Ch. 5 Outline Key Issue 1 Introducing Languages Language- a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning Language and Migration People in two locations speak the same language because of migration from one of the locations to another People in Madagascar speak a language that belongs to the same family as most Indonesian and Filipino languages. After a long time without connection languages will change Classifying Languages Ethnologue- one of the most authoritative sources of languages Estimates the world has 7,102 languages 90 spoken by 10 million people 304 spoken by between 1 and 10 million people 6,708 spoken by fewer than 1 million people