When this series started, the Bradford family consisted of Tom, the father, a respected columnist for the Sacramento Register, Joan, his wife for about 25 years, and the eight children of the couple, all of them were very normal but quite independent. Unexpectedly, actress Diana Hyland died of cancer and was written off the series after 5 episodes.
Let's first take a closer look at the linguistic diversity that existed five hundred years ago. In 1500 there were probably about 7 thousand languages spoken across the earth, most still groupable into the 25 or so major families represented today.
There are currently 7,102 known languages spoken by people around the world, according to Ethnologue, widely considered to be the most extensive catalogue of the languages of the world. Sadly, this number declines every month. Of these languages, 90% are spoken by less than 100,000 people. UPDATED: As of 2017, Ethnologue reports that there are now only 7,097 languages in the world. Thatâs five fewer languages than last year. Roughly 150 to 200 languages are spoken by more than million people.