Indo-European languages

From Free net encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 22:11, 21 April 2006
Angr (Talk | contribs)
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/151.188.16.20|151.188.16.20]] ([[User talk:151.188.16.20|talk]]) to last version by 213.226.133.194
Next diff →

Current revision

Indo-European
Indo-European languages
Albanian \| Anatolian Armenian \| Baltic \| Celtic Germanic \| Greek \| Indo-Iranian Italic \| Slavic \| Tocharian
Proto-Indo-Europeans
Language \| Society \| Religion Kurgan \| Yamna \| Corded Ware
Indo-European studies

The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred languages and dialects (443 according to the SIL estimate), including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many in Southwest Asia, Central Asia and Southern Asia. Contemporary languages in this family include Hindi, Bengali, German, English, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (each with more than 100 million native speakers), as well as numerous smaller national or minority languages. Indo-European has the largest numbers of speakers of recognised families of languages in the world today, with its languages spoken by approximately 3 billion native speakers (the Sino-Tibetan family of tongues has the second-largest number of speakers). Some researchers have (controversially) proposed other supergroupings.

1 Classification
- 1.1 Satem and Centum languages
- 1.2 Suggested superfamilies
2 History
3 Sound changes
4 References
- 4.1 Cited references
5 See also
6 External links

[edit]

Classification

{{Infobox Language family

 |name=Indo-European
 |altname=Indo-Germanic (obsolete)
 |region=Before the 15th century, Europe, and South and Southwest Asia; today worldwide.
 |familycolor=Indo-European
 |family=One of the world's major language families; although some have proposed links with other families, none of these has received mainstream acceptance.
 |child1=Albanian
 |child2=Anatolian
 |child3=Armenian
 |child4=Balto-Slavic
 |child5=Celtic
 |child6=Germanic
 |child7=Greek
 |child8=Indo-Iranian
 |child9=Italic (including Romance)
 |child10=Tocharian
 |map=Image:IE countries.png

}} The various subgroups of the Indo-European family include (in historical order of their first attestation):

Anatolian languages, earliest attested branch, from the 18th century BC; extinct, most notably including the language of the Hittites.
Indo-Iranian languages, descending from a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-Iranian
- Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, attested from the 2nd millennium BC
- Iranian languages, attested from roughly 1000 BC, including Avestan , Kurdish and Persian
- Dardic languages
- Nuristani languages
Greek language, fragmentary records in Mycenaean from the 14th century BC; Homeric traditions date to the 8th century BC. See Proto-Greek language, History of the Greek language.
Italic languages, including Latin and its descendants (the Romance languages), attested from the 1st millennium BC.
Celtic languages, Gaulish inscriptions date as early as the 6th century BC; Old Irish texts from the 6th century AD, see Proto-Celtic language.
Germanic languages (including Old English and English), earliest testimonies in runic inscriptions from around the 2nd century, earliest coherent texts in Gothic, 4th century, see Proto-Germanic language.
Armenian language, attested from the 5th century.
Tocharian languages, extinct tongues of the Tocharians, extant in two dialects, attested from roughly the 6th century.
Balto-Slavic languages, believed by many Indo-Europeanists to derive from a common proto-language later than Proto-Indo-European, while skeptical Indo-Europeanists regard Baltic and Slavic as no more closely related than any other two branches of Indo-European.
- Slavic languages, attested from the 9th century, earliest texts in Old Church Slavonic.
- Baltic languages, attested from the 14th century, and, for languages attested that late, they retain unusually many archaic features attributed to Proto-Indo-European.
Albanian language,; attested from the 13th century (1210); relations with Illyrian, Dacian, or Thracian proposed.

