Indo-Iranian languages

The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages[1][2] or Aryan languages[3]) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family. They have more than 1.5 billion speakers, stretching from Europe (Romani), Turkey (Kurdish and Zaza–Gorani) and the Caucasus (Ossetian) eastward to Xinjiang (Sarikoli) and Assam (Assamese), and south to Sri Lanka (Sinhala) and the Maldives (Maldivian), with branches stretching as far out as Oceania and the Caribbean for Fiji Hindi and Caribbean Hindustani respectively. Furthermore, there are large diaspora communities of Indo-Iranian speakers in northwestern Europe (the United Kingdom), North America (United States, Canada), Australia, South Africa, and the Persian Gulf Region (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia).

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Indo-Iranian
Aryan
Geographic distribution	South, Central, Western Asia, South East Europe and the Caucasus / Total speakers = approximately 1.5 billion in 15 countries
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Indo-Iranian
Proto-language	Proto-Indo-Iranian
Subdivisions	Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani
ISO 639-5	`iir`
Glottolog	`indo1320`
The approximate present-day distribution of the Indo-European branches of Eurasia: Indo-Iranian

The common ancestor of all of the languages in this family is called Proto-Indo-Iranian—also known as Common Aryan—which was spoken in approximately the late 3rd millennium BC. The three branches of the modern Indo-Iranian languages are Indo-Aryan, Iranian, and Nuristani. A fourth independent branch, Dardic, was previously posited, but recent scholarship in general places Dardic languages as archaic members of the Indo-Aryan branch.[4]

Languages

The Indo-Iranian languages consist of three groups:

Indo-Iranian languages are spoken by more than 1.5 billion people. The languages with the most speakers are a part of the Indo-Aryan group: Hindi–Urdu (~590 million[5]) - the Indian census having often included Bhojpuri (40 million), Awadhi (40 million), Maithili (35 million), Marwari (30 million), Rajasthani (20 million), Chhattisgarhi (18 million) and Kumaoni (2.1 million) as dialects - Bengali (205 million[6]), Punjabi (100 million), Marathi (90 million), Gujarati (50 million), Odia (35 million), Sindhi (25 million), Assamese (24 million), Sinhala (19 million), Nepali (17 million), Bishnupuriya (12 million)[7] and Rangpuri (15 million). Among the Iranian branch, major languages are Persian (90 million),[8] Pashto (ca. 70 million), Kurdish (35 million),[9] and Balochi (8 million). There are also many smaller languages.

Indo-European topics
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Languages List of Indo-European languages Historical Albanian Armenian Balto-Slavic Baltic Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Italic Romance Extinct Anatolian Tocharian Paleo-Balkan Dacian Illyrian Liburnian Messapian Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut Hypothetical Daco-Thracian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Indo-Hittite Italo-Celtic Thraco-Illyrian Grammar Vocabulary Root Verbs Nouns Pronouns Numerals Particles Other Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse) Proto-Celtic Proto-Italic Proto-Greek Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic) Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Iranian)
Philology Hittite texts Hieroglyphic Luwian Linear B Rigveda Avesta Homer Behistun Gaulish epigraphy Latin epigraphy Runic epigraphy Ogam Gothic Bible Armenian Bible Slanting Brahmi Old Irish glosses
Origins Homeland Proto-Indo-Europeans Society Religion Mainstream Kurgan hypothesis Indo-European migrations Eurasian nomads Alternative and fringe Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Beech argument Indigenous Aryans Baltic homeland Paleolithic Continuity Theory
Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Domestication of the horse Kurgan Kurgan culture Steppe cultures Bug–Dniester Sredny Stog Dnieper–Donets Samara Khvalynsk Yamnaya Mikhaylovka culture Novotitorovka culture Caucasus Maykop East Asia Afanasievo Eastern Europe Usatovo Cernavodă Cucuteni Northern Europe Corded ware Baden Middle Dnieper Bronze Age Pontic Steppe Chariot Yamnaya Catacomb Multi-cordoned ware Poltavka Srubna Northern/Eastern Steppe Abashevo culture Andronovo Sintashta Europe Globular Amphora Corded ware Beaker Unetice Trzciniec Nordic Bronze Age Terramare Tumulus Urnfield Lusatian South Asia BMAC Yaz Gandhara grave Iron Age Steppe Chernoles Europe Thraco-Cimmerian Hallstatt Jastorf Caucasus Colchian India Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware
Peoples and societies Bronze Age Anatolian peoples (Hittites) Armenians Mycenaean Greeks Indo-Iranians Iron Age Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryans Iranians Iranians Persians Medes Parthians Scythians Saka Sarmatians Massagetae Alans East Asia Wusun Yuezhi Europe Celts Gauls Celtiberians Insular Celts Cimmerians Hellenic peoples Italic peoples Germanic peoples Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia Thracians Dacians Illyrians Paeonians Phrygians Middle Ages East Asia Tocharians Europe Albanians Balts Slavs Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians Medieval Europe Indo-Aryan Medieval India Iranian Greater Persia
Religion and mythology Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-Iranian religion Ancient Iranian religion Historical Hittite Indo-Aryan Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Iranian Persian Zoroastrianism Kurdish Yazidism Yarsanism Scythian Ossetian Others Armenian Europe Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian) Greek Roman Celtic Irish Scottish Breton Welsh Cornish Germanic Anglo-Saxon Continental Norse Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Slavic Practices Fire sacrifice Horse sacrifice Sati Winter solstice/Yule
Indo-European studies Scholars Marija Gimbutas J. P. Mallory Institutes Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Publications Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture The Horse, the Wheel and Language Journal of Indo-European Studies Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch Indo-European Etymological Dictionary
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History

