Indo-European languages - Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages include 150 languages spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. The hypothesis that this was so was first proposed by Sir William Jones, who noticed similarities between four of the oldest languages known in his time, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit and Persian. Systematic comparison of these and other old languages conducted by Franz Bopp supported this theory. In the 19th century, scholars used to call the group "Indo-Germanic languages". However when it became apparent that the connection is relevant to most of Europe's languages, the name was expanded to Indo-European. An example of this was the strong similarity discovered between Sanskrit and olden spoken.
Non-Indo-European roots of Germanic languages - Non-Indo-European roots of Germanic languages There are a great many non-Indo-European roots in the Germanic tongues. These are words which have no word-kin anywhere in Indo-European outside of the Germanic tongues. Linguists estimate that as many as thirty of every hundred words in the word-stock of the Germanic tongues is not an Indo-European word. One group of such words has to do with ships and the sea; words like keel, oar, rudder, steer, and mast are shared by almost every Germanic tongue, but not by any other kind of Indo-European speech. Another group of these words deals with war and weapons; words like sword, shield, helmet, bow, king, and knight are all found in almost every Germanic tongue, but in none of their Indo-European kin. The words.
Indo-Iranian languages - Indo-Iranian languages Indo-Iranian languages are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. They are well represented among the oldest records of Indo-European languages. These originate around present-day Afghanistan and early on split as some people went west and some went east. Indo-Aryan languages: Sanskrit Assamese language Bengali language Gujarati language Hindi language Maithili language Marathi language Nepali language Oriya language Pali Punjabi language Romany language - the language of Gypsies Sindhi language Singhalese language Urdu Dardic languages: Dameli language Domaaki language Gawar-Bati language Kalasha language Kashmiri language Khowar language Kohistani language Ningalami language Pashayi language Phalura language Shina language Shumashti language Nuristani languages: Ashkun language Kamviri language Kati language (Bashgali) Prasuni language (Wasi-Weri) Tregami language Waigali language (Kalasha-Ala) Iranian languages: Persian language Avestan (extinct) Pahlavi.
Indo-Aryan languages - Indo-Aryan languages The majority of Indo-Aryan languages derive from Sanskrit, the language of ancient India. The earliest form of Sanskrit recorded is Vedic Sanskrit: the language used in the oldest scriptures of India, notably the Rigveda. Its character is demonstrably old, with many links to the Indo-European parent language. In the fifth century BC, Sanskrit had evolved somewhat, and the grammarian Panini codified and standardized it; this led (in about 200 BC) to what is now known as 'Classical' Sanskrit. However, although this preserved the integrity of written language for a long time, the spoken language continues to evolve, and by the sixth century AD, Sanskrit as a spoken language was rare, being by and large replaced by its descendants, the Prakrits. All the Prakrits share.
European languages - European languages Most of the many indigenous languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. The scope of this article also includes languages spoken outside of continental Europe that belong to European language families (such as Afrikaans). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Basque 2 Caucasian languages 3 Constructed languages 4 Finno-Ugric languages 5 Indo-European languages 5.1 Albanian 5.2 Armenian 5.3 Baltic languages 5.4 Celtic languages 5.4.1 Brythonic 5.4.2 Goidelic (Gaelic) 5.5 Germanic languages 5.5.3 North Germanic languages 5.5.4 West Germanic languages 5.5.5 East Germanic languages 5.6 Indo-Aryan languages 5.7 Italic languages 5.7.6 Romance languages 5.8 Slavic languages 5.8.7 West Slavic languages 5.8.8 East Slavic languages 5.8.9 South Slavic languages 6 Others of note Basque The Basque language of the northern Iberian Peninsula is a language.
Proto-Indo-Europeans - Proto-Indo-Europeans The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the postulated people who spoke the Proto-Indo-European or "PIE" language from which the Indo-European language group evolved. There have been many attempts to claim that particular prehistorical cultures can be identified with the PIE-speaking peoples, but all have been speculative. This is because there are no written records of PIE, so the only way to identify an actual people with the language is to match the archeological remains of non-literate peoples to the supposed prehistory of known languages. This depends on reconstructing the early language, and identifying concepts in it that may be associated with particular cultures (such as the use of metals, agriculture or pastoralism, geographically distinctive plants and animals, etc). The approach is fraught with difficulties. During the nineteenth century the.
Illyrian languages - Illyrian languages Illyrian languages are a group of Indo-European languages that were found in the western part of the Balkans. Around 230 BC the languages were Romanized. Afterwards they were suppressed by the Slavs in the 7th century. They are known by glossaries and names. Since very little is known about the Illyrian languages, when linguists encounter what they consider anomalies in their data, they humorously blame them on "Illyrian influences". Albanian is believed to be derivative from Illyrian languages. See also Language families and languages.
