1036: 4P
slkdgha
8.2Indo-EuropeanLanguages19.pdf
PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN &
THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
Introduction
Introduction
Most languages spoken in Europe belong to the Indo-European family But not all:
Finish, Hungarian, Estonian – Uralic languages Turkish – a Turkic language Basque – an isolate
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Indo-European
The origins of the Indo-Europeans
The Indo-Europeans lived on the steppes of present day Ukraine about 6000 years ago.
They farmed and are believed to have domesticated horses.
There was a massive migration of the Indo-Europeans into both Europe and Asia.
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Indo-European
Thehomeland
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Migration
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Indo-European
Today
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Indo-European
The Centum and Satem branches
The major split in the Indo-European family is into two branches:
The PIE word for 100: [k´mtom] ([k ]́ is a palatalized [k]) In
the Centum branch, [ḱ ] turned into regular velar [k] In the
Satem branch, it turned into [s ]or [ʃ]
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Indo-European
The Centum and Satem branches
What about the English word hundred?
(1) Grimm’s Law: a. p > f b. t > θ c. k > h
English belongs to the Centum branch But Proto-Germanic underwent a massive sound change, which, among other things, turned the IE [k] into the Germanic [h]
All Germanic languages have an [h] in the word for 100
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Indo-European
The Centum and Satem branches
PIE
Satem Sanskrit: satam
Lithuanian: šimtas Russian: sto Hindi:
sau
Centum Italian: cento Catalan: cent
German: hundert Icelandic: hundraD
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Indo-European
Indo-European: the Centum branch
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Indo-European
Indo-European: the Satem branch
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Indo-European
Indo-Europeancorrespondences
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Indo-European
Indo-Europeancorrespondences
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Indo-European
Indo-Europeancorrespondences
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Indo-European
Indo-Europeancorrespondences
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Indo-European
Morphology
IE languages are typically synthetical of the Fusional type.
They are characterized by rich and complex morphological systems.
Basic structure of words:
[[[ROOT] + Suffix] + Inflectional Ending]
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An important morphological process characterizing the IE languages is the so-called ablaut or apophony
The basic alternations of Proto-Indo-European ablaut were the following: Full grade o-grade zero-grade ei oi i eu ou u er or r5
el ol l5 en on n5
Full grade o-grade zero-grade Greek: peith-omai pe-poith-a pe-pith-men �believe� Sanskrit bi-bhar-mi bhr5-ta �bring� Latin ff@do (<ei) foedus (<oi) fides ’trust/pact/faith� Gothic: kius-an kaus kus-an �prove� Gothic bind-an ban bund-um (<*n5) �bind�
English drive drove driven ride rode ridden sing sang sung (<*n5) sink sank sung (<*n5)
Ablaut
Indo-European
Nominal morphology
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[[[stem] + Theme Vowel]N + Number-Case ]N
Indo-European
Case
Case refers to a grammatical category which reflects the syntactic or semantic function of a noun or pronoun.
Some languages, such as English, are relatively impoverished in terms of case morphology.
Case is marked, however, on English pronouns:
(2) a. I saw him. b. He saw me.
Languages such as Japanese make rich use of case marking.
(3) John ga Mary ni hon o yatta John NOM Mary DAT book ACC gave ‘John gave Mary a book.’
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Indo-European
Case
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Languages also vary in the extent that they utilize prepositions vs. case endings for expressing case-related meaning. One can view this as a continuum:
Mostly prepositions ← Some prepositions, some case → Mostly case (English) (German) (Basque)
Indo-European
Case
Nominative (NOM) case is typically used to mark subjects in languages like English, German, Polish, Russian and many others. Accusative (ACC) is used to mark direct objects of transitive verbs in these languages.
(4) German a. Ich mag ihn.
I.NOM like he.ACC ‘I like him’
b. Er mag mich. he.NOM like I.ACC ‘He likes me’
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Indo-European
Impoverished case morphology in English
In some languages, e.g. English, nouns are not case marked (only pronouns are) Nonetheless, we have no trouble identifying which noun is the subject and which is the object
Why not?
(5) a. The cat chased the mouse. b. The mouse chased the cat.
In English, word order is strict! Subjects precede the verbs, objects follow it.
