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List of Indo-European languages

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File:Indo-European distribution.svg
Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend
File:Indo-European branches map.svg
The approximate present-day distribution of the Indo-European branches within their homelands of Europe and Asia: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common.
File:Languages of North America.svg
The approximate present-day distribution of Indo-European languages within the Americas by country:
Romance: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Germanic: Template:Legend Template:Legend

{{#invoke:sidebar|collapsible |pretitle = Part of a series on |titlestyle = padding-top:0.2em;background:rgb(220,245,220); |title = Indo-European topics |image = File:Indo-European migrations.gif |listtitlestyle = background:rgb(220,245,220);padding-left:0.4em;text-align:left; |listclass = hlist |expanded =

|list1name = Languages |list1title = Languages

|list1 =

Extant

Extinct

Reconstructed

Hypothetical

Grammar

Other

|list2name = Philology |list2title = Philology |list2=

|list3name = Origins |list3title = Origins |list3=

Mainstream

Alternative and fringe

|list4name = Archaeology |list4title = Archaeology |list4 = Chalcolithic (Copper Age)
Pontic Steppe

Caucasus

East Asia

Eastern Europe

Northern Europe

Bronze Age
Pontic Steppe

Northern/Eastern Steppe

Europe

South Asia

Iron Age
Steppe

Europe

Caucasus

Central Asia

India

|list7name = Peoples and societies |list7title = Peoples and societies |list7= Bronze Age

Iron Age Indo-Aryans

Iranians

Nuristanis

East Asia

Europe

Middle Ages
East Asia

Europe

Indo-Aryan

Iranian

|list8name = Religion and mythology |list8title = Religion and mythology |list8 = Reconstructed

Historical

Indo-Aryan

Iranian

Others

European

Practices

|list9name = Academic research |list9title = Indo-European studies |list9 = Scholars

Institutes

Publications

| below = Template:Icon Category

}} This is a list of languages in the Indo-European language family. It contains a large number of individual languages, together spoken by roughly half the world's population.

Numbers of languages and language groupsEdit

The Indo-European languages include some 449 (SIL estimate, 2018 edition<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) languages spoken by about 3.5 billion people or more (roughly half of the world population). Most of the major languages belonging to language branches and groups in Europe, and western and southern Asia, belong to the Indo-European language family. This is thus the biggest language family in the world by number of mother tongue speakers (but not by number of languages: by this measure it is only the 3rd or 5th biggest). Eight of the top ten biggest languages, by number of native speakers, are Indo-European. One of these languages, English, is the de facto world lingua franca, with an estimate of over one billion second language speakers. Indo-European language family has 10 known branches or subfamilies, of which eight are living and two are extinct. Most of the subfamilies or linguistic branches in this list contain many subgroups and individual languages. The relationships between these branches (how they are related to one another and branched from the ancestral proto-language) are a matter of further research and not yet fully known. There are some individual Indo-European languages that are unclassified within the language family; they are not yet classified in a branch and could constitute a separate branch. The 449 Indo-European languages identified in the SIL estimate, 2018 edition,<ref name=":0"/> are mostly living languages. If all the known extinct Indo-European languages are added, they number more than 800 or close to one thousand. This list includes all known Indo-European languages, living and extinct.

Definition of languageEdit

The distinction between a language and a dialect is not clear-cut and simple: in many areas there is a dialect continuum, with transitional dialects and languages. Further, there is no agreed standard criterion for what amount of differences in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and prosody are required to constitute a separate language, as opposed to a mere dialect. Mutual intelligibility can be considered, but there are closely related languages that are also mutual intelligible to some degree, even if it is an asymmetric intelligibility. Or there may be cases where between three dialects, A, B, and C, A and B are mutually intelligible, B and C are mutually intelligible, but A and C are not. In such circumstances grouping the three dielects becomes impossible. Because of this, in this list, several dialect groups and some individual dialects of languages are shown (in italics), especially if a language is or was spoken by a large number of people and over a large land area, but also if it has or had divergent dialects.