Indian languages - Indian languages Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Official Languages 2 Alphabets of Indian Languages 3 Urdu Alphabet 4 Phonetic Alphabet 5 External Link Official Languages India's official language is Hindi written in the Devanagri script. It is the primary tongue of 30% of the people. While English enjoys associate status, it is widely spoken and is one of the most important languages for national, political, and commercial communication. Other official languages of India include Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, as well as Bangla or Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh. Linguists think of Hindi and Urdu as the same language, the difference being that Hindi is written in Devanagari script and draws vocabulary from Sanskrit, while Urdu is written in Arabic script and draws on Persian.
Iranian languages - Iranian languages Iranian languages are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. They are well represented among the oldest records of Indo-European languages. These originate around modern Afghanistan and early on split as some people went west and some went east. Iranian languages: I. Eastern Iranian A. Northeastern 1. Avestan 2. Chorasmian (Khwarezmian) 3. Bactrian 4. Sogdian (Dialects: Christian, Buddhist, Manichaean), Yaghnobi 5. Scythian, Sarmatian, Alanian, Ossetian (Dialects: Iron, Digor) B. Southeastern 1. Munji, Sanglechi, Ishkashmi, Zebaki, Sarikoli, Shugni, Rushani, Yazgulami, Wakhi, Yidgha 2. Saka (Dialects: Khotanese and Tumshuqese), Pashto, Waneci II. Western Iranian A. Northwestern 1. Ormuri, Parachi 2. Yazdi (spoken by Zoroastrians), Kermani (spoken by Zoroastrians), Qohrudi, Abuzeda badi, Abyanei, Tari, Ardestani, Anaraki, Varzenei, Badrudi, Gazi, Vafsi, Khunsari, Natanzi, Nayini, Sivandi, Soi, Ashtiani, Farizandi,.
Italic languages - Italic languages The Italic family of the Indo-European language group had two branches: Oscan or Umbrian - extinct languages not to be confused with modern Umbrian dialect of Italian Latin - (SIL Code, LTN; ISO 639-1 code, la; ISO 639-2 code, lat) Latin replaced all the others, and from so-called Vulgar Latin the Romance languages emerged. See also Language families and languages.
Germanic languages - Germanic languages The Germanic languages make one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) group of tongues, spoken by the Germanic peoples who dwelled north and east along the borders of the Roman Empire. These tongues share many markers which they have in common, and which no other tongue has; of these the best known is the sound shift known as Grimm's law. Some Germanic languages made runic alphabets of their own. Some of the tell-tale marks of Germanic are: The levelling of the IE tense system into past and present (or common) The use of a dental ending (/d/ or /t/) instead of switching vowels (ablaut) to show past tense. Having two distinct types of verb conjugation: weak (regular) and strong (irregular). English has 161 strong.
Finno-Ugric languages - Finno-Ugric languages The Finno-Ugric languages are a subfamily of the Uralic languages. It consists of several languages, notably Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. Contrary to most of the languages spoken in Europe, the Finno-Ugric languages are not part of the Indo-European family of languages. The ancestor of the modern Finno-Ugric languages, the so-called Proto Finno-Ugric was spoken about 5000 years ago on the western side of the Ural mountains. There is evidence that before the arrival of Slavonic tribes to their present territory in Russia, a sprinkling of Finno-Ugrians inhabited the whole territory from the Urals to the Baltic Sea. The Finno-Ugric subfamily of the Uralic languages has the following members: Finno-permic Finno-cheremisic Finno-mordvinic Finno-Lappic Baltic Finnic: Finnish Estonian Karelian Meänkieli Veps - In danger of extinction Livonian -.
Uralic languages - Uralic languages The Uralic languages are a family of about 20 related languages spoken by circa 20 million people in eastern and northern Europe and in northwestern Asia. The best known members belong to the Finno-Ugric subfamily; the other subfamily is called Samoyedic. Merritt Ruhlen (A Guide to the World's Languages, Stanford UP, 1991) adds the Palaeosiberian language, Yukaghir as coordinate with Samoyedic and Finno-Ugric. There is some debate about a possible relationship between the family as a whole and the Altaic languages; a few scholars also consider the Uralic languages to be related to the Indo-European languages, see also Nostratic language. The most spoken members of the family are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Some characteristic features of these languages are: Extensive use of independent suffixes Large.
