Afroasiatic languages
| Afroasiatic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Malta, Horn of Africa, North Africa, Sahel, West Asia |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Afroasiatic |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 / 5 | afa |
| Glottolog | afro1255 |
 Distribution of the Afro-Asiatic languages | |
Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic), also called Afrasian or Hamito-Semitic[1] or Semito-Hamitic,[2] is a large language family. They are mainly spoken in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel.[3] There are around 300 Afroasiatic languages that are still spoken. About 495 million people speak an Afroasiatic language as their first language.[4] There are six branches of the language family: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic and Semitic. The most spoken language is Arabic, a Semitic language. It has around 313 million native speakers.[5]
The name "Semito-Hamitic" comes from Shem and Ham, two sons of Noah in Genesis.
References
- ↑ Katzner, Kenneth (2002). The Languages of the World. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-1134532889. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- ↑ Robert Hetzron, "Afroasiatic Languages" in Bernard Comrie, The World's Major Languages, 2009, ISBN 113426156X, p. 545
- ↑ "Browse by Language Family". ethnologue.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
- ↑ "Summary by language family". ethnologue.com. Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
- ↑ "Arabic". ethnologue.com. Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 April 2018.