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Explore Indo-European Language Branches

Discover the diverse branches of the Indo-European language family, their origins, and significance, including Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian groups. Learn about key languages and their cultural importance.

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Explore Indo-European Language Branches

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  1. Key Issue 2 Why is English related to other languages?

  2. Indo-European Branches • English is part of the Indo-European language family • Most extensively spoken language family, spoken by 48% of people • Nearly 3 billion people speak an Indo-European language as their 1st language

  3. Indo European Branches • Language Branch: collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed thousands of years ago • Divided into 8 branches • Most spoken: Indo-Iranian, Romance, Germanic and Balto Slavic • Least spoken: Albanian, Armenian, Greek & Celtic

  4. Indo-European Language Family Fig. 5-5: The main branches of the Indo-European language family include Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, and Indo-Iranian.

  5. Using Colored Pencils, Color-Code your Map Indo-European Language Branches Albanian Germanic Armenian Greek Balto-Slavic Indo-Iranian Celtic Romance

  6. On the back of your map • Divide your paper into 8 parts for each of the language branches • -take notes for each branch using Key Issue 2: Figure 5-5, 5-8, 5-12

  7. Germanic Branch • English & German are closely related • -Germanic tribes that invaded England 1,500 years ago • -Other Germanic languages: • -Dutch & Frisian (Netherlands) • -Flemish (Belgium) • -Afrikaans (South Africa) • -Scandinavia: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic

  8. Germanic Branch of Indo-European Fig. 5-6: The Germanic branch today is divided into North and West Germanic groups. English is in the West Germanic group.

  9. Indo-Iranian Branch • Most spoken of Indo-European family • More than 100 languages, 1 billion people Eastern Group: Indic Western Group: Iranian

  10. Indic (Eastern) group of Indo-Iranian Branch • 2nd largest language group • Mostly common in India • 1/3 of Indians speak Hindi (Indic) • -Many ways to speak it • -Only ONE way to write it: Devanagari(7th Century) • -Until recently few speakers could read/write it • Pakistan: Urdu language • -spoken like Hindi, but written in Arabic (Muslim)

  11. India • 4 language families represented in India • -IndoEuropean (North) -Dravidian (south) • -Tibetan (NE) -Austro-Asiatic • (central/Eastern highlands) • Independence, 1947 • Proposed official language: Hindi • Dravidian speakers of South objected • Constitution recognizes 18 official languages • English is often used for communication as a “common language”

  12. South Asian Languages and Language Families Fig. 5-7: Indo-European is the largest of four main language families in South Asia. The country of India has 18 official languages.

  13. Iranian (western) group of Indo-Iranian Branch • Iran & southwestern Asia • Persian (Farsi): Iran • Pashto: E Afghanistan & W Pakistan • Kurdish: W Iran, N Iraq, E Turkey • All written in Arabic alphabet

  14. Balto-Slavic Branch of Indo-European • Formerly a single language • 7th Century AD, Slavs migrated from Asia to E Europe • Different languages as a result of migration • Four major groups: • East, • West, • South Slavic • and Baltic

  15. East Slavic and Baltic Groups • Most widely spoken: Russian, 80% of Russian people • Soviet officials forced native speakers of other languages to speak Russian • Form a sense of national unity • After collapse of Soviet Union, eastern countries adopted other official languages • -shows more cultural diversity • Russian still used for communication in countries formerly part of Soviet Union • Ukranian & Belarusan: 2 other important languages in East Slavic languages

  16. West and South Slavic Groups • Polish: most spoken West Slavic language • Former Czechoslovakia • Czech and Slovak: understand each other's languages • -tried to balance the two languages (1/2 sport game announcement in each) • -Slovakia split from Czech Republic in 1993 • Former Yugoslavia: language was Serbo-Croatian • Two alphabets: Roman alphabet & Cyrillic alphabet • Now: Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: all very similar • Suppressing Nationalism in Yugoslavia

  17. Romance Branch of Indo-European • Evolved from Latin: spoken by Romans 2000 years ago • Four most spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian • Mountains separate the countries: intervening obstacles • -barriers to communication • Romanian: 5th most spoken: Romania & Moldova • Other languages: 1) Romansh (Switzerland) and • 2) Catalan (Andorra-Pyrenees and E Spain-Barcelona) • 3) Sardinian mixture of Spanish, Arabic & Italian (Sardinia)

  18. Spanish vs Catalan

  19. Origin of Diffusion of Romance Languages • Diffusion of Latin language during expansion of --Roman Empire over hundreds of years • Previous languages spoken mostly eliminated • Latin varied throughout empire • Merged & evolved with previous languages

  20. Origin and Diffusion of Romance Languages • “Vulgar Latin” a spoken form of Latin, used throughout the Roman Empire • Literary term: equus - equestrian, equine • Vulgar term: caballus caballo, cavalo, cheval

  21. Collapse of Roman Empire, 5th Century • Communication between provinces decreased • -creating more variation in languages

  22. Romance Language Dialects • Francien French • Language of Paris (capital/largest city), dominated local dialects • Became official language for France in 16th Century • North and South Dialects derive from different ways to say “yes” in Latin

  23. Romance Language Dialects • Spain • Castilian, 9th century in Old Castile, North-central Spain • Spread southward • 15th Century, Spain united into present country • Castilian became official language • Regional dialects only remained in secluded rural areas • “Castilian” or “Spanish” is official language of Spain today

  24. Spanish & Portuguese • 90% of speakers live outside Europe • Diffused to America by Spanish & Portuguese • Land divided by Pope Alexander VI 1493 • Spanish Royal Academy • Meet weekly to clarify spelling, vocab, pronunciation of “Spanish”

  25. Portuguese • 1994 language was standardized • Language more closely resembles Brazilian Portuguese • Upsets people in Portugal • Eliminates accent marks

  26. Creole Languages • Distinction between a dialect and a new language can be difficult • Speakers like to classify their dialect as a distinct language • Creolized languages (origin of “creole” = slave born in master’s house) • A language that results from mixing of colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of people being dominated • French Creole in Haiti • Portuguese Creole in Cape Verde islands of African coast

  27. Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European • Germanic, Romance, Balto Slavic and Indo-Iranian languages • Same language family: Indo-European • Evidence of a single ancestor cannot be proved with certainty

  28. Kurgan Theory of Indo-European Origin Fig. 5-9: In the Kurgan theory, Proto-Indo-European diffused from the Kurgan hearth north of the Caspian Sea, beginning about 7,000 years ago.

  29. Anatolian Hearth Theory of Indo-European Origin Fig. 5-10: In the Anatolian hearth theory, Indo-European originated in Turkey before the Kurgans and diffused through agricultural expansion.

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