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Indo-European
Case and word order
In languages with free word order, case marking on nouns helps identify the subject and the object.
(6) Polish a. Pies goni kota.
dog.NOM chases cat.ACC ‘A dog is chasing a cat’
b. Kota goni pies. cat.ACC chases dog.NOM ‘A dog is chasing a cat’
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Impoverished case morphology in English
In some languages, e.g. English, nouns are not case marked (only pronouns are) Nonetheless, we have no trouble identifying which noun is the subject and which is the object
Why not?
(1) a. The cat chased the mouse. b. The mouse chased the cat.
In English, word order is strict! Subjects precede the verbs, objects follow it.
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Case and word order
In languages with free word order, case marking on nouns helps identify the subject and the object.
(2) Polish a. Pies goni kota.
dog.NOM chases cat.ACC ‘A dog is chasing a cat’
b. Kota goni pies. cat.ACC chases dog.NOM ‘A dog is chasing a cat’
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Case and word order
Case and word order are both ways to diagnose subjects and objects
Therefore, languages with strict words order are more likely to lose case morphology,
while languages with free word order are more likely to preserve (or develop) case morphology
Crucially, these are statements about tendencies in language change
Case morphology and strict word order are not in complementary distribution (e.g. the English pronominal system)
(3) a. I saw him. b. He saw me.
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Case syncretism and free word order
Conversely, even in languages with rich case morphology we can sometimes fail to differentiate subjects and objects (i.e. we observe ambiguity). This happens when nominative and accusative forms for the relevant nouns are syncretic, i.e. have the same form.
CASE SYNCRETISM IN POLISH:
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wagon bicycle NOM wóz rower GEN woz-u rower-u ACC wóz rower
(4) Wóz wyprzedzil rower. wagon.NOM/ACC passed bicycle.NOM/ACC ‘A wagon passed a bicycle’ or ‘A bicycle passed a wagon’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative
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Dative case
Dative (DAT) case can be used in many languages to mark indirect objects or nouns having the role of recipient (of something given), beneficiary of an action, or possessor of an item.
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(5) Er gab mir das Buch. (German) he.NOM gave I.DAT the.ACC book ‘he gave me the book’
(6) Matka mi dala knihu. (Slovak) mother.NOM I.DAT gave book.ACC ‘Mom gave me a book’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative
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Locative case
Locative Case (LOC): Used to indicate location. This case is found in many Slavic language, Turkic languages or Uralic languages.
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(7) bok side.NOM ‘side’
(8) na bok-u on side-LOC ‘on the side’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative
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Ablative case
Ablative Case (ABL): Expresses motion away from something, though meaning may vary by language. Common in Indo-European, Uralic, and Turkic languages. An example from Armenian:
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(9) doon house.NOM ‘house’
(10) doon-en house-ABL ‘from house’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Vocative
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Vocative case
Vocative Case (VOC): Identifies the noun (typically animate) being addressed. Example from Icelandic:
(11) Jesús elskar pig Jesus.NOM loves you ‘Jesus loves you.’
(12) Ó Jesú! Oh Jesus.VOC ‘Oh Jesus!’
Interestingly, Vocative case in Icelandic is not expressed by an extra suffix. Rather, something goes missing!
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Interlude on English vocatives
English does not have Vocative case. Which doesn’t mean English speakers don’t know how to address someone. There is just no morphological difference between subjects, objects or addresses.
(13) a. A boy came in. b. I saw a boy. c. Boy!
Is there anything special about nouns in a vocative context? Something that makes them different from all other occurrences of the same noun?
