Comments on: Language History… Latin and Chinese…? http://easysignlanguagelessons.com/language-history-latin-and-chinese/ Learn Sign Language Lessons Easily and FREE Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:34:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: dollhaus http://easysignlanguagelessons.com/language-history-latin-and-chinese/comment-page-1/#comment-424 dollhaus Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:21:50 +0000 http://easysignlanguagelessons.com/language-history-latin-and-chinese/#comment-424 Well, you have many misconceptions. Let's start with Latin. Latin did NOT branch to English, German, or Russian; French and Italian, yes. The ancestor language to most European languages is Proto-Indo-European (PIE). This language left no written records, and its origins are not known. It has been reconstructed by backtracking through its descendants. One of its descendants was Proto-Italic. This eventually gave rise to Latin, which in turn gave rise to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, romansch, Catalan, and dozens of other languages (some now extinct). Another descendant of PIE was Proto-Germanic. This eventually gave rise to West Germanic, which in turn gave rise to both English and German. Dutch, Frisian, and Afrikaans are realted languages with the same ancestry. Yet another descendant was Proto-Balto-Slavic. Russian and the other Slavic languages such as Slavonic, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc. came from this branch. Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan language. It did NOT branch into Korean, Japanese, or Vietnamese. It is in no way based on Latin. There is no one single language 'Chinese'. There are several languages and dialects grouped under the umbrella of a single writing system. These all probably did come form the original Chinese. Taiwanese is one of those - its a Min Nan dialect. Tagalog from the Phillipines is a Malayo-Polynesian language. It's related to many other languages in the area, and to some pretty far afield - such as Maori of New Zealand and Hawaiian. It has been influenced by Spanish, a Latin-derived language, but there is NO Latin basis for it. This is a very abbreviated look at an extremely complex subject. There's no way to give a comprehensive discussion in something like Y!A. For your questions: Birth of Latin - Some time before 800 BC. Was Latin the first language - Absolutely not. Sign language - Many types were probably used over the centuries, but the oldest known documented system is from Spain in 1620. What came before Chinese - Sino-Tibetan Latin or Chinese first - Hard to say. The oldest known written Chinese is from about 1100 BC; oldest written Latin from about 800 BC. As far as spoken, that's really unknown. Realize that the spoken Chinese of 1100 BC would not be understood by anyone today. Evolution of languages - There are full books written on this subject. Suffice it to say they all evolve. After about 500 years or so, languages change so much that a current speaker cannot understand the original. Well, you have many misconceptions. Let's start with Latin. Latin did NOT branch to English, German, or Russian; French and Italian, yes. The ancestor language to most European languages is Proto-Indo-European (PIE). This language left no written records, and its origins are not known. It has been reconstructed by backtracking through its descendants.

One of its descendants was Proto-Italic. This eventually gave rise to Latin, which in turn gave rise to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, romansch, Catalan, and dozens of other languages (some now extinct).

Another descendant of PIE was Proto-Germanic. This eventually gave rise to West Germanic, which in turn gave rise to both English and German. Dutch, Frisian, and Afrikaans are realted languages with the same ancestry.

Yet another descendant was Proto-Balto-Slavic. Russian and the other Slavic languages such as Slavonic, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc. came from this branch.

Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan language. It did NOT branch into Korean, Japanese, or Vietnamese. It is in no way based on Latin. There is no one single language 'Chinese'. There are several languages and dialects grouped under the umbrella of a single writing system. These all probably did come form the original Chinese. Taiwanese is one of those - its a Min Nan dialect.

Tagalog from the Phillipines is a Malayo-Polynesian language. It's related to many other languages in the area, and to some pretty far afield - such as Maori of New Zealand and Hawaiian. It has been influenced by Spanish, a Latin-derived language, but there is NO Latin basis for it.

This is a very abbreviated look at an extremely complex subject. There's no way to give a comprehensive discussion in something like Y!A.

For your questions:

Birth of Latin - Some time before 800 BC.
Was Latin the first language - Absolutely not.
Sign language - Many types were probably used over the centuries, but the oldest known documented system is from Spain in 1620.
What came before Chinese - Sino-Tibetan
Latin or Chinese first - Hard to say. The oldest known written Chinese is from about 1100 BC; oldest written Latin from about 800 BC. As far as spoken, that's really unknown. Realize that the spoken Chinese of 1100 BC would not be understood by anyone today.
Evolution of languages - There are full books written on this subject. Suffice it to say they all evolve. After about 500 years or so, languages change so much that a current speaker cannot understand the original.

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