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

Illyrian languages — possibly related to Messapian or Venetic; relation to Albanian also proposed.
Venetic language — close to Italic.
Liburnian language — apparently grouped with Venetic.
Messapian language — not conclusively deciphered.
Phrygian language — language of ancient Phrygia, possibly close to Greek, Thracian, or Armenian.
Paionian language — extinct language once spoken north of Macedon.
Thracian language — possibly close to Dacian.
Dacian language — possibly close to Thracian and Albanian.
Ancient Macedonian language — probably related to Greek, others propose relation to Illyrian, Thracian or Phrygian.
Ligurian language — possibly not Indo-European; possibly close to or part of Celtic

No doubt other Indo-European languages once existed which have now vanished without leaving a trace. Scholars cannot classify the fragmentary Raetian language with any certainty.

Specialists have postulated the existence of further subfamilies, among them Italo-Celtic and Graeco-Aryan. Neither of these has achieved wide acceptance. Indo-Hittite refers to the hypothesis that a significant separation has occurred between Anatolian and all the remaining groups.

[edit]

Satem and Centum languages

Image:Centum Satem map.png

The Indo-European sub-branches are often classified in a Satem and a Centum group. This is based on the varying treatments of the three original velar rows. Satem languages lost the distinction between labiovelar and pure velar sounds, and at the same time assibilated the palatal velars. The centum languages, on the other hand, lost the distinction between palatal velars and pure velars. Thus, geographically, the "eastern" languages are Satem (Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic, but not including Tocharian and Anatolian), and the "western" languages are Centum (Germanic, Italic, Celtic). The Satem-Centum isogloss runs right between the Greek (Centum) and Armenian (Satem) languages (thought to be related by a number of scholars), with Greek exhibiting some marginal Satem features. Some scholars think that there may be some languages that classify neither as Satem nor as Centum (Anatolian, Tocharian, and possibly Albanian). It should be noted that the grouping does not imply a claim of monophyly: there does not have to have been a "proto-Centum" or a "proto-Satem", but the sound changes may have been spread by areal contact among already distinct post-PIE languages (say, during the 3rd millennium BC).

Image:IndoEuropeanTreeA.svg

[edit]

Suggested superfamilies

Some linguists propose that Indo-European languages form part of a hypothetical Nostratic language superfamily, and attempt to relate Indo-European to other language families, such as South Caucasian languages, Altaic languages, Uralic languages, Dravidian languages, Afro-Asiatic languages. This theory is controversial, as is the similar Eurasiatic theory of Joseph Greenberg, and the Proto-Pontic of John Colarusso.

[edit]

History

The first proposal of the possibility of common origin for some of these languages came from Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn in 1647. Van Boxhorn suggested their derivation from "Scythian". However, the suggestions of van Boxhorn did not become widely known and were not pursued. The hypothesis was again proposed by Sir William Jones, who noticed similarities between four of the oldest languages known in his time, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Persian. Systematic comparison of these and other old languages conducted by Franz Bopp supported this theory, and Bopp's Comparative Grammar, appearing between 1833 and 1852 is considered the starting point of Indo-European studies as an academic discipline.

Scholars have dubbed the common ancestral (reconstructed) language Proto-Indo-European (PIE). There is disagreement as to the original geographic location (the so-called "Urheimat" or "original homeland") from where it originated. There are two main candidates today:

the steppes north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (see Kurgan)
Anatolia (see Colin Renfrew).

Proponents of the Kurgan hypothesis tend to date the proto-language to ca. 4000 BC, while proponents of Anatolian origin usually date it several millennia earlier, associating the spread of Indo-European languages with the Neolithic spread of farming (see Indo-Hittite).

[edit]

Kurgan hypothesis

Template:Main Marija Gimbutas originally suggested the Kurgan hypothesis in the 1950s. According to the Kurgan hypothesis, early PIE was spoken in the chalcolithic steppe cultures of the 5th millennium BC between the Black Sea and the Volga.

