Languages of the World
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AFRICA  |  EURO-ASIA  |  MIDDLE ASIA  |  AUSTRALIA  |  NORTH AMERICA  |  SOUTH and CENTRAL AMERICA

 English The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A. D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down.
The period of Middle English extends roughly from the twelfth century through the fifteenth. The influence of French (and Latin, often by way of French) upon the lexicon continued throughout this period, the loss of some inflections and the reduction of others (often to a final unstressed vowel spelled -e) accelerated, and many changes took place within the phonological and grammatical systems of the language.
The period of Modern English extends from the sixteenth century to our own day.
 Guarani This is one of the official languages of Paraguay [ and the only indigenous language of the Americas to be so among a majority non-indigenous population. It has an interesting history of indigenous peoples in search of immortality and wisdom through botany-derived highs. It was one of the three major languages of South America around the time of the Incas, who also spoke the language.
 Haitian-Creole
 (Puerto Rico)		 Haitian Creole is spoken by about 5.7 million speakers in Haiti with over a 100,000 in the adjacent Dominican Republic and 200,000 in New York, and much smaller numbers in Canada and Puerto Rico. Haitian Creole is a French-based creole. It is a language that developed out the sociohistorical situation of seventeenth and eighteenth century Haiti, where a pidginized variety of French was used as a contact language between masters and slaves and among Africans of diverse ethnic origins in the plantation economy of the time. There are considerable morphological and syntactic influences from West African languages which were spoken by the overwhelming majority of slaves in Haiti, but the basic lexical structure of the language is French in origin.
 Mayan The Mayan language family comprises five sub-families and includes many languages that are spoken in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. In Mexico, Mayan languages are spoken in seven states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucat?n, Quintana Roo, Campeche, San Luis Potos? and Veracruz. In Chiapas, all the languages are Mayan (except Zoque), as are virtually all the indigenous languages of Guatemala. (The maps below show approximate distribution of these languages, including some recent migrations.) The total number of Mayan speakers is over 1.5 million, making this family one of the two largest in Mexico (the other being the Nahuatl family).
 Quechua Quechua ("qheshwa") is an indigenous language of the Andean region, spoken today by approximately 13 million people in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile, Argentina, and Southern Colombia. It was the official language of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire.
 Sami The Sami inhabitants of Norway live in an area stretching from the northern Sor-Varanger to Femund's Elga, in the south. They constitute a highly heterogeneous population, possessing distinct cultural and linguistic traits. The southern Sami live in small, scattered clusters and families, and most of them have reindeer herding as their main livelihood. Those who have abandoned reindeer herding have, to a large degree, been assimilated into the Norwegian population. In this way, the number of Sami in the southern region has remained fairly constant for several generations. Reindeer herding has been an important factor for the creation of Sami unity in the southern areas.
 Samoan Samoan and Tongan are spoken in small island-countries in the South Pacific: Samoa and Tonga.
Samoan is from the Austronesian family of languages. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, especially Tongan. Here is a very cursory overview of the language and some vocabulary.
 Setswana The official language of Botswana.
 Tongan

Samoan and Tongan are spoken in small island-countries in the South Pacific: Samoa and Tonga.

The Tongan language is a Polynesian dialect. Some of the common words are similar to other Polynesian dialects like Samoan, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Maori, Rarotongan, Niuean, Tuvaluan and even in pronunciation.
A special language is for the King, there is also another for the Royal Family and the chiefs. All other people use a common language, this is known as the Tongan Language.

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