Editing Languages of Asia (section)

==Language groups==
[[File:Ethnolinguisticswasiacia.jpg|thumb|300px|Ethnolinguistic distribution in Central/Southwest Asia of the [[Altaic languages|Altaic]], [[Caucasian languages|Caucasian]], [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] (Hamito-Semitic) and [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] families.]]

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

===Sino-Tibetan===
{{main|Sino-Tibetan languages}}

Sino-Tibetan includes [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]], [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[S’gaw Karen language|Karen]], [[Boro language (India)|Boro]] and numerous languages of the Tibetan Plateau, Southern China, Myanmar, and North East India.

===Indo-European===
{{Main|Indo-European languages}}
The [[Indo-European languages]] are primarily represented in Asia by the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian branch]], with its two main subgroups: [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] and [[Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]].

Indo-Aryan languages are mainly spoken in South Asia. Examples include languages such as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu)]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Bhojpuri language|Bhojpuri]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]],  [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]] etc.<!--this is deliberately a very short list: includes only languages with > 50 million speakers-->)

[[Iranian languages|Iranic]] languages are mainly spoken in [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]] and neighboring regions. Examples include languages like [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], [[Pashto]] and [[Balochi language|Balochi]] which are spoken in

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

===Altaic families===
{{main|Altaic languages}}

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 languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]], [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] (including [[Manchu language|Manchu]]), [[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]], and [[Japonic languages|Japonic]] languages. But since the mid-20th century a majority of scholars have come to regard it as a [[Sprachbund]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Starostin |first=George |author-link=Georgiy Starostin |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |title=Altaic Languages |url=https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-35 |access-date=2023-07-11 |language=en |date=2016-04-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.35|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=De la Fuente |first=José Andrés Alonso |year=2016 |title=Review of Robbeets, Martine (2015): Diachrony of verb morphology. Japanese and the Transeurasian languages |url=https://www.academia.edu/30240029 |journal=Diachronica |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=530–537 |doi=10.1075/dia.33.4.04alo |quote=For now, shared material between Transeurasian [i.e. Altaic] languages is undoubtedly better explained as the result of language contact. But if researchers provide cogent evidence of genealogical relatedness, that will be the time to re-evaluate old positions. That time, however, has not yet come.}}</ref>

===Austroasiatic===
{{main|Austroasiatic languages}}

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

===Kra–Dai===
{{main|Kra–Dai languages}}

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 language|Thai]] (Siamese) and [[Lao language|Lao]].

===Austronesian===
{{main|Austronesian languages}}

The [[Austronesian languages]] are widespread throughout [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], including major languages such as [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] ([[Indonesia]] and [[Timor-Leste]]), [[Fijian language|Fijian]] ([[Fiji]]), [[Ilonggo language|Hiligaynon]], [[Bicolano language|Bikol]], [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]], [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]], [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] ([[Philippines]]), and [[Malay language|Malay]] ([[Brunei]], [[Malaysia]], and [[Singapore]]). Other significant Austronesian languages in Indonesia include [[Javanese language|Javanese]], [[Sundanese language|Sundanese]], and [[Madurese language|Madurese]]. Meanwhile, Indonesian is the most widely spoken language in the Austronesian family.

===Dravidian===
{{main|Dravidian languages}}

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

===Afro-Asiatic===
{{main|Semitic languages}}

The [[Afroasiatic languages]] (in older sources Hamito-Semitic) are represented in Asia by the [[Semitic languages|Semitic branch]]. Semitic languages are spoken in [[Western Asia]], and include the various dialects of [[Arabic]] and [[Neo-Aramaic language|Aramaic]], [[Modern Hebrew]], and [[Modern South Arabian languages]] in addition to extinct languages such as [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] and [[Ancient South Arabian]].

===Siberian families===
{{main|Paleosiberian languages}}

Besides the Altaic families already mentioned (of which [[Tungusic languages|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]] ([[Dené–Yeniseian languages|linked]] to Turkic and to the Athabaskan languages of North America), [[Yukaghir languages|Yukaghir]], [[Nivkh language|Nivkh]] of Sakhalin, [[Ainu languages|Ainu]] of northern Japan, [[Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages|Chukotko-Kamchatkan]] in easternmost Siberia, and—just barely—[[Eskimo–Aleut languages|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|Rouran]] language of Mongolia is unclassified, and does not show genetic relationships with any other known language family.

===Caucasian families===
{{main|Languages of the Caucasus}}

Three small families are spoken in the [[Caucasus]]: [[Kartvelian languages]], such as [[Georgian language|Georgian]]; [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]] (Dagestanian languages), such as [[Chechen language|Chechen]]; and [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]], such as [[Circassian language|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:

*[[Hattic language|Hattic]], an unclassified language in Anatolia.
*extinct languages of the [[Fertile Crescent]] such as [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[Elamite language|Elamite]].
*extinct languages of South Asia; mainly the unclassified [[Harappan language]]
*small language families and isolates of the [[Indian subcontinent]]: [[Burushaski]], [[Kusunda language|Kusunda]], and [[Nihali language|Nihali]]. The [[Vedda language|Vedda]] language of [[Sri Lanka]] is likely an isolate that has mixed with [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]].
*the two [[Andamanese languages|Andamanese]] language families: [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]] and [[Ongan languages|Ongan]]; [[Sentinelese language|Sentinelese]] remains undocumented to date, and hence unclassified.
*unclassified languages in Southeast Asia: [[Kenaboi language|Kenaboi]].
*the difficult to classify [[Language isolates and independent language families in Arunachal|Arunachal languages]]: [[Digaro languages|Digaro]], [[Hrusish languages|Hrusish]] (including the [[Miji languages]]<ref name="Blench2015">Blench, Roger. 2015. [https://www.academia.edu/12657496/The_Mijiic_languages_distribution_dialects_wordlist_and_classification ''The Mijiic languages: distribution, dialects, wordlist and classification'']. m.s.</ref>), [[Midzu languages|Midzu]], [[Puroik language|Puroik]], [[Siangic languages|Siangic]], and [[Kho-Bwa languages|Kho-Bwa]].
*[[Hmong–Mien languages|Hmong–Mien]] (Miao–Yao) scattered across southern China and Southeast Asia
*a few "[[Papuan languages|Papuan]]" (Non-Austronesian) families of the central and eastern Malay Archipelago: such as the [[Timor-Alor-Pantar languages|Timor-Alor-Pantar]] and [[North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]] languages, and the little known extinct [[Tambora language]] of [[Sumbawa]]. Numerous additional families are spoken in Indonesian [[New Guinea]], which is generally considered to part of [[Oceania]].

===Creoles and pidgins===
{{main|Creole languages|Pidgin language}}

The eponymous [[Chinese Pidgin English|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 language|Portuguese]]. A very well-known Portuguese-based creole is the [[Kristang language|Kristang]], which is spoken in [[Malacca]], a city-state in [[Malaysia]].

===Sign languages===
{{main|Sign language|List of sign languages#Asia/Pacific}}

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 [[Nepali Sign Language|Nepal]], [[Thailand]], and [[Vietnamese sign languages|Vietnam]]. Many official sign languages are part of the [[French Sign Language family]].