Summary of historical developmentEdit

The ancestral population and language, Proto-Indo-Europeans that spoke Proto-Indo-European, are estimated to have lived about 4500 BCE (6500 BP). At some point in time, starting about 4000 BCE (6000 BP), this population expanded through migration and cultural influence. This started a complex process of population blend or population replacement, acculturation and language change of peoples in many regions of western and southern Eurasia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This process gave origin to many languages and branches of this language family. By around 1000 BCE, there were many millions of Indo-European speakers, and they lived in a vast geographical area which covered most of western and southern Eurasia (including western Central Asia). In the following two millennia the number of speakers of Indo-European languages increased even further. Indo-European languages continued to be spoken in large land areas, although most of western Central Asia and Asia Minor were lost to other language families (mainly Turkic) due to Turkic expansion, conquests and settlement (after the middle of the first millennium AD and the beginning and middle of the second millennium AD respectively) and also to Mongol invasions and conquests (which changed Central Asia ethnolinguistic composition). Another land area lost to non-Indo-European languages was today's Hungary, due to Magyar/Hungarian (Uralic language speakers) conquest and settlement. However, from about AD 1500 onwards, Indo-European languages expanded their territories to North Asia (Siberia), through Russian expansion, and North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand as the result of the age of European discoveries and European conquests through the expansions of the Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and the Dutch. (These peoples had the biggest continental or maritime empires in the world and their countries were major powers.) The contact between different peoples and languages, especially as a result of European colonization, also gave origin to the many pidgins, creoles and mixed languages that are mainly based in Indo-European languages (many of which are spoken in island groups and coastal regions).

Proto-Indo-EuropeanEdit

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Dating the split-offs of the main branchesEdit

File:Indo-European Migrations. Source David Anthony (2007), The Horse, The Wheel and Language.jpg
Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony

Although all Indo-European languages descend from a common ancestor called Proto-Indo-European, the kinship between the subfamilies or branches (large groups of more closely related languages within the language family), that descend from other more recent proto-languages, is not the same because there are subfamilies that are closer or further, and they did not split-off at the same time, the affinity or kinship of Indo-European subfamilies or branches between themselves is still an unresolved and controversial issue and being investigated. However, there is some consensus that Anatolian was the first group of Indo-European (branch) to split-off from all the others and Tocharian was the second in which that happened.<ref>KAPOVIĆ, Mate. (ed.) (2017). The Indo-European Languages. Template:ISBN</ref> Using a mathematical analysis borrowed from evolutionary biology, Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow propose the following tree of Indo-European branches:<ref name=":1">Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, Princeton University Press</ref>

David W. Anthony, following the methodology of Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow, proposes the following sequence:<ref name=":1"/>

The list below follows Donald Ringe, Tandy Warnow and Ann Taylor classification tree for Indo-European branches.<ref name="auto5">Ringe, Don; Warnow, Tandy.; Taylor, Ann. (2002). 'Indo-European and Computational Cladistics', Transactions of the Philological Society, n.º 100/1, 59-129.</ref> quoted in Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, Princeton University Press.

Anatolian languages (all extinct)Edit

File:Anatolian Languages in 2nd millennium BC.jpg
Anatolian languages in 2nd millennium BC; Blue: Luwian, Yellow: Hittite, Red: Palaic.

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Tocharian languages (Agni-Kuči languages) (all extinct)Edit

File:Tocharian languages.svg
Tocharian languages: A (blue), B (red) and C (green) in the Tarim Basin.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Tarim oasis towns are given as listed in the Book of Han (c. 2nd century BC). The areas of the squares are proportional to population.

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  • Proto-Agni-Kuči ("Proto-Tocharian")
    • North-Tocharian<ref>Krause, Todd B.; Slocum, Jonathan. "Tocharian Online: Series Introduction". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 17 April 2020.</ref><ref>Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009), Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Princeton University Press, Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Voynikov, Zhivko. (?). Some ancient Chinese names in East Turkestan and Central Asia and the Tocharian question.</ref>
      • Tocharian A (Agnean) (also called Turfanian, East Tocharian) (Agni / Ārśi)
      • Tocharian B (Kuchean) (also called West Tocharian) (Kuśiññe / Kučiññe)
    • South Tocharian
      • Tocharian C (Kroränian) (possible)<ref name="cordis.europa.eu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (also called Krorainic, Lolanisch or South Tocharian)Template:Tree list/end

Albanian languageEdit

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File:Albanian dialects.svg
Distribution of modern Albanian dialects.