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Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Vocative Instrumental
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Instrumental case
Instrumental Case (INS): Identifies a noun (either a physical object or abstract concept) which is the instrument or means by which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. An example from Czech:
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(14) per-o pen-NOM ‘pen’
(15) pišu per-em I.write pen-INS ‘I write with a pen.’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Vocative Instrumental Inessive
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Inessive case
Inessive Case (INE): A form of locative which specifically indicates location inside of something. The case is common in Basque, Estonian, and Finnish. An example from Finnish:
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(16) talo house.NOM ‘house’
(17) talo-ssa house-INE ‘in the house’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Vocative Instrumental Inessive Benefactive
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Benefactive case
Benefactive Case (BEN): Nouns in this case indicate they are for the benefit of someone or something else. Not very common in Europe. An example from Basque:
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(18) gixona the.man.NOM ‘the man’
(19) gixona-ntzako the.man-BEN ‘for the benefit of the man’
Back to the list of cases
Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Vocative Instrumental Inessive Benefactive Comitative
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Comitative case
Comitative Case (COM): Indicates that something or someone is accompanying someone or something else. Commonly used in Estonian and Sami languages, and more rarely in Finnish. An example from Hungarian:
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(20)
(21)
gyerek child.NOM ‘child’
gyerek-estuül mentek nyaralni child-COM went.3.PL vacation ‘They went on vacation with their children.’
Case
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Languages vary in the extent that they utilize prepositions vs. case endings for expressing case-related meaning. One can view this as a continuum:
Mostly prepositions ← Some prepositions, some case → Mostly case (English) (German) (Basque)
Case systems
Some cases are more common than others, crosslinguistically NOM
< ACC < GEN < DAT < LOC < ABL /INST < others
Two Cases: NOM - ACC (e.g. Old French)
Three Cases: NOM - ACC - GEN (e.g. Modern Greek) Four Cases: NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT (e.g. Ancient Greek)
Five Cases: NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT - ABL (e.g. Classical Latin) NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT - INST (e.g. O. H. German)
Six Cases: NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT - LOC - ABL (e.g. Latin) NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT - LOC - INST (e.g. Slavic lgs)
Seven Cases: NOM - ACC - GEN - DAT - LOC - ABL - INST (e.g. Armenian)
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Nominal morphology
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[[[stem] + Theme Vowel]N + Number-Case ]N
What’s a theme vowel?
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
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puella -a puellam -am puellae -ae puellae -ae puell̄ a -̄a
In many languages, nouns can be grouped together according to some parameter
This parameter is often related to gender (feminine, masculine etc). The grouping is relevant for declension: e.g. feminine and masculine nouns in Latin have different case+number endings:
(22) puella ‘girl’ (f.) (23) dominus ‘master’ (m.)
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
dominus -us dominum -um domini -i dominō -ō dominō -ō
The groupings of nouns are reflected in the case+number endings
(24)
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Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
puella -a puellam -am puellae -ae puellae -ae puell̄ a -̄a
E.g. all nouns ending in a- in the nominative have the same endings as puella ‘girl’
puella ‘girl’ (f.) (25) aqua ‘water’ (f.)
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
aqua -a aquam -am aquae -ae aquae -ae aqū a -̄a
We call such groupings declension classes Crucially, declension classes are not defined by gender (even though there are tendencies for some genders to fall in certain declension classes) Here a counterexample:
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(26) puella ‘girl’ (f.)
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
puella -a puellam -am puellae -ae puellae -ae puell̄ a -̄a
(27) poeta ‘poet’ (m.)
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative
poeta -a poetam -am poetae -ae poetae -ae poet̄ a -̄a
Sanskrit: the a-declension (singular)
Often, declension class is reflected in the theme vowel
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(28) devas [/ dev - a theme V case+number
- s /] ‘god’
Nominative devas [/dev-a-s/] Genitive devasya [/dev-a-sya/] Dative dev̄ aya [/dev-a-ya/] Accusative devam [/dev-a-m/] Locative deve [/dev-a-i/] Ablative dev̄ at [/dev-a-t/ ] Instrumental devena [/dev-a-ina/]
a + i → e – Does it make sense? (Yes.)
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Sanskrit: the a-declension (dual)
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Dual N. dev̄ au [/dev-a-u/] G. devayos [/dev-a-i-aus/] D. dev¯abhyam [/dev-a-bhyam/] A. dev̄ au [/dev-a-u/ ] L. devayos [/dev-a-i-aus/) Abl. dev¯abhyam [/dev-a-bhyam/] Ins. dev¯abhyam [/dev-a-bhyam/]]
Sanskrit: the a-declension (plural)
Plural N. dev̄ as [/dev-a-s/] G. dev̄ anā am [/dev-a-n¯am/] D. devebhyas [/dev-a-i-bhyas/] A. dev̄ an [/dev-a-n/ ] L. devesu [/dev-a-i-su/ Abl. devebhyas [/dev-a-i-bhyas/ Ins. dev̄ ais
The theme vow [/dev-̄ a-is/]
el is always a sepa rate morpheme (thought sometimes it undergoes phonological coalescence with the following morpheme)
Case and number are never expressed independently in Sanskrit
⇒ This is an instance of fusional morphology.
