# Major Language Families?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-language-families/290699>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 18, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-language-families/290699 "2005-02-18T12:51:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-language-families/290699/1 "2005-02-18T12:51:27Z")

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The several General Questions about language origins and some comments I’ve received in the past when referencing what I’d learned as the Ural-Altaic and Afro-Asiatic (FKA Hamito-Semitic) as language phyla, lead me to suggest that it might be interesting to have a broader question, regarding the major language phyla recognized by philologists and ethnolinguists today. In addition to Indo-European, what do today’s scholars recognize as large groups and what, in general terms, do they comprise?

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**Author:** ![wampeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@wampeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wampeter)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-language-families/290699/2 "2005-02-18T13:12:06Z")

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Here’s a great link (which I use all the time) for language families: [ethnologue language family index](http://www.ethnologue.com/family_index.asp)

- wampeter