[Vocabulary] The island of Papua New Guinea has over 700 languages

[Son Ho]

I found this in an English book titled e Reading TOEFL iBT - LinguaForum.

"...The island of Papua New Guinea has over 700 languages! This is more than 25% of all the languages in the world..."

Does it mean over 700 languages account for more than 25 percent? And all the languages in the world in this context are 2,800 (100%), aren't they? But I looked up on the internet. It says there are over 7116 languages in the world. I don't understand.

 

[jutfrank]

You're right—the numbers are completely wrong. It's around 10%, not 25%.

 

[Amigos4]

The following link may be helpful: Papua Languages

Papua New Guinea Demographics:
Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse countries in the world with 848 different languages spoken (12% of the world's languages), of which 12 have no living speakers remaining. Most languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers.

 

[Tdol]

Also, neighbouring languages can have no relationship at all, unlike languages that differ but fit into wider families.

 

[Skrej]

The author doesn't seem to be a native math speaker.

 

[probus]

Debate about whether something is a language or a mere dialect can, of course, become very heated, and I believe there is no academic consensus on the matter. Because of history and tradition we recognize Norwegian, Swedish and Danish as separate languages although they are all pretty mutually intelligible. But if it were up to linguists there would be only two Scandinavian languages: Eastern Scandinavian, spoken in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and Western, spoken in the Faeroe Islands and Iceland.

My wife's native language, Konkani, was for a time treated as a dialect of Marathi but gained official recognition as an Indian language after a rather bitter political struggle.

 

[Tdol]

A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.

Max Weinreich

 

[Amigos4]

Max Weinreich

For those of us who have never heard of Max Weinreich: Link ;-)

 

[probus]

Although I don't speak Yiddish myself, several of my close friends do, and I've always considered it a wonderful language because it probably contains more and better insults than any other language.

https://www.heyalma.com/11-yiddish-insults-every-jewish-woman-should-know/

 

[Tdol]

For those of us who have never heard of Max Weinreich: Link ;-)

I must confess that I only knew of him because of this quotation.

 

[Tdol]

Although I don't speak Yiddish myself, several of my close friends do, and I've always considered it a wonderful language because it probably contains more and better insults than any other language.

https://www.heyalma.com/11-yiddish-insults-every-jewish-woman-should-know/

Have you been to Scotland? ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

During a Zoom meeting the other evening, I was told that Glaswegian swearing is almost considered a language in its own right. I also found out that a friend's mother, while living in Spain, acted as host to two Glaswegian students. Despite the "common" language, they were unable to communicate in English and ended up speaking Spanish in order to be understood.

 

[probus]

Both 5jj and I have had the experience of asking Glaswegians to speak English, only to be informed that they had been speaking English all along.

 

[GoesStation]

I spent a weekend with a band from Glasgow. By the end of three days, I was beginning to understand some of what they said. Even the Canadian member had learned the Glaswegian dialect.

 

[5jj]

It can be hard being a Glaswegian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs

 

[Tdol]

I hadn't seen that- it made me chuckle.

 

[Tdol]

During a Zoom meeting the other evening, I was told that Glaswegian swearing is almost considered a language in its own right.

It's certainly an art form.

 

[probus]

While attempting to improve my (Mexican) Spanish accent I joined a Spanish language forum, a bit like a Spanish version of UE. There I came across a New Englander, probably a Bostonian, teaching students to speak their Spanish in a very broad accent. This was not a parody. He apparently believed his Spanish was fine.

 

[jutfrank]

The natural speech of many of the Glaswegians I've met is heavily influenced by Scots, which is generally considered a separate language in its own right. I think a lot of non-Brits seem to think it's the accent that makes some Scottish people hard to understand, when really it's the dialectical features. The famous Glaswegian patter is basically a mix of Central Scots and Standard English.

Like everyone else, some Glaswegians are able to adjust their natural speech (to the English side) when they're outside their own speech community, and others seem to be completely incapable of controlling the language they use. They're no different from anyone else in this respect.

 

[Tdol]

While attempting to improve my (Mexican) Spanish accent I joined a Spanish language forum, a bit like a Spanish version of UE. There I came across a New Englander, probably a Bostonian, teaching students to speak their Spanish in a very broad accent. This was not a parody. He apparently believed his Spanish was fine.

There's an American woman teaching Cockney English on the web who manages to be worse than Dick Van Dyke.