Presented By SREELAKSHMI E S

ST: MARY’S COLLEGE MANARCAD

MA ENGLISH

INTRODUCTIONThe most widely studied language family in the world is the Indo-European. There are a number of reasons for this:

Many of the most important languages of the world are Indo-European. These languages are official or co-official in many countries and are important in academic, technical and world organisations.

Languages that are essential in multinational contexts or with large numbers of speakers.

Examples: Portuguese, Hindi, German, Bengali.

Some of the great classical languages of religion, culture and philosophy were Indo-European.

Examples: Latin, Greek, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali.

Languages that are scattered around the world as their speakers are part of diasporas.

Examples: Greek, Yiddish, Polish, Armenian, Romany, Kurdish, Italian, Punjabi, Gujarati.

The various subgroups of the Indo-European language family include ten major branches Anatolian (Asia Minor), the earliest attested branch.

Emerged around 4200 BC Isolated terms in Luwian/Hittite mentioned in Semitic Old Assyrian texts from the 20th and 19th centuries BC, Hittite texts from about 1650 BC extinct by Late Antiquity.

Tocharian, emerged around 3700 BC,extant in two dialects (Turfanian and Kuchean, or Tocharian A and B), attested from roughly the 6th to the 9th century AD. Marginalized by the Old Turkic Uyghur Khaganate and probably extinct by the 10th century.

Germanic (from Proto-Germanic), emerged around 3300 BC,earliest testimonies in runic inscriptions from around the 2nd century AD, earliest coherent texts in Gothic, 4th century AD. Old English manuscript tradition from about the 8th century AD.

Italic, including Latin and its descendants (the Romance languages), emerged around 3000 BC,attested from the 7th century BC.

Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, emerged around 3000 BC.Lepontic inscriptions date as early as the 6th century BC; Celtiberian from the 2nd century BC; Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions from the 5th century AD, earliest inscriptions in Old Welsh from the 8th century AD.

Armenian, emerged around 2800 BC.Alphabetwritings known from the beginning of the 5th century AD.

Balto-Slavic, emerged around 2800 BC,believed by most Indo-Europeanists to form a phylogenetic unit, while a minority ascribes similarities to prolonged language contact.

Slavic (from Proto-Slavic), attested from the 9th century AD (possibly earlier; see Slavic runes), earliest texts in Old Church Slavonic.

Baltic, attested from the 14th century AD; for languages attested that late, they retain unusually many archaic features attributed to Proto-Indo-European (PIE).

Hellenic, emerged around 2500 BC.Fragmentary records in Mycenaean Greek from between 1450 and 1350 BC have been found.Homeric texts date to the 8th century BC.

Indo-Iranian, emerged around 2200 BC,attested circa1400 BC, descended from Proto-Indo-Iranian (dated tothe late 3rd millennium BC). Indo-Aryan (including Dardic), attested from around 1400 BC

in Hittite texts from Asia Minor, showing traces of Indo-Aryan words.Epigraphically from the 3rd century BC in theform of Prakrit (Edicts of Ashoka). The Rigveda is assumed topreserve intact records via oral tradition dating from aboutthe mid-2nd millennium BC in the form of Vedic Sanskrit.

Iranian or Iranic, attested from roughly 1000 BC in the form ofAvestan. Epigraphically from 520 BC in the form of OldPersian (Behistun inscription).

Nuristani

Albanian, attested from the 14th century AD; Proto-Albanian language likely evolved from Paleo-Balkan predecessors.

In addition to the classical ten branches listed above, several extinct and little-known languages have existed:

Illyrian

Venetic

Liburnian

Messapian

Phrygian

Paionian

Thracian

Dacian

Ancient Macedonian

Ligurian

Sicel

Lusitanian

Cimmerian

Albanian language

Anatolian languages

Armenian language

Baltic languages

Celtic languages

Germanic languages

Tocharian languages

Slavic languages

The western "Centum" (blue) and the eastern "Satem" (coral) Indo-European language groups