Language Family tree

The Indo-European
Family

Linguistics
Licda. Milvia Rosales
• All living languages evolve over time,
adding & losing vocabulary,
morphological behavior, and syntactic
structures, and changing in the ways
they are pronounced by their speakers.

• A language family is a group of languages

related through descent from a common
ancestor, called the proto-language of
that family.
• The term 'family' comes from the
tree model of language origination
in historical linguistics, which
makes use of a metaphor comparing
languages to people in a biological
family tree.

• In 2009, SIL Ethnologue catalogued

6,909 living human languages.
• A "living language" is simply one
that is widely used as a primary
form of communication by a
specific group of living people.

• There are also many dead and

extinct languages.
• A large number of related languages form what
is called the Indo-European macrofamily. These
languages all evolved from a common ancestral
tongue called Proto-Indo-European

• The Indo-European proto-languages themselves

evolved, each giving rise to its own family of
languages.

• Each family is identified with the proto-

language from which it sprung; these families
are conventionally listed in order, roughly from
west to east with respect to the homelands their
speakers came to occupy.
• Celtic, with languages spoken in the
British Isles, in Spain, and across southern
Europe to central Turkey;

• Germanic, with languages spoken in

England and throughout Scandinavia &
central Europe to Crimea;
• Italic, with languages spoken in Italy and,
later, throughout the Roman Empire
including modern-day Portugal, Spain,
France, and Romania;
• Balto-Slavic, with Baltic languages spoken
in Latvia & Lithuania, and Slavic
throughout eastern Europe plus Belarus &
Ukraine & Russia;
• Balkan (Southeast Europe) with languages
spoken mostly in the Balkans and far
western Turkey;
• Hellenic, spoken in Greece and the
Aegean Islands and, later, in other
areas conquered by Alexander
(around the Mediterranean);

• Anatolian, with languages spoken in

Anatolia, Asia Minor, modern
Turkey;
• Armenian, spoken in Armenia and nearby
areas including eastern Turkey;

• Indo-Iranian, with languages spoken from

India through Pakistan and Afghanistan to
Iran and Kurdish areas of Iraq and Turkey;

• Tocharian, spoken in the Tarim Basin of

Xinjiang, in far western China.
 Celtic Branch
Tokharian Germanic
Branch Branch

Indic Branch Latin Branch

I-E
Iranian
Branch 12 Slavic Branch
branches

Thracian
Baltic Branch
Branch

Anatolian Hellenic
Branch Branch
Illyc Branch
 Celtic
Origin: Central Europe/Western Europe
Branch

Welsh
languages Irish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic

Breton
 Cornish Manx
 Gaulish Pictish extinct languages
 Cumbrian Galatian

Celtic, with languages spoken in the British Isles, in Spain, and across
southern Europe to central Turkey.
Germanic origin from Old Norse and Saxon
Branch
English
Languages Dutch (Flemish/Africaans)
“varieties”
German (Yiddish “variety”)
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish

 Gothic Germanic, with languages

 Frankish spoken in England and
 Lombardo extinct languages throughout Scandinavia
& central Europe to
 Visigoth
Crimea.
 Vandal
 Latin Also called Italic or Romance Languages
Branch Italian
Portuguese (Galician) dialect
Languages Spanish
French
Romanian (Moldavian) dialect
Romansh
Ladino
Provincial
Catalan
Italic, with languages spoken in
Italy and, later, throughout the
 Dalmatian Sabine
Roman Empire including
 Oscan Umbrian extinct modern-day Portugal, Spain,
 Faliscan languages France, and Romania;
 The Slavic confined to Eastern Europe
Branch
Bulgarian
Russian (the most important)
Poland (Kashubian) spoken in parts of Poland
Languages Sorbian
Czech
Slovak
Slovene
Balto-Slavic, with Baltic
Macedonian languages spoken in Latvia &
Bosnian Lithuania, and Slavic
Ukrainian throughout eastern Europe
Byelorussian plus Belarus & Ukraine &
Russia.
 Baltic
Branch just two Baltic Languages

Lithuanian

Languages
Latvian

Prussian is an extinct language of the Baltic branch

The family is usually divided into two groups: Western Baltic,

containing only extinct languages, and Eastern Baltic,
containing both extinct and the two living Baltic
languages: Lithuanian (Northern Europe) and Latvian
 Hellenic
Branch just Modern Greek

Ancient Greek was written from around 700 BC

Doric from Sparta

Ionic from Cos
Mayor forms Hellenic, spoken in
Aeolic from Lesbos Greece and the Aegean
Attic from Athens Islands and, later, in
other areas conquered
by Alexander (around
the Mediterranean);
 Illyric single language branch
Branch

Languages Albanian (two dialects)

Geg Tosk

Illyric and Mesapian are considered extinct languages

Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe.

 Anatolian
all languages are extinct
Branch

Lydian
Lycian
Extinct languages
Luwian
Palaic

Anatolian, with languages

spoken in Anatolia, Asia
Minor, modern Turkey;
 Thracian represented by a single language
Branch Armenian

has its own script

Armenian
(extinct languages)

Dacian Thracian Phrygian

Armenian is spoken in Armenia and

nearby areas including eastern Turkey.
 Iranian
languages descended from
Branch
Ancient Persian

main language Farsi

second large language Kurdish
other languages Pashto, Baluchi, Ossetian, Tadzhik
extinct languages Avestan, Scythian

Indo-Iranian, with languages spoken from India through

Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iran and Kurdish areas of
Iraq and Turkey;
 Indic has the most languages that are
Branch derived from Sanskrit

Pali Kashmiri
Languages Ardhamagadhi Sindhi
Indi Gujarati
Urdu Konkani
Nepali Sinhalese
Bengali Maldivian
Bhili
Indic languages are the Oriya
dominant language Marathi
family of the Indian Assamese
subcontinent, spoken Punjabi and Lahnda
largely by Indo-Arvan Maithili and Maghadi
people.
 Tokharian two extinct languages identified
Branch

Turfanian Kuchean

those languages were once spoken in

north west China

Tocharian, spoken in the Tarim Basin of

Xinjiang, in far western China.
Where (your country) is located
The timeline of English
E-graphy
• http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/general/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyrian_languages
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family
• http://www.danshort.com/ie/
• http://linguisticsnet.com/index.php?option=com_co
ntent&task=view&id=214&Itemid=2