Table of Contents
What caused the spread of Indo-European languages?
Ecological studies: widespread drought, urban collapse, and pastoral migrations. Climate change and drought may have triggered both the initial dispersal of Indo-European speakers, and the migration of Indo-Europeans from the steppes in south central Asia and India.
When did the Indo-European language begin?
This branch has the oldest surviving evidence of an Indo-European language, dated about 1800 BCE. This branch includes two sub-branches: Indic and Iranian. Today these languages are predominant in India, Pakistan, Iran, and its vicinity and also in areas from the Black Sea to western China.
How did European languages develop?
The Indo-European language family is descended from Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken thousands of years ago. Early speakers of Indo-European daughter languages most likely expanded into Europe with the incipient Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago (Bell-Beaker culture).
What is Indo-European language history?
The term Indo-European was introduced in 1816 by Franz Bopp of Germany and referred to a family of languages in Europe and Asia (including Northern India, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) that were found to have a remarkable structural relationship.
Which Indo-European language did English originate from?
English language, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to the Frisian, German, and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages.
When did Indo-European evolve into other languages?
By the time the first written records appeared, Indo-European had already evolved into numerous languages spoken across much of Europe and south-west Asia. Written evidence of Indo-European appeared during the Bronze Age in the form of Mycenaean Greek and the Anatolian languages, Hittite and Luwian.
How many people in the world speak Indo European?
Today, nearly 42\% of the human population (3.2 billion) speaks an Indo-European language as a first language, by far the highest of any language family. The Indo-European family includes most of the modern languages of Europe; notable exceptions include Hungarian, Turkish, Finnish, Estonian, Basque, Maltese, and Sami.
What is the Indo-European language family tree based on?
Indo-European language family tree based on “Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis of Indo-European languages” by Chang et al Membership of languages in the Indo-European language family is determined by genealogical relationships, meaning that all members are presumed descendants of a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-European .
Which Indo-European languages are in danger of extinction?
However, many other Indo-European languages are small and in danger of extinction: Cornish, for instance, has fewer than 600 speakers. In total, 46 percent of the world’s population (3.2 billion) speaks an Indo-European language as a first language, by far the highest of any language family.