| Proto-Indo-European | |
|---|---|
| PIE | |
| Reconstruction of | Indo-European languages |
| Region | Pontic–Caspian steppe (Proto-Indo-European homeland) |
| Era | c. 4500 – c. 2500 BC |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
|---|
 |
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family.[1] No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages.[2]
Far more work has gone into reconstructing PIE than any other proto-language, and it is the best understood of all proto-languages of its age. The majority of linguistic work during the 19th century was devoted to the reconstruction of PIE and its daughter languages, and many of the modern techniques of linguistic reconstruction (such as the comparative method) were developed as a result.[3]
PIE is hypothesized to have been spoken as a single language from approximately 4500 BCE to 2500 BCE[4] during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, though estimates vary by more than a thousand years. According to the prevailing Kurgan hypothesis, the original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have been in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Europe. The linguistic reconstruction of PIE has provided insight into the pastoral culture and patriarchal religion of its speakers.[5]
As speakers of Proto-Indo-European became isolated from each other through the Indo-European migrations, the regional dialects of Proto-Indo-European spoken by the various groups diverged, as each dialect underwent shifts in pronunciation (the Indo-European sound laws), morphology, and vocabulary. Over many centuries, these dialects transformed into the known ancient Indo-European languages. From there, further linguistic divergence led to the evolution of their current descendants, the modern Indo-European languages.
PIE is believed to have had an elaborate system of morphology that included inflectional suffixes (analogous to English child, child's, children, children's) as well as ablaut (vowel alterations, as preserved in English sing, sang, sung, song) and accent. PIE nominals and pronouns had a complex system of declension, and verbs similarly had a complex system of conjugation. The PIE phonology, particles, numerals, and copula are also well-reconstructed.
Asterisks are used by linguists as a conventional mark of reconstructed words, such as *wódr̥, *ḱwn̥tós, or *tréyes; these forms are the reconstructed ancestors of the modern English words water, hound, and three, respectively.
- ^ "Indo-European languages – The parent language: Proto-Indo-European". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "Archaeology et al: an Indo-European study" (PDF). School of History, Classics and Archaeology. The University of Edinburgh. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ Ivić, Pavle; Hamp, Eric P.; Lyons, John (5 March 2024). "Linguistics". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ Powell, Eric A. "Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European". Archaeology. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ Fortson (2010), p. 16.