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Nominal morphology
[[[stem] + Theme Vowel]N + InflectionNum+Case ]N
Where The theme vowel determines the declension class of a noun, and the inflectional suffix is a fusion of case and number
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Verbal morphology
The Indo-European verb system is complex. A dominant inflection found on verbs is tense (present, past, future). Another basic categorization for the Indo-European verb was grammatical aspect.
In PIE, there were 3 aspectual distinctions: Verbs could be stative (verbs that depict a state of being), imperfective (verbs depicting ongoing, habitual or repeated action) perfective (verbs depicting a completed action or actions viewed as an entire process).
Verbs also had: 4 moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), 2 voices (active and mediopassive), 3 persons (first, second and third) 3 numbers (singular, dual and plural).
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Tense
Tense expresses the temporal location of the event described by the verb It is very common in the IE family to express Present and Past tenses synthetically on the verb (as affixes), while the Future tense analytically. English is an example of that.
(29) a. He travel-s. b. He travell-ed. c. He will travel.
Present tense Past tense
Future tense
But some languages do have synthetic future, e.g. Italian
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(30) a. ‘I speak’Parl-o. speak-1sg.PRES
b. Parl-ai. speak-1sg.PAST
‘I spoke’
c. Parl-erò. speak-1sg.FUT
‘I will speak’
Aspect
Aspect is an inflectional category expressing properties of an events related to completion and continuation.
Stative aspect describes a state of being
(31) I love pizza.
→ there is no action here; "loving" is a state (of emotions) Imperfective aspect refers to ongoing, non-completed events.
(32) He was eating dinner.
→ We don’t know if he finished. Perfective aspect denotes completed events.
(33) He ate dinner.
→ The eating event was completed.
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Aspect morphology
English (and Germanic, in general) aspect morphology is somewhat impoverished
But Slavic languages are known for complex aspect systems. Examples from Polish:
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(35)
Two types of imperfective aspect: a. jedli ‘they were eating’ b. jadali ‘they ate habitually, from time to time’
Many types of perfective aspect
a. z-jedli ‘they ate (and finished)’ b. do-jedli ‘they ate up what was left’ c. prze-jedli ‘they overate’
Aspect: diagnostics
Perfective and imperfective verbs can be diagnosed by using phrases like "for an hour" and "in an hour".
Imperfective verbs can co-occur with phrases like "for an hour", but not with phrases like "in an hour".
(36) ate.3sg.IMPF for hour ‘They were eating for an hour’
Jedli przez godzine. ✓ (37) Jedli w godzine. ✗ ate.3sg for hour ‘They were eating in an hour’
Perfective verbs show the opposite behavior: they can co-occur with "in an hour", but not with "for an hour".
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(38) Z-jedli przez godzine. ✗ (39) Z-jedli w godzine. ✓ PFV-ate.3sg for hour PFV-ate.3sg in hour ‘They finished eating for an ‘They finished eating in an hour’ hour’
Word order
The basic word order of the ancient IE languages is SOV
(40) (Latin)Antonius puellas formosas amat Antonius girls beautiful loves ‘Antonius loves beautiful girls’
In most other languages, it changed into SVO
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(41) Maria ama Carlo (Italian) Maria love.3sg Carlo ‘Maria loves Carlo’
Word order
Verb-final IE languages?
German still preserves this word order in embedded clauses, i.e. in clauses introduced by conjunctions such as that, since, because, etc.
