head: голова (golova)
• 11th-14th C. C.E.: OLd East Slavic
• 14th-17th C. C.E.: Middle Russian
• 18th C.-Now: Modern Russian
• Syntax: Follows a flexible SVO order
• Ex: "У вас есть меню на английском?"
• Literal: "You have a menu on English?'
• "Do you have a menu in English?"

Russian 11th C. C.E-Now

• Hungarian: 44 letters (including ő, ó, ú, ű, ü, etc), 25 consonants w/several voice and voiceless oppositions
• Novels: Szigeti veszedelem (1651), Toldi (1847)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Three: ha`rom
• Mother: anya
• Eye: szem
• 9th-16th C. C.E.: Old Hungarian
• 16th-18th C. C.E.: Middle Hungarian
• 18th-Now: Modern Hungarian
• Syntax: Can switch between SOV or SVO order
• Ex: "Rég nem hallottam rólad/felőled!"
• Literal: "Long time no hear!"
• "I haven't heard from you in a long time!"

Hungarian

9th C. C.E-Now

Finnish

14th C. B.C.E.-Now

• Finnish: 29 letters (including å, ä, ö), 32 vowels w/16 diphthomgs and 16 monophthongs, 13/14 consonants w/indistinguished voiced/voiceless stops
• Novels: The Kalevala (19th C.), Puhdistus (2008)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Five: viisi
• Father isä
• Head: pää
• 14th C. B.C.E-1st C. C.E.: Sami/Proto-Finnish
• Other records not found until 15th C.
• 19th C.-Now: Modern Finnish
• Syntax: Follows a flexible SVO order w/variation in word order
• Ex: "Voisitko kirjoittaa sen ylös?"
• Literal: "Could you write it down?"
• "Could you write it down please?"

Chinese 1200 B.C.E-Now

• Chinese: No alphabet (uses pictograms), 7 vowels w/rounded back vowels, 22 consonants w/voiceless stops/affricates including a variety of complex tones
• Novels: Shijing (8th-5th C. B.C.E.), Hanshu (1st C. C.E.)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Two: 二 (`er)
• Mother:妈 (mu)
• Head: 头 (tou)
• 13th-770 B.C.E: Proto Chinese
• 770 B.C.E-220 C.E.: Archaic Chinese
• 220-960 C.E.: Middle Chinese
• 960-20th C. C.E.: Early Modern Chinese
• 20th-Now: Modern Chinese
• Syntax: Typically follows the SVO order like English
• Ex (Simplified Chinese): "他穿着皮鞋" ("ta chuan zhuo pi xie")
• Literal: "He wears leather shoe"
• "He's wearing leather shoes"

Burmese

12th C. C.E-Now

• Burmese: 33 letters (Burmese alphabet), 8 vowels along w/four diphthongs, between 30 to 33 consonants w/several stops and affricates
• Novels: Mone Ywa Mahu (1955), Kogan Pyo (1523)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Three: θòuŋ (sone)
• Mother: əmei (a-mai)
• Leg/foot: ʧʰi (hkyay)
• 12th C.-16th C. C.E: Old Burmese
• 16th-18th C. C.E.- Middle Burmese
• 18th C.-Now: Modern Burmese
• Syntax: Like most asiatic languages it followd the SOV order and aren't influenced by grammatical inflections
• Ex: "Saatsaatlwat aahcarraahcar aahkyahoet"
• Literal: "Some food without life"
• "Some vegetarian food"

• Khmer: 33 consonant symbols currently used, 18 vowels w/several short and long vowel heights, 21 consonants w/labial, dental, and velar stops distinguished from each other
• Novels: Ramakerty (16th-17th C.), Tum Teav (19th)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Mother: ម្តាយ (ceani)
• Sister: បងស្រីច្បង (ban srej)
• Head: ក្បាល (kbal)
• 7th-14th C. C.E.: Old Khmer
• 15th-19th C. C.E.: Middle Khmer
• 19th-Now: Modern Khmer
• Syntax: Follows the SVO order
• Ex: "ខាន​ជួបគ្នា​យូរហើយ" ("khan chuob yu haeuy")
• Literal: "Long time since we met"
• "Long time no see"

Khmer 7th C. C.E.-Now

Vietnamese

Early 15th C. -Now

• Vietnamese: 29 letters (including those with diacritics), 11 vowels w/up to 20 diphthongs, 24 consonants w/several voiceless/voiced fricatives
• Novels: Bach Van Quoc Ngu Thi Tap (16th C.), Chin Phu Ngam (1800)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Two: hai
• Father: cha
• Eye: mắt
• 15th-17th C. C.E.: Ancient Vietnamese
• 17th-19th C. C.E.: Middle Vietnamese
• 19th-Now: Modern Vietnamese
• Syntax: Typically follows SVO order w/tense usually not required
• Ex: "Ông ấy không đến"
• Literal: "He not coming"
• "He's not coming"

