By — Laura Santhanam Laura Santhanam Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/linguists-link-english-hindi-single-ancestor-language-spoken-5500-years-ago Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Linguists link English, Hindi to single ancestor language spoken 6,500 years ago World Feb 20, 2015 4:11 PM EDT Linguists have traced the roots of English, Hindi, Greek and all Indo-European languages to a common ancestor tongue first spoken on the Russian steppes as much as 6,500 years ago. New research from the University of California-Berkeley emerged after linguists analyzed reconstructed vocabulary, including words such as “I am,” “bear,” and “wood” from more than 150 living and dead languages, as well as archaeological data. Then, researchers relied on statistical models and phylogenetic analysis — or how the languages evolved — to track how quickly these words changed over time to pinpoint when the languages broke away from the ancestor language, or Proto-Indo-European. Linguists also linked innovations in animal husbandry to spread languages from a steppe that stretches from Moldova and Ukraine to Russia and Kazakhstan’s western frontier. The study’s authors said: Our most important conclusion is that statistical phylogenetic analysis strongly supports the steppe hypothesis of IE origins, contrary to the claims of previous research. This in turn contributes to the study of Eurasian linguistic prehistory, indicating that IE language dispersal was not driven by the spread of agriculture. This study offered new evidence that supports the “steppe hypothesis” about the origins of the Indo-European language family. Another theory suggests that this language family actually sprang from what is now modern-day Turkey more than 8,000 years ago. The report will be published in the March issue of the journal Language, according to the Linguistic Society of America. By — Laura Santhanam Laura Santhanam Laura Santhanam is the Health Reporter and Coordinating Producer for Polling for the PBS NewsHour, where she has also worked as the Data Producer. Follow @LauraSanthanam @LauraSanthanam
Linguists have traced the roots of English, Hindi, Greek and all Indo-European languages to a common ancestor tongue first spoken on the Russian steppes as much as 6,500 years ago. New research from the University of California-Berkeley emerged after linguists analyzed reconstructed vocabulary, including words such as “I am,” “bear,” and “wood” from more than 150 living and dead languages, as well as archaeological data. Then, researchers relied on statistical models and phylogenetic analysis — or how the languages evolved — to track how quickly these words changed over time to pinpoint when the languages broke away from the ancestor language, or Proto-Indo-European. Linguists also linked innovations in animal husbandry to spread languages from a steppe that stretches from Moldova and Ukraine to Russia and Kazakhstan’s western frontier. The study’s authors said: Our most important conclusion is that statistical phylogenetic analysis strongly supports the steppe hypothesis of IE origins, contrary to the claims of previous research. This in turn contributes to the study of Eurasian linguistic prehistory, indicating that IE language dispersal was not driven by the spread of agriculture. This study offered new evidence that supports the “steppe hypothesis” about the origins of the Indo-European language family. Another theory suggests that this language family actually sprang from what is now modern-day Turkey more than 8,000 years ago. The report will be published in the March issue of the journal Language, according to the Linguistic Society of America.