Martha Barnette at LitHub: But just how do scholars dig up those linguistic fossils and discover those brilliant pictures within. One way is to compare related words in languages arising from a common ancestor, which brings us to the hypothetical mother tongue scholars call Proto-Indo-European. The languages spoken by nearly half of the world’s population—including some four hundred million native speakers of English—are thought to have descended from this prehistoric language.
The languages spoken by nearly half of the world’s population—including some four hundred million native speakers of English—are thought to have descended from this prehistoric language. Scholars have managed to reconstruct its fundamental elements by using comparative linguistics to identify common features and vocabulary in its descendants. Exactly where Proto-Indo-European began is a mystery.
Exactly where Proto-Indo-European began is a mystery.