Out of this 1,, were declared as legitimate languages, with over 10, native speakers. Given how wide the historical and thus, linguistic influences are in our country—we borrow from roughly six, widely-accepted language families—as well as our complex geography, the presence of a language isolate—a tongue with no connection to other known languages—seems quite probable. But how are they created? Language isolates are naturally-developed speech forms that have no strong genetic link or common ancestry with other languages.
In the way certain species in the animal kingdom are the only members of their genus, language isolates can also be considered the only members of a very exclusive family. Greek, Albanian, Armenian are common 'survivor' examples of Indo-European isolates. Japanese and Korean were also considered language isolates, but are today linked with older regional dialects to form the Japonic and Koreanic families respectively.
Korean also has a suspiciously large vocabulary in common with Tamil. Do experts agree with identifying dialects as languages, just to find something in common and create a family? Not always. But establishing some form of genetic commonality does help further research that either proves it or debunks it once and for all. Alternatively, language isolates can also form as a thief's argot—a secret language created for private communication within a mixed community. They also can develop when a community is geographically cut off from the outside world.
Nihali also known as Nahali or Nehali is the only widely-accepted language isolate from India. Spoken by the Nihal tribe, who live along the Tapti river in northeastern Maharashtra and southwestern Madhya Pradesh, it has between 2, to 2, speakers today.
The community numbers about 5, and is mostly found in villages in the Jalgaon Jamod division of Buldhana district. An endangered tongue, Nihali was often confused with Korku, a neighbouring tribal language with a strong influence, but is now clearly recognised as an isolate. Many of its tribesmen do speak Korku, but use Hindi used as a contact language, and Nihali as a secret anti-language. Research is underway to create a Devanagari-based script for Nihali , but interpreting its grammar has been the difficulty.
Essentially, these languages are a part of a bigger family tree but remain the only living leaf on their branch. Examples for this category include Albanian and Greek. Of course, there are those who disagree with even this categorisation. None of these theories are widely accepted, however.
Trying to draw distinct borders between modern languages is often a complicated and thankless task. What is one day considered a mere dialect can the next be elevated to the status of a fully fledged language and find their newfound rights stripped away the next.
This feature also impacts the general understanding of isolates. For example, up until recently, Japanese was considered a very exemplary form of a language isolate. Funnily enough, these small languages that are spoken on the nearby Ryukyu islands, are actually considered dialects by many on mainland Japan, despite their very limited intelligibility. Although, since most of the Ryukyuan languages are in danger of dying out, Japanese might soon join the more liberal class of language isolates.
So, if Japanese finally found its family, is there a hope that the same might happen for Basque and Korean as well? Constructed Languages. Creole Languages. Critical Languages. Cushitic Branch. Dravidian Language Family. Endangered Languages. Eskimo Aleut Language Family. Germanic Branch. Heritage Languages. Indigenous Languages of Australia. Indigenous Languages of South America. Indo-Aryan Branch. Indo-European Language Family. Indo-Iranian Branch.
International Languages. Iroquoian Language Family. Khoisan Language Family. Language Isolates. Mayan Language Family. NaDene Language Family. Niger-Congo Language Family. Nilo-Saharan Language Family. Oto-Manguean Language Family. Pidgin Languages. Romance Branch. Semitic Branch. Sino-Tibetan Language Family. Siouan Language Family. Slavic Branch. Tai-Kadai Language Family. Tibeto-Burmese Branch.
Tungusic Languages. Turkic Branch. Uralic Language Family. Uto-Aztecan Language Family.
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