(42) Ich glaube dass er krank ist. I believe that he sick is
Hindi-Urdu is fully verb-final
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(43) Nur-ne enjUm-ko kitab di Noor(SU) Anjum(IO) book(DO) gave ‘Noor have Anjum the book’ (Kidwai 2000)
Less common word orders: VSO
lost
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Sion two pounds
In the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish, Breton, etc.) we have the order VSO:
(44) Collodd Sion ddwy bunt (Welsh)
‘Sion lost two pound’
(45) (Irish)Ta si ag cru na mbo. is she at milking the cows ‘She is milking the cows’
Word order in Germanic languages
Many Germanic languages exhibit some freedom in word order But the word order is not completely free
Data from German: I eat eggs in the morning
Ich esse Eier am Morgen. ✓ Eier esse ich am Morgen. ✓
Am Morgen esse ich Eier ✓ Eier ich esse am Morgen. ✗ esse Eier ich am Morgen. ✗ Eier ich am Morgen esse ✗
Any generalizations emerging?
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Verb Second (V2) in Germanic
In most Germanic languages, but not in English, the verb always appears as the second word in a main sentence: We call this phenomenon Verb Second or V2 Examples of V2 languages:
German Dutch Swedish Danish Icelandic Yiddish Afrikaans
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V2 in Dutch
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I read.PAST thebook yesterday
Ik las dit boek gisteren. ✓ Dit boek las ik gisteren. ✓
Gisteren las ik dit boek ✓ Dit boek ik las gisteren. ✗ Las dit boek ik gisteren. ✗ Dit boek ik gisteren las ✗
English is an odd Germanic language in that it does not have the V2 property.
V2 in Old English
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(46) Se maessepreost sceal manum bodian Þone soÞan geleafan the masspriest must people preach the true faith ‘The mass priest must preach the true faith to the people.’
(47) Þa wæs Þæt folc Þæs micclan welan ungemetlice then was the people of-the great prosperity excessively brucende partaking ‘Then the people were partaking excessively of the great prosperity.’
(48) Ne sceal he naht unaliefedes don not shall he nothing unlawful do ‘He shall not do anything unlawful.’
No V2 in Modern English
In modern English, the verb is in the second position in a neutral sentence order, which is SVO But it’s not V2: the position immediately before the verb must be occupied by the subject, not anything else. Fronting of an object is possible, but the basic SV order must be maintained.
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(49) basic SVO ./a. I liked the movie. SUBJ VERB OBJECT
b. *The movie liked I. OBJECT VERB SUBJ
V2✗
c. The movie, I liked. OBJECT SUBJ VERB
object topicalization
Remnants of V2 in Modern English
(50)
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However, there are number of constructions in which we observe a V2 order in Modern English Only certain phrases can replace the subject and immediately precede the verb. They include:
Question words, such as what
a. He has eaten what? b. What has he eaten?
(51) Phrases modified by only a. I will be able to discuss it only tomorrow. b. Only tomorrow will I be able to discuss it.
(52) Negative phrases, such as never a. I will never let you in my house. b. Never will I let you in my house.
Back to the full fledged V2
In real V2 languages, there are no such constrains on V2 order. Anything can take up the 1sg position, forcing the subject to the third position in the sentence.
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I eat eggs in the morning
Ich esse Eier am Morgen. ✓ Eier esse ich am Morgen. ✓
Am Morgen esse ich Eier ✓ Eier ich esse am Morgen. ✗ esse Eier ich am Morgen. ✗ Eier ich am Morgen esse ✗
Other verb positions in Dutch and German
(53)
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(54)
Importantly, the V2 generalization in Dutch and German holds only in main declarative clauses! In embedded clauses, the verb is in the final position in both German (53) and Dutch (54):
Ich sagte dass ich das Buch gestern lass. I said that I the book yesterday read.
‘I said I read the book yesterday’ Ik zei dat ik dit boek gisteren las. I said that I the book yesterday read.
‘I said I read the book yesterday’
English is not verb-final ever, not even in embedded clauses.
Other verb positions in Dutch and German
In questions, on the other hand, the verb appears at the beginning of a sentence, in both German (55) and Dutch (56):
(55) Hast du ein Hund? have you a dog ‘Do you have a dog?’
(56) Heb je een hond? have you a dog ‘Do you have a dog?’
What about English?
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⇒ In this case, English is similar to the other Germanic languages. It seems to have some kind of verb at the beginning of a question.
Word order in English questions
English does exhibit verb fronting in questions
(57) a. b.
You will leave. Will you leave?
(58) a. b.
He has left. Has he left?
(59) a. b.