• Tagalog: 20 letters (standard Latin alphabet), 10 vowels w/5 basic vowels, 16 consonants including w/those influenced by other languages
• Novels: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1986), Luha ng Buwaya (1983)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Two: dalawa
• Father: ama
• Face: mukha
• 17th C.-Now: Spoken Tagalog
• Syntax: Typically follows the VOS or VSO order
• Ex: "Bumili ng saging anf lalaki sa tindahan para sa unggoy"
• Literal: "Bought bananas the man at store for the monkey"
• "The man bought bananas at the store for the monkey"

Tagalog 17th C. C.E-Now

German

750 C.E.-Now

• German: 26 letters w/four special characters (including ß, ä, ö, ü), 21 consonants (several voiced stops and fricatives including those at the end of the sentence become voiceless)
• Novels: Emil und die Detektive (1929), Der Zebrochene Krug (1685)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Nine: neun
• Head: Kopf
• Heart: Herz
• Old High German: 700-1050 C.E.
• Middle High German: 1050-1350 C.E.
• Early New High German: 1350-1650
• New High German: 1650-Now
• Syntax: Follows the SOV order w/the position of the verb varying on the context
• Ex: "Liebt Moritz die Frau?"
• Literal: "Loves Moritz the woman?"
• "Does Moritz love the woman?"

Dutch

5th century C.E.-Now

• Dutch: 26 letters, 19 consonants using labiodental speech patterns (w/13 monophthongs and 3 diphthongs)
• Novels: Nooit mir slapen (1966), Het bittere kruid (1957)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Six: zes
• Head: kop
• Heart: hart
• Old Dutch: 700-1100 C.E.
• Middle Dutch: 1100-1500 C.E.
• Modern Dutch: 1500-present
• Syntax: SVO for independent clauses, SOV for dependent clauses
• Ex: "Maria vindt Sarah leuk"
• Literal: "Maria finds Sarah nice"
• "Maria likes Sarah"

Latin

600 B.C.E-Now

• Latin: 23 letters (classical alphabet w/no lower case letters), 21 consonants with stops located within four places of the mouth
• Novels: Annales (2nd Century B.C.E), La Rodoguna (circa 1719)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Hundred: centum
• Sister: soror
• Eye: oculus
• 600-200 B.C.E: Early Latin
• 200 B.C.E-400 C.E: Classical/Late Latin
• 600-1300 C.E: Medieval Latin
• 1300-Now: Neo-Latin
• Syntax: Tends to be SOV but would shift towards SVO
• Ex: "Cogito, ergo sum"
• Literal: "I think, therefore I exist"
• "I think, therefore I am"

Spanish

750 C.E-Now

• Spanish: 27 letters (including ñ), 21 consonants w/8 stops/fricatives, 4 afffricatives, 3 nasals, 6 liquids/glides along with two lateral liquids and two rhotics
• Novels: La Vida Imaginaria (2004), Como Agua para Chocolate (1989)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Signal: señal
• Mother: madre
• After: despues
• Navarro-Aragonese: 11th-15th Century C.E.
• Old Spanish (Catalan): 15th-17th Century
• Modern Spanish: 17th-Now
• Syntax: mainly follows the SVO form w/some pronouns being dropped including adjectives modifying the head nown
• Ex: "La casa vieja de la esquina que demolieron ayer englanaba el barrio"
• Literal: 'The house old of the corner that they demolished yesterday adorned the quarter."
• "The old house in the corner that they demolished adorned in the quarter."

• Romanian: 31 letters (including ă, â, î, Ș, Ț), 22 consonants which contain 9 stops/affricates, 7 fricatives, 2 nasals/liquids
• Novels: O Scrisoare Pierduta (1885), Dante (1926)
• Basic Vocabulary Words:
• Seven: şapte
• Beother: frate
• Foot: ficior
• Vulgar Latin: 1st Cen. B.C.E-7th Cen. C.E.
• Daco-Romanian: 7th C.E.-16th Cen. C.E.
• Modern Romanian: 16th Cen.-Now
• Syntax: Follows SOV order while also using OVS including several grammatical influences from the Balkans
• Ex: "Te rog o vă rog"
• Literal: "Please to please"
• "Please"

Romanian1st Century B.C.E-Now