Video Fix: Is Europe actually full of just one kind of language?

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When one takes a look at the map of the European continent, divided by its many languages, it is easy to see the mosaic of different mother tongues that make up this region. However, in this week’s video fix, we take a closer look at this idea and the debate that European languages aren’t as varied people believe.

 

Video Fix_ Are European Languages alike_

This video aims to compare and contrast further the languages of Europe, while at the same time linking them together to see if this is actually the case where one kind of language exists throughout the continent. In fact, this video asks if it is the case that European languages can be all put together as ‘ Standard Average European’. This debate has been going on for decades to determine which of the languages actually belong to this ‘SAE’ and which ones fall on the periphery of it all.

For this reason, research into solving this dilemma increased; data was gathered and the European languages were compared amongst each other, and later on, this effort was continued to compare European languages with non-European. From this research, a list of linguistic features emerged and these were checked in relation to each of the languages. So, which European language emerged as the most ‘Standard Average European’? Which ones can be found in the linguistic heart of Europe?

Find out in this week’s Video Fix:


Sources

  • NativLang, ‘Euroversals-Are all European languages alike?’ Available here [Accessed 13/11/2017]
  • NativLang, Available here [ Accessed 13/11/2017]

 

Written by Veronica Lynn MizziTrainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament (Luxembourg). Graduate in the Maltese Language and Communication, and Master’s graduate in Translation and Terminology Studies from the University of Malta. Former journalist