Indo-European Languages

Language Classification

Languages are often related.

A mother language is spoken by groups of people who become separated by time and distance. Those groups then form new languages based on a common origin.

LANGUAGE FAMILY: a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed before recorded history. (Indo-European is the world’s most extensive language family.)

LANGUAGE BRANCH: a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago. (A language family divides into a number of branches.)

LANGUAGE GROUP: a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

FAMILIES,BRANCHES

AND GROUPS

•Family

•Branch

•Group

•Language

West Germanic(group)

Germanic(branch)

Indo-European(family)

English(language)

Spanish

MÒoré

Mandarin

Korean

What’s A Linguist?

•A person who studies languages.

•Linguistics

Linguistic Studies

• Linguists are particularly concerned with tracing the paths of languages and locating their hearths.

• This is pretty easy to do with some languages!

• BUT… virtually impossible with others!

• Of course…. The further back in time you go, the harder it is to accurately trace language.

Linguistic StudiesLinguistic Studies

ENGLISH

Family

Plate

Bank

Problem

SPANISH

Familia

Plato

Banco

Problema

Indo-European

•ALLALL Indo-European languages share similar words!

• Beech, oak, bear, deer, pheasant, bee

• THEREFORE… Linguists believe the words must represent things experienced in ____________________of the original Indo-European speakers.

The Daily Life

Indo-European

• Their conclusion? The original Indo-European

speakers probably lived in a _______________

climate, or one that had a ________________

season, but did not come in contact with

_____________________.

Cold

Winter

The Ocean

Theory #1

• Nomadic Warrior Thesis- Kurgan Hearth Theory

• Hearth in modern Russia/Kazakhstan

• The Kurgans spread their language by conquering other peoples.

• Moved East to West

Theory #2

• Sedentary Farmer Thesis- Renfrew Hypothesis

• Hearth in modern Turkey

• Language spread along with agricultural innovations

• Moved North to Europe, East to Asia