Timeline

4500–4000: Early PIE. Sredny Stog, Dnieper-Donets and Samara cultures, domestication of the horse.
4000–3500: The Yamna culture, the prototypical kurgan builders, emerges in the steppe, and the Maykop culture in the northern Caucasus. Indo-Hittite models postulate the separation of Proto-Anatolian before this time.
3500–3000: Middle PIE. The Yamna culture is at its peak, representing the classical reconstructed Proto-Indo-European society, with stone idols, early two-wheeled proto-chariots, predominantly practicing animal husbandry, but also with permanent settlements and hillforts, subsisting on agriculture and fishing, along rivers. Contact of the Yamna culture with late Neolithic Europe cultures results in the "kurganized" Globular Amphora and Baden cultures. The Maykop culture shows the earliest evidence of the beginning Bronze Age, and bronze weapons and artefacts are introduced to Yamna territory. Probable early Satemization.
3000–2500: Late PIE. The Yamna culture extends over the entire Pontic steppe. The Corded Ware culture extends from the Rhine to the Volga, corresponding to the latest phase of Indo-European unity, the vast "kurganized" area disintegrating into various independent languages and cultures, still in loose contact enabling the spread of technology and early loans between the groups, except for the Anatolian and Tocharian branches, which are already isolated from these processes. The Centum-Satem break is probably complete, but the phonetic trends of Satemization remain active.
2500–2000: The breakup into the proto-languages of the attested dialects is complete. Proto-Greek is spoken in the Balkans, Proto-Indo-Iranian north of the Caspian in the Sintashta-Petrovka culture. The Bronze Age reaches Central Europe with the Beaker culture, likely composed of various Centum dialects. Proto-Balto-Slavic (or alternatively, Proto-Slavic and Proto-Baltic communities in close contact) develops in north-eastern Europe. The Tarim mummies possibly correspond to proto-Tocharians.
2000–1500: The chariot is invented, leading to the split and rapid spread of Iranian and Indo-Aryan from the Andronovo culture and the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex over much of Central Asia, Northern India, Iran and Eastern Anatolia. Proto-Anatolian is split into Hittite and Luwian. The pre-Proto-Celtic Unetice culture has an active metal industry (Nebra skydisk).
1500–1000: The Nordic Bronze Age develops (pre-)Proto-Germanic, and the (pre-)Proto-Celtic Urnfield and Hallstatt cultures emerge in Central Europe, introducing the Iron Age. Proto-Italic migration into the Italian peninsula. Redaction of the Rigveda and rise of the Vedic civilization in the Punjab. Flourishing and decline of the Hittite Empire. The Mycenaean civilization gives way to the Greek Dark Ages.
1000 BC–500 BC: The Celtic languages spread over Central and Western Europe. Northern Europe enters the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the formative phase of Proto Germanic. Homer initiates Greek literature and early Classical Antiquity. The Vedic Civilization gives way to the Mahajanapadas. Zoroaster composes the Gathas, rise of the Achaemenid Empire, replacing the Elamites and Babylonia. The Cimmerians (Srubna culture) are replaced by Scythians in the Pontic steppe. Armenians succeed the Urartu culture. Separation of Proto-Italic into Osco-Umbrian and Latin-Faliscan, and foundation of Rome. Genesis of the Greek and Old Italic alphabets. A variety of Paleo-Balkan languages are spoken in Southern Europe. The Anatolian languages are extinct.

A strength of the Kurgan hypothesis is that part of its proposed mode of spread (military conquest by horsemen) agrees with historical reports about the spread of early Greek and early Indo-Aryan.

[edit]

Anatolian hypothesis

Colin Renfrew in 1987 suggested <ref> Template:Cite book </ref> an association between the spread of Indo-European and the Neolithic revolution, spreading peacefully into Europe from Asia Minor (Anatolia) from around 7000 BC with the advance of farming (wave of advance). Accordingly, all of Neolithic Europe would have been Indo-European speaking, and the Kurgan migrations would at best have replaced Indo-European dialects with other Indo-European dialects.

According to Renfrew <ref> Template:Cite book </ref>, the spread of Indo-European proceeded in the following steps.

