* Defining a "language" is complex: Linguists disagree on what constitutes a distinct language versus a dialect.
* Continual evolution: Languages are constantly changing, with new ones emerging and old ones dying out.
* Lack of complete documentation: Many languages, particularly in remote areas, are not fully documented or studied.
However, estimates suggest that thousands of languages are spoken in Asia.
Here's a breakdown of major language families in Asia:
* Indo-European: The largest family in Asia, including Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Persian, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, etc.
* Sino-Tibetan: The second largest, with Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, etc.
* Austroasiatic: Includes Vietnamese, Khmer, Mon, etc.
* Austronesian: Found primarily in Southeast Asia, with Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, etc.
* Turkic: Spoken across Central Asia and parts of the Middle East, including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, etc.
* Dravidian: Found mainly in South India, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, etc.
* Altaic: A large family with branches like Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungistic, including Mongolian, Korean, etc.
* Japanese and Korean are language isolates, not closely related to other language families.
These are just some of the major language families in Asia, and each has numerous branches and subgroups. The diversity of languages in Asia is truly vast and complex.