The Indo-European Linguistic Family
The Indo-European Family of Languages is most dominant and widespread in the world.
It is constituted by several sub-families. including Indic (Indian), Iranian,
Armenian, Germanic, Latin, Hellenic, Albanian, Balto- Slavic and Celtic languages.
These Indo- European languages have a common ancestry. This family is derived from
a single original dialect (proto-language) spoken by Kurgans, whose homeland was in
the Steppes region to the north of the Caspian Sea near the Volga River around 4300
B.C. Kurgans had a pastoral economy. Many animals including cattle and horses were
domesticated by them but they did not have highly developed agriculture. They
migrated and conquered the different parts of Europe, Asia, North America, South
America, Australia and Africa and spread over a vast territory. The conquered
people were forced to adopt the language of Kurgans in order to survive. Due to
geographical and cultural isolation, languages of the Indo-European family became
differentied into several sub- families. All the Indo-European languages share some
common words whose genetic origin can be traced to a common linguistic root. In the
Indo-European languages, the words for same trees and animals have common roots.
(1) Indo-iranian Lingulatic Family
Indo-Iranian linguistic family is an important sub-family of Indo-European family.
It includes more than one hundred individual Languages spoken by over 800 million
people. It is divided into two major groups: (i) The eastern group called Indic or
Indian which includes speakers mainly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and (ii)
The western group is known as Iranian which is used by about 50 million people
primarily in south-west Asia.
(i) Indic or Indian languages: The residents of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
(Indian sub- continent) in majority speak an Indic language The Indic sub-family of
languages includes Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Kashmiri, Assmese, Gujarati,
Punjabi, Marathi, Oriya, and Singhali etc. In India Hindi is the national language
and it is spoken mainly in Northern India from Haryana and Rajasthan in the west to
Bihar and Jharkhand in the east. In Pakistan, the principal language is Urdu, while
in Bangladesh the main language is Bengali. Singhali is the principal language of
Sri Lanka In fact, India has several hundred languages. It has eighteen official
languages recognized in the Constitution of India. In south India language of
Dravidian group (Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannad, Toda etc.) are used.
(ii) Iranian Languages: Iranian Languages include Persian, Kurdish, Pashto
(Baluchi) etc. These languages are written with Arabic letters. Persian is spoken
in Iran. Pashto in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Kurdish in Iran. Iraq and Turkey.
(2) Latin or Romanic Linguistic Family
The Latin linguistic group of languages is also known as Romance or Italic
languages. The Latin language includes Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian.
Provencal, Catalan and Romanian. These languages were spread by the Roman Empire
before Christ, so they are also called the Romance languages. As the Roman armies
occupied the greater parts of Europe and Asia Minor, they brought the Latin
Language with them. The languages spoken by the natives were extinguished or
suppressed in favour of the conquerors." (Hussain, M., 2009, 199-200). The regions
of Latin languages are separated from each other by high mountains, which serve as
a strong barrier for the communica- tion between people living in two such regions.
The Latin languages particularly Spanish and Portuguese has well spread in South
America, Central America and Mexico because of the colonial activities of south
European peoples using Latin languages. Over 80 per cent
of the speakers of Spanish and Portuguese live outside of Europe mainly in Latin
The Indo-European Family of Languages is most dominant and widespread in the world.
It is constituted by several sub-families. including Indic (Indian), Iranian,
Armenian, Germanic, Latin, Hellenic, Albanian, Balto- Slavic and Celtic languages.
These Indo- European languages have a common ancestry. This family is derived from
a single original dialect (proto-language) spoken by Kurgans, whose homeland was in
the Steppes region to the north of the Caspian Sea near the Volga River around 4300
B.C. Kurgans had a pastoral economy. Many animals including cattle and horses were
domesticated by them but they did not have highly developed agriculture. They
migrated and conquered the different parts of Europe, Asia, North America, South
America, Australia and Africa and spread over a vast territory. The conquered
people were forced to adopt the language of Kurgans in order to survive. Due to
geographical and cultural isolation, languages of the Indo-European family became
differentied into several sub- families. All the Indo-European languages share some
common words whose genetic origin can be traced to a common linguistic root. In the
Indo-European languages, the words for same trees and animals have common roots.
(1) Indo-iranian Lingulatic Family
Indo-Iranian linguistic family is an important sub-family of Indo-European family.
It includes more than one hundred individual Languages spoken by over 800 million
people. It is divided into two major groups: (i) The eastern group called Indic or
Indian which includes speakers mainly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and (ii)
The western group is known as Iranian which is used by about 50 million people
primarily in south-west Asia.
(i) Indic or Indian languages: The residents of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
(Indian sub- continent) in majority speak an Indic language The Indic sub-family of
languages includes Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Kashmiri, Assmese, Gujarati,
Punjabi, Marathi, Oriya, and Singhali etc. In India Hindi is the national language
and it is spoken mainly in Northern India from Haryana and Rajasthan in the west to
Bihar and Jharkhand in the east. In Pakistan, the principal language is Urdu, while
in Bangladesh the main language is Bengali. Singhali is the principal language of
Sri Lanka In fact, India has several hundred languages. It has eighteen official
languages recognized in the Constitution of India. In south India language of
Dravidian group (Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannad, Toda etc.) are used.
(ii) Iranian Languages: Iranian Languages include Persian, Kurdish, Pashto
(Baluchi) etc. These languages are written with Arabic letters. Persian is spoken
in Iran. Pashto in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Kurdish in Iran. Iraq and Turkey.
(2) Latin or Romanic Linguistic Family
The Latin linguistic group of languages is also known as Romance or Italic
languages. The Latin language includes Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian.
Provencal, Catalan and Romanian. These languages were spread by the Roman Empire
before Christ, so they are also called the Romance languages. As the Roman armies
occupied the greater parts of Europe and Asia Minor, they brought the Latin
Language with them. The languages spoken by the natives were extinguished or
suppressed in favour of the conquerors." (Hussain, M., 2009, 199-200). The regions
of Latin languages are separated from each other by high mountains, which serve as
a strong barrier for the communica- tion between people living in two such regions.
The Latin languages particularly Spanish and Portuguese has well spread in South
America, Central America and Mexico because of the colonial activities of south
European peoples using Latin languages. Over 80 per cent
of the speakers of Spanish and Portuguese live outside of Europe mainly in Latin