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Italic languagesEdit

File:Iron Age Italy.png
Iron Age Italy (c.500 B.C.). Italic languages in green colours.
File:Map Length of Roman Rule Neo Latin Languages.jpg
Length of the Roman rule and the Romance Languages<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
File:Romance languages.png
Romance languages in Europe (major dialect groups are also shown).
File:Romance 20c en.png
European extent of Romance languages in the 20th century
File:Western and Eastern Romania.PNG
Eastern and Western Romance areas split by the La Spezia–Rimini Line; Southern Romance is represented by Sardinian as an outlier.
File:Map-Romance Language World.png
Romance languages in the World. Countries and sub-national entities where one or more Romance languages are spoken. Dark colours: First language, Light colours: Official or Co-Official language; Very Light colours: Spoken by a significant minority as first or second language. Blue: French; Green: Spanish; Orange: Portuguese; Yellow: Italian; Red: Romanian.

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Celtic languagesEdit

File:Celts in Europe.png
Diachronic distribution of Celtic language speakers:
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File:A map of the distribution of the Celtic languages.svg
A map of the modern distribution of the Celtic languages. Red: Welsh; Purple: Cornish; Black: Breton; Green: Irish; Blue: Scottish Gaelic: Yellow: Manx. Areas where languages overlap are shown in stripes.

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Hellenic languagesEdit

File:Modern Greek dialects en.svg
The distribution of major modern Greek dialect areas.
File:Anatolian Greek dialects.png
Anatolian Greek until 1923. Demotic in yellow. Pontic in orange. Cappadocian in green. Green dots indicate Cappadocian-Greek-speaking villages in 1910.<ref>Dawkins, R.M. 1916. Modern Greek in Asia Minor. A study of dialect of Silly, Cappadocia and Pharasa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (extinct) Template:Tree list/end

Armenian languageEdit

File:Armenian dialects, Adjarian 1909.png
Armenian dialects, according to Adjarian (1909) (before 1st World War and Armenian Genocide). In many regions of the contiguous area shown in the map, Armenian speakers were the majority or a significant minority.
File:MAPArmenian.png
Modern geographical distribution of the Armenian language.

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Germanic languagesEdit

File:Germanic dialects ca. AD 1.png
One proposed theory for approximate distribution of the primary Germanic dialect groups in Europe around the year 1 AD. East Germanic Template:Legend Northwest Germanic West Germanic Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend North Germanic Template:Legend
File:Germanic Languages Map Europe.png
Germanic languages and main dialect groups in Europe after 1945.
File:Germanic languages.svg
Germanic languages in the World. Countries and sub-national entities where one or more Germanic languages are spoken. Dark Red: First language; Red: Official or Co-Official language, Pink: Spoken by a significant minority as second language.

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Balto-Slavic languagesEdit

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File:Balto-Slavic lng.png
Area of Balto-Slavic dialect continuum with proposed material cultures correlating to speakers Balto-Slavic in Bronze Age . Red dots= archaic Slavic hydronyms.
File:Balto Slavic countries.svg
Political map of Europe with countries where a Slavic language is a national language marked in shades of green and where a Baltic language is a national language marked in light orange. Wood green represents East Slavic languages, pale green represents West Slavic languages, and sea green represents South Slavic languages. Contemporary Baltic languages are all from the same group: Eastern Baltic
File:Baltic languages.png
Baltic languages (extinct languages shown in stripes).
File:Slavic languages map en.svg
Slavic languages in Europe . Areas where languages overlap are shown in stripes.
File:Idioma ruso.PNG
Russian Language – Map of all the areas where the Russian language is the language spoken by the majority of the population. Russian is the biggest Slavic language both in number of first language speakers and in geographical area where the language is spoken .

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Baltic languagesEdit

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Slavic languagesEdit

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Indo-Iranian languagesEdit

File:Lenguas indoiranias.PNG
Geographic distribution of modern Indo-Iranian languages. Blue, dark purple and green colour shades: Iranic languages. Dark pink: Nuristani languages. Red, light purple and orange colour shades: Indo-Aryan languages. Areas where languages overlap are shown in stripes.

