akritas
12-06-2005, 06:57 PM
The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. Contemporary languages in this superfamily include Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish (each with more than 100 million native speakers), as well as numerous smaller national or minority languages.
Satem and Centum languages
Diachronic map showing the Centum (blue) and Satem (red) areals. The supposed area of origin of Satemization is shown in darker red (Sintashta/Abashevo/Srubna cultures).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). According to them, there never was a "proto-Centum" or a "proto-Satem", but the sound changes spread by areal contact among already distinct post-PIE languages (say, during the 3rd millennium BC).
Other linguists consider at least the Satem group monophyletic. According to them, Satemization was a "central" development of the latest stage of proto-Indo-European, which did not reach "peripheral" dialects already separated geographically.
According to yet othersCitation needed, there was a single "Proto-Satem" dialect that subsequently split into Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian. In the Kurgan picture, this would correspond to the latest remaining dialect in the area of the Urheimat, in the early 3rd millennium.
Family Tree
Centum languages (http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif)
http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif[/URL]
[URL="http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreesatem1.gif"]Satem languages (http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif)
http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreesatem1.gif
Satem and Centum languages
Diachronic map showing the Centum (blue) and Satem (red) areals. The supposed area of origin of Satemization is shown in darker red (Sintashta/Abashevo/Srubna cultures).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). According to them, there never was a "proto-Centum" or a "proto-Satem", but the sound changes spread by areal contact among already distinct post-PIE languages (say, during the 3rd millennium BC).
Other linguists consider at least the Satem group monophyletic. According to them, Satemization was a "central" development of the latest stage of proto-Indo-European, which did not reach "peripheral" dialects already separated geographically.
According to yet othersCitation needed, there was a single "Proto-Satem" dialect that subsequently split into Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian. In the Kurgan picture, this would correspond to the latest remaining dialect in the area of the Urheimat, in the early 3rd millennium.
Family Tree
Centum languages (http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif)
http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif[/URL]
[URL="http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreesatem1.gif"]Satem languages (http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreecentum1.gif)
http://www.danshort.com/ie/trees/ietreesatem1.gif