Skip to main content
  • Hoopla logo
    Powered by Hoopla
  • Browse
  • My Hoopla
  • Log In
Books, videos, and music - all free from your public library!
LoginSign Up

Footer

Hoopla logo, Go to homepage
  • For Patrons
  • For Libraries (opens in new window)
  • For Vendors (opens in new window)
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)

Our Company

  • Our Story
  • Get Hoopla for your Library (opens in new window)
  • Get your content on hoopla (opens in new window)
  • Join our team (opens in new window)
  • Accessibility Statement

Our Content

  • Audiobooks
  • Ebooks
  • Movies
  • Television
  • Comics
  • BingePasses
  • Music
  • The Loop Blog

Help

  • Help Center
  • Submit Feedback
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)
  • Download on the App Store (opens in new window)
  • Get it on Google Play (opens in new window)
  • Available at Amazon Appstore (opens in new window)
© 2026 Midwest Tape, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
  1. Navigate Home
  3. Television

  4. Language Families of the World - Season 1

TELEVISION

Language Families of the World - Season 1

Series: Language Families of the World
4.9
(22)
sign up
Episodes
34
Rating
TVPG
Year
2019
Language
English
Publisher
The Great Courses

About

Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University explores the linguistic trails left by generations of humans that lead back to the beginnings of language. Utilizing historical theories and cutting-edge research, these 34 episodes will introduce you to major language families and their offspring, including languages that are no longer spoken but provide vital links to the past.

Related Subjects

  • Educational

Episodes

1. Why Are There So Many Languages?

30m

sign up
There are over 7,000 languages in the world and many linguists believe they likely all developed from a single source language in the distant past. Get an introduction to the concept of language families, understand how languages change over time, and discover what linguistics can teach us about our own history.

2. The First Family Discovered: Indo-European

28m

sign up
While the Indo-European family of languages was not the first group to be identified as related, it is the family that has received much of the research and classification that became the basis of modern linguistics. Uncover what defines Indo-European languages, which include Latin, English, French, Armenian, Latvian, Sanskrit, and many more.

3. Indo-European Languages in Europe

29m

sign up
Begin a deep dive into the earliest roots of Indo-European languages with a look at Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Celtic languages. See how Indo-European languages contradict common notions about how language works and uncover some of the mysteries that are yet to be solved.

4. Indo-European Languages in Asia

28m

sign up
One-fifth to one-sixth of the world speaks one of the Indo-European languages of India. Trace back to the branching of the Indo-European tree, when the European languages split from the Indo-Aryan varieties like Sanskrit that would become Hindi and others. Explore many variations that evolved and see why it can be so difficult to differentiate between a language and a dialect.

5. The Click Languages

24m

sign up
Shift from Indo-European to some of the most endangered languages in the world: the "click" languages, formally known as Khoisan. Spoken in southern Africa, these endangered languages share a distinctive profile, and yet likely did not all come from a single family. Explore where they may have begun and how they work.

6. Niger-Congo: The Biggest Family in Africa I

29m

sign up
The Niger-Congo family consists of anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 different languages. While they are part of the same family, they do not adhere to an identified pattern like Indo-European. What links this immense family together? What is the essence of the Niger-Congo? What can these languages tell us about migration patterns? Explore these questions and more.

7. Niger-Congo: The Biggest Family in Africa II

30m

sign up
Look closer at some of the unique aspects of the Niger-Congo family, including the use of tone, and see how different languages can spring from the same original materials. Since the work of classifying languages is ongoing, you may be surprised to see how many can develop in proximity and share words but be part of different groups altogether.

8. Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond I

30m

sign up
Follow the migration of peoples from Africa to the Middle East by looking at the language family that developed in the Fertile Crescent: Afro-Asiatic. This first look at this family focuses on the widely known Semitic branch, which includes Arabic and Hebrew. Examine what defines this group of languages and uncover the roots of the first alphabets.

9. Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond II

28m

sign up
Move beyond the Semitic languages to look at other subfamilies of Afro-Asiatic, including what some call the "Berber" subfamily and several other subfamilies spoken south of the Sahara, and see what they can teach us about the nature of language. Close with a look at Somali oral poetry and its complex use of alliteration.

10. Nilo-Saharan: Africa's Hardest Languages?

26m

sign up
Afro-Asiatic languages are prevalent in the north of the African continent, and Niger-Congo in the south, with a narrow band of a third family running between: Nilo-Saharan. The Nilo-Saharan languages are immensely different from each other, so how do linguists know they are related? Examine the unique features of this family.

Extended Details

  • SeriesLanguage Families of the World
  • Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector
The Great CoursesProducer
John McWhorterActor

Similar Artists

  • Bill Bryson

  • Daniel L. Everett

  • David Crystal

  • Lynne Murphy

  • Shelby Steele

  • Steven Pinker

  • Thomas Sowell