proto-languages
Reconstructed ancestral tongues
Proto-languages are hypothetical ancestral languages reconstructed by linguists from evidence in their descendant languages.
Proto-Indo-European, for instance, is the reconstructed common ancestor of English, Hindi, Russian, and Greek.
These languages were never written down; scholars infer their vocabulary and grammar by working backward from similarities among related languages: Linguists debate whether Proto-World could represent a single origin for all human language.
Words from common origin
- reconstructionRebuilding after destruction
- asteriskTypographical reference mark
- Grimm's LawGermanic consonant shift principle
- reflexInvoluntary stimulus response
phoneme · morpheme · attestation · unattested · hypothetical
Movement of populations elsewhere
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
- oral traditionCulture passed by speech
- divergenceSeparation from common origin
- splitSeparation into parts
homeland · dispersal · archaeology · genetics · population movement · antiquity · emergence · common ancestor
Study of historical texts
- etymologyWord origin study
- borrowingTemporary taking of another's
- loanwordsAdopted foreign vocabulary
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
analogy · innovation · retention · evidence · documentation · scholarly consensus
Hypothetical common ancestor language
- branchingSplitting into separate directions
- diversificationExpanding into varied areas
- subgroupingDividing into smaller categories
cognates
Words from common origin
- reconstructionRebuilding after destruction
- asteriskTypographical reference mark
- Grimm's LawGermanic consonant shift principle
reflex · phoneme · morpheme · attestation · unattested · hypothetical
human migration
Movement of populations elsewhere
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
- oral traditionCulture passed by speech
- divergenceSeparation from common origin
split · homeland · dispersal · archaeology · genetics · population movement · antiquity · emergence · common ancestor · phylogeny
philology
Study of historical texts
substrate · analogy · innovation · retention · evidence · documentation · scholarly consensus
Proto-Germanic
Hypothetical common ancestor language
- branchingSplitting into separate directions
- diversificationExpanding into varied areas
- subgroupingDividing into smaller categories