Around 6500 BC: Pre-Proto-Indo-European, located in Anatolia, splits into Anatolian and Archaic Proto-Indo-European, the language of those Pre-Proto-Indo-European farmers that migrate to Europe in the initial farming disposal. Archaic Proto-Indo-European is spoken in the Balkans (Starčevo-Körös-Cris culture), the Danube valley (Linear Pottery culture), and possibly the Bug-Dniestr area (Eastern Linear pottery culture).

Around 5000 BC: Archaic Proto-Indo-European splits into Northwestern Indo-European (the ancestor of Italic, Celtic, and Germanic), located in the Danube valley, Balkan Proto-Indo-European (corresponding to Gimbutas' Old European culture), and Early Steppe Proto-Indo-European (the ancestor of Tocharic).

After 3000 BC: The individual families of Indo-European develop; except for the mentioned ones, they all derive from Balkan Proto-Indo-European. Proto-Greek moves southward into Greece; Proto-Indo-Iranian moves northeast into the steppe area.

The main strength of the farming hypothesis is that it connects the spread of Indo-European languages with an archeologically known event that likely involved major population shifts: the spread of farming; although the validity of basing a linguistics theory on archeological evidence is disputed.

While the theory enjoyed brief support when first proposed, it is now considered false, especially in the linguistic community. It is mainly criticized for the fact that it postulates a much earlier date for Proto-Indo-European than linguistic evidence suggests. If PIE broke up in the 7th millennium, it is impossible to postulate a common Indo-European word for "wheel" (invented in the 5th millennium), incidentially one of the most solidly reconstructed Indo-European lexemes. While the spread of farming is undisputedly important event, Renfrew's critics see no case to connect it with Indo-Europeans in particular, seeing that terms for animal husbandry tend to be have much better reconstructions than terms related to agriculture.

[edit]

Other hypotheses

Tamaz Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav V. Ivanov in 1984 placed the Indo-European homeland on Lake Urmia <ref> Template:Cite book </ref>. They suggested that Armenian stayed in the Indo-European cradle while other Indo-European languages left the homeland and migrated on a route that led them along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea to the steppe north of the Black Sea. This migration route is meant to explain the existence of Tocharic, and the assumed early contacts between Indo-European and Uralic languages. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov also originated the Glottalic theory.

Some people have pointed to the Black Sea deluge theory, dating the genesis of the Sea of Azov to ca. 5600 BC, as a direct cause of the Indo-European expansion.Template:Fact This event occurred in still clearly Neolithic times and happened rather too early to fit with Kurgan archaeology. It may still be imagined as an event in the remote past of the Sredny Stog culture, and the people living on the land now beneath the Sea of Azov as possible pre-Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Other theories exist, often with a nationalistic flavour, sometimes bordering on national mysticism, typically positing the development in situ of their proponents' respective homes. For a prominent modern example of such, note the Indian theories that derive Vedic Sanskrit from the Indus valley civilization, postulating that Vedic Sanskrit essentially equates to Proto-Indo-European, and that all other dialects must ultimately trace back to the early Indus valley civilization of ca. 3000 BC. This theory has not received wide acceptance among scholars, although it enjoys some support in India. See Indo-Aryan migration for a discussion.

Various nationalistic European groups in the 19th and early 20th centuries espoused other theories along these lines. For example, one German nationalist view placed the Proto-Indo-Europeans in Northern Europe, thereby justifying the view of the German people as "Aryan". For a modern example of this European origin theory see the Paleolithic Continuity Theory, proposed by Italian theorists, that derives Indo-European from the European Paleolithic cultures.

[edit]

Sound changes

Template:Main As the Proto-Indo-European language broke up, its sound system diverged as well, changing according to various sound laws evidenced in the daughter-languages. Notable cases of such sound laws include Grimm's law in Proto-Germanic, loss of prevocalic *p- in Proto-Celtic, loss of prevocalic *s- in Proto-Greek, Brugmann's law in Proto-Indo-Iranian, as well as Satemization (discussed above). Grassmann's law and Bartholomae's law may or may not have operated at the common Indo-European stage.