Anatolian languages - Anatolian languages The Anatolian languages are a group of languages, either Indo-European or (in some classifications) closely related to Indo-European, which were spoken in Asia Minor, including Hittite. Other Anatolian languages include Luwian, the language of the script commonly called "Hittite hieroglyphics." Lydian and Lycian are later Anatolian languages that are known from a number of inscriptions; no extended texts survive in them. In 1906 there were excavations in Central Asia Minor by German scientists. At Bogázköy they discovered the capital of the Hittitic Empire. It was prosperous from 1900 till 1200 BC. Thousands of claytablets were found, written in cuneiform. Most of them from 17th till 14th century BC. It was deciphered by Bedrich Hrozný (1916-1917), who discovered it was an Indo-European language. The Hittitic morphology.
Asian languages - Asian languages There are a wide variety of languages spoken thoughout Asia, comprising a number of families and unrelated isolate languages. Sino-Tibetan languages Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese Indo-European languages are widely spoken in southern and western Asia, as well as Asian Russia: Indo-Iranian languages: Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Kurdish Slavic languages: Russian Semitic languages Turkic languages Tai-Kadai languages Austroasiatic languages The Altaic languages are a somewhat disputed grouping. Sometimes included are Korean and Japanese See also: East Asian language.
Baltic languages - Baltic languages The Baltic languages form one branch of the Indo-European language family. In this group there are two extant languages: Latvian and Lithuanian, and many extinct languages, including Old Prussian, Curonian. Prussian was spoken in Prussia, since 1945 Kaliningrad and northern Poland. With the ongoing Christianization and Germanisation Old Prussian language became extinct at the end of 17th century. Before the first conquest attempts a thousand years ago, the Balts lived protected at the Baltic Sea. Therefore the Baltic languages remained some of the oldest and least changed Indo-European languages. They did have trade connections for thousands of years along the ancient amber roads. Today the Latvian language is considered younger than East Lithuanian, although that greatly changed from its first recording in the 16th century..
Caucasian languages - Caucasian languages Caucasian languages includes 38 languages spoken by about five million people. It comprises several unrelated families of languages, spoken in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe. South Caucasian languages or Kartvelian languages e.g. Georgian, Svan, Laz, Mingrelian Northwest Caucasian languages or Abkhaz-Adygh languages e.g. Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian, Cherkess, Ubykh Northeast languages or Dagestan languages e.g. Akhvakh, Andi, Botlikh, Chamalal, Gigatl, Ghodoberi, Karata, Bagvalal, Tindi,Avar, Dido (Tsez), Hinukh (Ginukh), Hunzib, Bezhta, Khvarshi, Darwa, Kajtak, Kubachi, Lak, Aghul, Archi, Budukh, Khinalugh, Kryts, Lezgi, Rutul, Tabassaran, Tsakhur, Udi North Central languages or Nakh languages or Vaynakh languages e.g. Chechen, Ingush, Bats The last two groups sometimes are called Nakh-Dagestan languages. They have a number of common features in phonetics and grammar, for example, ergative case and sentence structure, but.
Celtic languages - Celtic languages Within Indo-European, the Celtic languages are most closely related to the Italic languages, with which they may form the Celto-Italic branch. Celtic is split into two branches: Continental -- Celtiberian, Galatian, Noric, Gaulish, Lepontic, and perhaps including one dialect of Breton, which would be the only living language in this branch. Insular, which is further split into: Q-Celtic -- Goidelic, including Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Manx P-Celtic -- Brythonic, including Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric and possibly Pictish The differences between P and Q languages are most easily seen in the word for son, mac in Q (hard K sound) and map in P languages. P-languages have a slightly simpler structure and may be younger than the Q-languages. Characteristics of Celtic Languages Although there are.
Common phrases in different languages - Common phrases in different languages Here is a list of common phrases in different languages. It is possible for tourists in a country whose language they do not understand to get along with a surprisingly short list of phrases, combined with pointing, miming, and writing down numbers on paper. You are invited to add more languages to the list. Please use the minimum number of words that would be understandable and put the pronunciation in slashes according to SAMPA transcription if possible. If desired, also add a pseudo-English pronunciation guide for those not familiar with SAMPA or IPA. However, actual pronunciations of the pseudo-English spellings will vary wildly from speaker to speaker. Enclose the "spelling guide" in parentheses, separate syllables with dashes, use English words that sound like the.
Tocharian languages - Tocharian languages Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. The two languages -- Tocharian A (Turfanian or East Tocharian) and Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) -- that made up this group have both been long extinct. Both languages were once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, now the Xinjiang province of China. The speakers of these languages have been identified with the 'Tocharians' mentioned in Greek sources. The name "Tocharian" itself is speculative. Chinese records of the time also mention this group, as nomadic 'barbarians'. Tocharian is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 7th and 8th centuries CE (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, which had been.