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Iranian languagesEdit

File:Map of Attested and Hypothetical Old Indo-Iranian Dialects.png
Map of Attested and Hypothetical Old Indo-Iranian Dialects. Indo-Iranian languages descend from the language spoken by the Sintashta Culture people that lived in the plains beyond the southeast Ural Mountains, between the upper Ural and Tobol rivers basins. Old Iranian languages, were spoken in a large Eurasian landmass area that included most of south Eastern Europe, south west Siberia, Central Asia, including parts of western China, and the Iranian Plateau. The Scythian languages, that belonged to the Northern Eastern Iranian languages subgroup, were the ones with the biggest geographical distribution, they were spoken in most of the steppe and desert areas of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, matching most of the western half of the Eurasian steppe, which corresponds to modern southern European Russia and south Russian west Siberia and parts of southern central Siberia, modern southern Ukraine, an enclave in the east Pannonian Basin, in modern Hungary, all of modern Kazakhstan, parts of modern Xinjiang, in Western China, modern Kyrgyzstan, and parts of modern Uzbekistan and modern Turkmenistan.<ref>Simpson, St John (2017). "The Scythians. Discovering the Nomad-Warriors of Siberia". Current World Archaeology. 84: 16–21. "nomadic people made up of many different tribes thrived across a vast region that stretched from the borders of northern China and Mongolia, through southern Siberia and northern Kazakhstan, as far as the northern reaches of the Black Sea. Collectively they were known by their Greek name: the Scythians. They spoke Iranian languages..."</ref> Later Scythian languages were also present in northern India by migration of part of the ancient Iranian peoples forming the Indo-Scythians. This was the geographical distribution until the first centuries A.D., after that time, Turkic migration and conquests along with Turkification, made many ancient Iranian languages go extinct.
File:Distribution of Iranian Languages.png
Distribution of modern Iranian Languages

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            • Khwarazmian / Chorasmian<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (extinct)

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Nuristani languagesEdit

File:Nuristan in Afghanistan.svg
Nuristan Province in Afghanistan, where most speakers live.
File:MAPNuristani.png
Nuristani languages.

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  • Proto-Nuristani (extinct) <ref name="Ancient Kamboja 1981, p 278">See also: Ancient Kamboja, People & the Country, 1981, p 278, These Kamboj People, 1979, pp 119–20, K. S. Dardi etc.</ref><ref name="Sir Thomas H p 102-03">Sir Thomas H. Holdich, in his classic book, (The Gates of India, p 102-03), writes that the Aspasians (Aspasioi) represent the modern Kafirs. But the modern Kafirs, especially the Siah-Posh Kafirs (Kamoz/Camoje, Kamtoz) etc are considered to be modern representatives of the ancient Kambojas.</ref>

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Indo-Aryan languagesEdit

File:Indo-Aryan language map.svg
Present-day geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan language groups. Romani, Domari, Kholosi and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map. Colours indicate the branches – yellow is Eastern, purple is Dardic, blue is Northwestern, red is Southern, green is Western, brown is Northern and orange is Central. Data is from "The Indo Aryan Languages" as well as census data and previous linguistic maps.Dardic Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Northwestern Template:Legend Template:Legend Western Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Northern Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Central Template:Legend Template:Legend Eastern Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Southern Template:Legend Template:Legend .
File:Indo-Aryan languages grouped.png
Distribution of major Indo-Aryan languages. Urdu is included under Hindi. Romani, Domari, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map.) Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common. Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend
File:Romany dialects Europe.svg
Romani languages and dialects in Europe. Romani languages are part of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European languages but are spoken out of the Indian Subcontinent. They are related to the Domari languages and are scattered and minority languages in all regions, overlapping with other peoples and their languages in Europe. The Domari and Romani languages are spoken in a vast geographical area from Southwest Asia to Europe and North Africa but are minoritary and scattered in all the regions in part because Domari and Romani speakers, the Doma and the Roma, were traditionally nomadic peoples.

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Unclassified Indo-European languages (all extinct)Edit

Indo-European languages whose relationship to other languages in the family is unclear

Possible Indo-European languages (all extinct)Edit

Unclassified languages that may have been Indo-European or members of other language families (?)

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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