Science· 2012Q1
Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family
- 812citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2012year
Short summary
Bayesian phylogeographic analysis of 103 Indo-European languages supports an Anatolian origin for the language family, dating its spread to 8000-9500 years ago with agricultural expansion, contradicting the conventional Pontic steppe hypothesis.
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Key points
- Decisive support found for an Anatolian origin of the Indo-European language family.
- The spread is dated to 8000-9500 years ago, coinciding with agricultural expansion.
- Bayesian phylogeographic approaches were used with basic vocabulary data from 103 languages.
- The conventional Pontic steppe origin hypothesis was contradicted.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of the Indo-European language family. The conventional view places the homeland in the Pontic steppes about 6000 years ago. An alternative hypothesis claims that the languages spread from Anatolia with the expansion of farming 8000 to 9500 years ago. We used Bayesian phylogeographic approaches, together with basic vocabulary data from 103 ancient and contemporary Indo-European languages, to explicitly model the expansion of the family and test these hypotheses. We found decisive support for an Anatolian origin over a steppe origin. Both the inferred timing and root location of the Indo-European language trees fit with an agricultural expansion from Anatolia beginning 8000 to 9500 years ago. These results highlight the critical role that phylogeographic inference can play in resolving debates about human prehistory.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: Language and Linguistics
Language and LinguisticsArts and Humanities