Language Families and Isolates
Further information: Classification schemes for indigenous languages of the AmericasNotes:
- Extinct languages or families are indicated by: †.
- The number of family members is indicated in parentheses (for example, Arauan (9) means the Arauan family consists of nine languages).
- Out of convenience, the following list of language families is divided in 3 sections based on political boundaries of countries. These sections correspond roughly with the geographic regions (North, Central, and South America) but are not equivalent. This division also does not cleanly delineate indigenous culture areas.
Read more about this topic: Indigenous Languages Of The Americas
Famous quotes containing the words language, families and/or isolates:
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“There is a city myth that country life was isolated and lonely; the truth is that farmers and their families then had a richer social life than they have now. They enjoyed a society organic, satisfying and whole, not mixed and thinned with the life of town, city and nation as it now is.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1965)
“Lovers of painting and lovers of music are people who openly display their preference like a delectable ailment that isolates them and makes them proud.”
—Maurice Blanchot (b. 1907)