He is leaving. Is he leaving?
Verbs like will, have, is are called auxiliaries. The verb fronting we see in English questions is called Subject–Auxiliary Inversion
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Word order in English questions
But not all verbs can be fronted – only auxiliaries. Regular, lexical verbs can’t:
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(60) a. You like pizza. b. *Like you pizza?
(61) a. He eats cookies. b. *Eats he cookies?
(62)
⇒
Do you like pizza? (63)
⇒
Does he eat cookies?
Do-support
do is a kind of verb! Which means that, even though you can’t front the lexical verb in English, every Yes/No question in English begins with a verb. Just like in the other Germanic languages.
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a. He will eat the cookies. ⇒ Will he eat the cookies? b He has eaten the cookies. ⇒ Has he eaten the cookies? c. He eats cookies. ⇒ Does he eat cookies?
Do-support
a. He will eat the cookies. ⇒ Will he eat the cookies? b. He eats cookies. ⇒ Does he eat cookies?
This tells us something interesting about the syntax of questions in Germanic languages: they need a verb at the beginning of a sentence.
If all verb can move to the front, that’s what happens (German, Dutch) If only auxiliaries, but not lexical verbs, can move, then:
You move the auxiliary if the sentence has one (as in (a)). If there is no auxiliary, insert a dummy verb – do (b).
The insertion of the dummy verb do is called Do-support
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A survey of the IE language families
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More IE language families
Celtic
Gaulish (Extinct)
Bretonic
Breton (France) Cornish (England) Welsh (Wales)
Goidelic
Irish (Ireland) Scottish Gaelic (Scottland) Manx (Isle of Man)
Brythons settled on the British island during the Iron Age, but were push ed away by Anglo-Saxons. Many of them moved to northern France (Breton) but some stayed (Welsh, Cornish).
The Goidelic Celts lived in Ireland for the last 3000 years. Their language is often call Gaelic (Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic).
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More IE language families
Germanic Examples:
West Germanic
German English Dutch Afrikaans (closely related to Dutch, spoken in South Africa) Yiddish
North Germanic
Norwegian Islandic Danish Swedish
Characteristic features (i) Many are verb second (not English) (ii) Grim’s Law: e.g. the IE [p] corresponds to [f] in Germanic
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More IE language families
Italic
Latin used to have sister languages in the Italic branch.
Around 500 BCE, a few Italic languages were spoken in central Italy:
Oscan
Umbrian
Faliscan
Latin
A characteristic feature of Italic lgs: the PIE aspirated [bh] changed into [f]. (Sanskrit "bhratar"; Latin "frater", English brother")
Latin spread from Rome to the rest of Italy, suppressing the other languages. They left no descendants.
All living Italic languages are descendants of Latin (Romance languages). 57/60
More IE language families
Indo-Iranian
Examples
Iranian Persian (Farsi) Pashto Kurdish Tajik
Indic Sanskrit Hindi Urdu Nepali Bengali
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More IE language families
Balto-Slavic
Examples
Baltic
Lithuanian
Latvian
Slavic
Czech (West Slavic) Polish (West Slavic) Russian (East Slavic) Ukrainian (East Slavic) Serbo-Croatian (South Slavic) Bulgarian (South Slavic)
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More IE language families
Single language branches Hellenic
The Hellenic branch consists of only one language: Greek. Ancient Greek, the ancestor of Modern Greek, goes back to the late Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE)
Albanian Consists of only one language: Albanian (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia) However, Albanian has two dialect which are said to be mutually unintelligible
Armenian Consists of only one language: Armenian. Spoken in Armenian Highlands; used to be considered an Iranian languages because it shared a lot of vocabulary with Iranian languages Nowadays, historical linguists agree the similarity is a result of language contact – they are borrowings.
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Tocharian (extinct)
Anatolian (extinct) Messapian (extinct)
Extinct Branches
Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan (Indic)
Assamese Bengali Bihari Gujarati Hindi-Urdu Marathi Punjabi Romani Sanskrit Sindhi Singhalese
Iranian Avestan Balochi Farsi (Persian) Kurdish Pashtu (Afghan) Sogdian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhvKp7QwSIo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-8JAdDbNWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnns1bPyRZ 4