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The common proto-language of the Indo-Iranian languages is Proto-Indo-Iranian language, which has been reconstructed.

The oldest attested Indo-Iranian languages are Vedic Sanskrit, Older and Younger Avestan and Old Persian (ancient Iranian languages). A few words from another Indo-Aryan language (see Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni) are attested in documents from the ancient Mitanni and Hittite kingdoms in the Near East.

Within the Indo-European family, Indo-Iranian belongs to the Satem group. Various proposals have been made that link the Indo-Iranian languages with other subgroups of Indo-European (like Graeco-Aryan, which posits a close relationship with Greek and Armenian), but these remain without wider acceptance.

Features

Innovations shared with other languages affected by the satem sound changes include: ^{[citation needed]}

Fronting and assibilation of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) palato-velar stops: *kʲ, *gʲʰ, *gʲ > *t͡ʃ, *d͡ʒʰ, *d͡ʒ
The merger of the PIE labiovelar and plain velar stops: *kʷ, *gʷʰ, *gʷ > *k, *gʰ, *g
The Ruki sound law

Innovations shared with Greek include: ^{[citation needed]}

The vocalization of the PIE syllabic nasals *m̥, *n̥ to *a (may be independent developments)
Grassmann's law (may be independent developments)

Innovations unique to Indo-Iranian include: ^{[citation needed]}

The lowering of PIE *e to *a
- *o was also lowered to *a, though this occurred in several other Indo-European languages as well.
The PIE laryngeal *H between consonants became *i, though it was apparently reduced to zero in Iranian.
The use of a verb root *kr̥- to derive verbal forms from nouns.
The use of *-yá- to derive passive verbs from roots.
Brugmann's law

References

D. D. Mahulkar (1990). Pre-Pāṇinian Linguistic Studies. Northern Book Centre. ISBN 978-81-85119-88-5.
Annarita Puglielli; Mara Frascarelli (2011). Linguistic Analysis: From Data to Theory. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-022250-0.
Jadranka Gvozdanović (1999). Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide. Walter de Gruyter. p. 221. ISBN 978-3-11-016113-7.: "The usage of 'Aryan languages' is not to be equated with Indo-Aryan languages, rather Indo-Iranic languages of which Indo-Aryan is a subgrouping."
Bashir, Elena (2007). Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 905. ISBN 978-0415772945. 'Dardic' is a geographic cover term for those Northwest Indo-Aryan languages which [..] developed new characteristics different from the IA languages of the Indo-Gangetic plain. Although the Dardic and Nuristani (previously 'Kafiri') languages were formerly grouped together, Morgenstierne (1965) has established that the Dardic languages are Indo-Aryan, and that the Nuristani languages constitute a separate subgroup of Indo-Iranian.
Edwards, Viv. "Urdu Today". BBC.
Thompson, Irene. "Bengali". AboutWorldLanguages. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
"Census of India: Family-wise grouping of the 122 Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Languages -2001". www.censusindia.gov.in.
Noack, Rick. "The future of language". Washington Post. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
CIA- The World Factbook: 14.7 million in Turkey (18%)^{[failed verification]}, 4.9–6.5 million in Iraq (15-20%)^{[failed verification]}, 8 million in Iran (10%)"Archived copy". Retrieved 31 March 2011.^{[failed verification]} (all for 2014), plus several million in Syria, neighboring countries, and the diaspora

Sources

Chakrabarti, Byomkes (1994). A comparative study of Santali and Bengali. Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi & Co. ISBN 81-7074-128-9
Nicholas Sims-Williams, ed. (2002). Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples. Oxford University Press.