Proto-indo-european language

Proto-Indo-European language

The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the linguistic reconstruction of the ancient common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, the most widely spoken language family in the world.

Pronunciation

Proto-Indo-European (IPA: /ˌproʊtoʊ ˌɪndoʊ iːˈroʊpiən/)

Etymology

The term "Proto-Indo-European" is composed of the prefix Proto- (from Ancient Greek πρῶτος, prôtos, 'first') and "Indo-European", which refers to a family of languages spoken in most of Europe and parts of western and southern Asia.

History

The existence of PIE was first postulated in the 18th century by Sir William Jones, who observed the similarities between four of the oldest languages known in his time: Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Persian. This led to the development of the comparative method, which is used to reconstruct PIE.

Phonology

PIE had a complex system of phonology that included vowels, consonants, and sonorants. It also had two tones, which are reconstructed as accentual pitch or stress.

Morphology

PIE was a highly inflectional language, with a rich morphological system. It had eight grammatical cases, three grammatical numbers, three grammatical genders, and three grammatical moods.

Syntax

The syntax of PIE is not well understood due to the nature of the sources used to reconstruct the language. However, it is generally agreed that PIE had a subject–object–verb word order.

Related terms

• Indo-European languages
• Comparative method (linguistics)
• Phonology
• Morphology (linguistics)
• Syntax
• Grammatical case
• Grammatical number
• Grammatical gender
• Grammatical mood

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